Memória, fé e pedagogias vicentinas: a presença do ideal de educação cristã do século XIX na vida das alunas do Colégio da Imaculada Conceição da década de 1950.

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the influences of Vincentian pedagogies employed on the life of ex-students from the 1950s, of the Immaculate Conception School, in Fortaleza (CE). During that time, the ICS (acronym of the school) housed different groups of students, regarding economic background, having some paying tuition and others being assisted by the school (the orphanage girls). Thus, the objective of this study is to examine if there were differences on the educational development the school provided for its students. As such, this work also recognizes the importance of realizing how the moral and religious questions were passed on by the Immaculate Conception – a confessional school. The research is justified by the fact that the ICS was pioneer on exclusively female education of the cearense capital. Since its beginning, the school is imbued with the Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul’s teachings and, therefore, developed a pedagogical argument based on the assistance to the less fortunate, beyond guiding its teaching under the influences of European models, since the congregation is from France. All these facts enabled the school to provide a quality education, both in relation to the content of subjects and the moral development of its students, according to cultural and religious standards of the time. Thereby, the Immaculate became a school for the elite, despite housing less financially fortunate students in its premises. The study was carried out through a qualitative research, supported by historiographic registry and, mainly, oral history. Regarding this methodology, the research employed the interview feature to gather testimonies from the school’s ex-students, of the 1950s, as well as other people who had some kind of connection to the school. The memories of the students of that time not only retrieved information relevant to this research, but enabled a real understanding of the pedagogies developed by the centenarian school in question as well.