Los primeros colegios del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y la enseñanza de niñas en Cuba durante el siglo XIX

Abstract

The Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus has a long history in the field of education and has an influence that extends to the present day. In the specific case of Cuba, the 19th century saw a significant expansion of female education. In fact, numerous religious orders opened schools there. Among all of them, those of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart, founded concretely in Havana and Sancti Spiritu, stand out. Along these lines, different issues that directly affected both centres will be analysed. On the one hand, we will study their functioning, the type of students that were admitted, the designed curriculum and the benefits of these centers in women’s education. On the other hand, it is also important to emphasize the different obstacles that both schools went through, especially at a time when the island of Cuba was being hit by an armed insurrection that was disrupting school life. We now have many archival documents, generated by the former Overseas Ministry, which provide data that will help to understand the role played by the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the island.