THE BLESSING OF THE MAIN GATE AND UNVEILING OF THE STATUE OF ST IGNATIUS
On Saturday, December 3rd, the College held a special event which was The Blessing of the Main Gate and the Unveiling of the Statue of St Ignatius. This was essentially an occasion in which the College officially unveiled the recently renovated entrance area and also paid homage to St Ignatius of Loyola, whose values and principles (known as the Ignatian ethos) form the bedrock upon which the school’s value system is built, by unveiling a statue in his honour.
The event was well attended with members of the SDC Committee, the Executive of SICAA, the College staff and the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits), among the attendees. Our guest of honour was Fr Leonard Chiti, SJ. Provincial of the Southern Africa Province (SAP) who led the proceedings. In his speech, Fr Chiti urged congregants to uphold Christian values, to preserve peace and live in the light. As he was delivering his speech, Fr Chiti made reference to the symbols at the main gate which are namely the AMDG crest which translates to “For the greater glory of God” and the sun symbol which represents the light.
After blessing the main gate, the congregants then moved to the statue which was set up a few meters from the gate. Upon unveiling the statue, Fr Chiti gave a brief history on the life of St Ignatius where he talked about how he was a soldier who found his faith during the time when he was recovering from an injury sustained in war.
“During his recovery, St Ignatius would think about the things of God and feel good, and when he would think about what he would do when he recovered, go back to war, he wouldn’t feel so good. Then he began to see how God was working in his heart and finally that is when he decided to give his heart to God. And so here we are 500 years later, unveiling his statue, reminding us of how God was working in his life,” he said.
In his closing remarks, Fr Chiti urged us to be mindful of what God is saying to us in our hearts and be inspired by St Ignatius of Loyola, who dedicated his life to serving God.