From Pope Leo’s apostolic letter Drawing New Maps of Hope (Visit an external site. The link opens in a new tab.), which reflects on the document Gravissimum Educationis, we read that the Second Vatican Council reminds the Church that evangelisation also takes place through education and teaching. When communities of educators make use of the word of Christ, they themselves are renewed and become builders of bridges. The Gospel is always timely and ever new: “the word of God renews all things” (Acts 21:5). Education is part of the Church’s mission, in which the Holy Spirit is at work.
At the centre of education stands the human person, and his or her formation takes place in relationship with others and with God. The proper place of education is the community. “No one educates alone. We are the educational community: teachers, pupils, other staff, families, pastors, and the whole of society, which participates in the nurturing of life.” Yet the family is the first school of humanity, and all others work in cooperation with it and in support of it. Education means hope and an investment in the future.
Every age has its own characteristics, challenges, and needs that must be taken into account. Education and teaching should nevertheless always be integral: the physical, bodily, psychological, intellectual, and spiritual development of the human person must all be considered, with a place also for religion, culture, and life itself. The Catholic school is a fitting place for this.
In our own time, marked by crises and wars, Pope Leo calls us all to universal fraternity, which can be achieved, among other means, through education and teaching. He writes: “Education and teaching have always been among the highest forms of Christian charity.” The Church herself is for us “Mother and Teacher.”
Education and teaching are a mission that transcends time. It is important that we honour the achievements of past generations and add our own contribution to this chain. In this way education is handed on from one generation to the next, step by step. In many sources it has been claimed that the first Catholic school is now being established in Finland. I would like to correct this understanding and highlight the long tradition of education and formation in our Church, which reaches back already to the 13th century.
750 Years of the Turku Cathedral School
This year Finland’s oldest school, the Turku Cathedral School, celebrates its 750th anniversary. As early as 1276, the Dominican friars of the cathedral chapter in Turku decided to establish the school. It served above all for the education of clergy and officials. The most talented young people continued their studies at universities abroad, since none existed in Finland at the time.
Information about medieval schooling is scarce, but even in the 15th century there is mention of a school established in Rauma by a Franciscan convent.
The Reformation changed everything, and the activity of the Catholic Church was brought to an end. Monasteries were closed. The cathedral school came under the authority of the Lutheran Church. Thus, in the years 1539–1548, Mikael Agricola served there as a teacher and rector. In 1872 the school was nationalised, and since 1976 it has been under the authority of the City of Turku. Today it is a Swedish-language upper secondary school.
The significance of the cathedral school founded by the Catholic Church in 1276 is great: in addition to the spiritual formation of its pupils, it laid the foundations for Finnish culture and the educational system. It opened the way to learning and the future and contributed to the foundations of both Åbo Akademi and the University of Helsinki.
The Catholic German–Russian School and Orphanage in Helsinki
When Finland came under Russian rule, the position of the Catholic Church changed to some extent. In 1812, Emperor Alexander I of Russia issued a decree that made it possible to revive the Church’s activity. Thus, by the mid-19th century, foreign Catholics in Finland had their own parish and, in 1860, their own church – St Henry’s Cathedral.
From 1868, Fr Funcke planned a German school, known as the Catholic German–Russian School of Helsinki. In 1869, a Catholic orphanage was established in connection with it, housing German and Slavic children. In 1872, both school and orphanage moved from rented premises to a building owned by the Church at Saunakatu 6–8. Both were supported by the imperial government and by the Ludwig Mission Society in Bavaria.
Between 1877 and 1882, German Sisters of St Catherine worked at the school. According to records, there were as many as 60 pupils: in addition to Catholic children, also Lutherans and Orthodox. Instruction was in German, but Swedish and Russian were also taught, and at upper levels French. Religion was naturally taught, and the children prayed the rosary and evening prayers together. In church they sang in German and Latin.
As Finlandia Catholica recalls: “Children’s singing drew indifferent Catholics and other believers to Mass. Finnish and Russian songs were practised at school, accompanied by the teacher on violin and harmonium. There was also time for rest. After school, the sisters and boarders visited Kaivopuisto and the seaside rocks. In winter they sledded, skated, and skied. The spring celebration was held on an excursion by steamboat.”
The sisters’ work, as well as the school and orphanage, seemed to flourish until, after the death of Alexander II of Russia and various disagreements, support was withdrawn. Due to lack of funds, boarders had to return home. “The children’s singing ceased, attendance at church declined, and activity diminished. Many were left without guidance when the pastor left for Germany and the Sisters of St Catherine departed for Braunsberg in March 1882.”
The School of the French Sisters
Since many children of Italian and Polish families experienced language difficulties and were not able to manage sufficiently well in Finnish elementary schools, the parish priest of St Henry’s Church, Wilfrid von Christierson, founded a parish school in November 1907 in the presbytery on Pietarinkatu to assist them.
In April 1908, several Franciscan sisters arrived from Nechin in Belgium. They had been forced to leave France. The school was Swedish-speaking and received modest financial support from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
Later, the school moved first to Merikatu 1 and then to premises rented from the university at Vironkatu 3, where a chapel was also established. The school had 27 pupils, and the sisters also cared for an orphanage and a small kindergarten.
Unfortunately, suspicion toward the Church and foreigners increased among the authorities. Russian militia entered to inspect the school and the sisters’ residence, which led to their departure from Finland in the autumn of 1911. The school continued for a few more months under the parish priest and volunteers. Efforts were made to find new sisters to continue the work of the school, orphanage, and kindergarten, but the outbreak of the First World War brought these plans to nothing.
Stella Maris – Merentähti
When Tsar Nicholas II of Russia issued the decree on religious freedom in 1905, Ursuline sister Ursula Ledóchowska travelled from Poland to Russia in 1907 to take charge of the boarding school and gymnasium of St Catherine’s parish in St Petersburg.
Because many of the girls suffered from the damp climate of St Petersburg, in the summer of 1908 Mother Ursula brought them to Finland, to the Karelian Isthmus, so that they might at least for a few weeks each year breathe clean air and strengthen their health. That same year, she purchased several hectares of land and a large house near Sortavala, where she established a year-round boarding school, school, and a small convent.
There, the sisters were able to work more freely than in St Petersburg, where religious activity was strictly supervised. The place was entrusted to the protection of the Virgin Mary and given the name Stella Maris – Star of the Sea. A statue of the Virgin Mary was erected by the shore, becoming the second most important place on the grounds after the chapel.
The first pupils arrived at Stella Maris in the autumn of 1910. The school was under the Russian Ministry of Education but received no financial support from the state. In its final year of operation, 1913, the school had six classes. The standard of teaching was high, and the results of examinations taken in St Petersburg were excellent.
Instruction was in Russian, but alongside it Polish language and literature were studied secretly, as Polish had been forbidden in the process of Russification.
The education of the young took into account their integral development. Time was devoted to study, outdoor activities, physical exercise, dance, theatre, excursions, and in winter skating. The students were also taught responsibility for their surroundings: they visited local residents and sewed clothes as Christmas gifts for children in the area. In this way, they learned the dignity of work and cooperation with others.
Mother Ursula paid particular attention to the spiritual life of both young people and adults. Daily prayers were held together in the chapel, and each day concluded with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. She organised retreats for sisters, teachers, and pupils, and invited priests of the Sacred Heart so that participation in Holy Mass and the sacraments would be possible.
The Russian authorities, however, were disturbed by foreign missionary activity in Finland. Priests were expelled a few days before Easter in 1911. They were replaced by the parish priest of Vyborg, Adolf Carling, who came to Stella Maris to celebrate Mass and hear confessions.
At the same time, Russian newspapers attacked Ursula Ledóchowska, accusing her of being a spy for Rome and Austria. In the summer of 1914, rumours of the coming First World War spread. Ursula, a Polish citizen holding an Austrian passport, was forced to leave Russia. The school had to be closed, and the girls returned to their homes.
The Sisters of the Sacred Heart and St Mary’s School, Kindergarten, and Orphanage
In 1924, the Sisters of the Sacred Heart arrived in Helsinki from the Netherlands and settled at Albertinkatu 36. They immediately began to learn Finnish and Swedish so that, from September 1924, they could open a school known as St Mary’s School.
At first, teaching took place in the sisters’ living room, and the language of instruction was Swedish. Later, Finnish and English were also taught. The rector of the school was Fr Hartwijk, who taught religion and music. As the number of pupils grew, some children lived with the sisters, and in January 1925 an orphanage naturally came into being.
In 1930, the school, orphanage, and sisters moved to a larger building at Edelfeltintie 14, which also had space for a chapel and a newly established kindergarten. In the chapel there were small stools on which the children prayed daily. The building was called the bishop’s house, as the bishop lived there for a time.
The building also housed the so-called Bishop Hemming Library, consisting of around 800 Catholic books, which were widely used by both children and adults.
In 1932, the school received official approval from the Ministry of Education. The curriculum followed that of other Finnish schools. There were about 40 pupils: three preparatory classes and five middle-school classes. Teaching was individual in character, and after completing middle school, pupils could continue in state upper secondary schools.
In the autumn of 1939, the activities of St Mary’s School and kindergarten began normally, but the worsening political situation soon interrupted them. As the threat of war increased, the motherhouse ordered all Dutch sisters to return to their homeland. Thus, the sisters left Finland on Friday, 12 November 1939.
Only the Finnish sister Sofia remained in Helsinki, caring for the children of the orphanage during the war together with the Sisters of the Precious Blood.
The Sisters of the Sacred Heart returned to Finland after the war in 1946 and again took responsibility for the orphanage and kindergarten, but the school was not reopened.
After the war, St Mary’s kindergarten moved several times until, in 1959, it settled near St Henry’s Cathedral at Puistokatu 1 A. It continues to operate there and remains very popular. Since 1985, it has been run by the Ursuline sisters.
Education is based on Christian values, and the multicultural environment of the kindergarten naturally teaches both children and adults acceptance of diversity, tolerance, and mutual fraternity. Children are also taught English, pre-school education is provided, and the feasts of the liturgical year are celebrated.
The Sisters of the Most Precious Blood and The English School
In 1945, The English School Helsinki was founded in Helsinki. The school was entrusted to the care of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood, who had arrived in Finland even before the war.
The school grew rapidly, and in 1952 a new building was completed in Meilahti. At its height, the school had around 400 pupils. The majority were Finnish Lutherans, but about 10 percent were children from foreign families, who were usually Catholics. There were 27 teachers, ten of whom were native English speakers.
Between 1960 and 1973, the English Secretary College operated in connection with the school, offering a highly popular two-year programme. Hundreds of diploma secretaries graduated from it, but the programme had to be discontinued due to limitations of space, staff, and finances.
The chairmen of the school’s board included Bishop Cobben (1945–1967) and later Bishop Verschuren. The contribution of both to the development of the school was decisive.
During the time of the sisters, the school maintained close cooperation with St Mary’s Parish Helsinki. Holy Mass was celebrated on Sundays in the school premises until St Mary’s Church was built. Once a month, religious instruction was organised for Catholic children and young people, and parish celebrations were also held.
In 1996, the sisters withdrew from the school, and it passed into the administration of a foundation. Today, the school has more than 700 pupils from pre-school through comprehensive school to upper secondary level.
When speaking of The English School, we cannot forget Sister Mary Venard CPPS, who devoted her long life to the education of children and young people. She left in the hearts of hundreds, if not thousands, a warm memory as a bearer of knowledge, skill, and the love of God. She departed from Finland only at the age of one hundred.
Now is the time to give thanks to all those who, over the centuries, have taken part in evangelisation through education and teaching: teachers, educators, lay people, supporters, and parents. We ourselves are the educational environment, and together with Christ we look to the future with confidence. Together we wish to build the Kingdom of God.
Sr. Barbara Ogieniewska SJK
Sources:
– Finlandia Catholica
– Catholic religion for lower secondary school
– Pope Leo’s apostolic letter on education and teaching
A New Catholic School: Be Part of the Continuum of Catholic Education!
After the Catholic phase of The English School, there has been no Catholic school education in Finland. Now, however, the situation is finally changing: the Catholic school in Helsinki will open its doors this coming autumn. Instruction will be in Finnish and free of charge. Applications are still being accepted: koulu.katolinen.fi (Visit an external site. The link opens in a new tab.).
Fides