page_title: Belvedere College
section_title: Culture of Belvedere
hierarchical_section_title: Belvedere College / Culture of Belvedere
caption_attribution_description: English: Belvedere College SJ.
context_page_description: Belvedere College S.J. is a voluntary secondary school for boys in Dublin, Ireland. The school has numerous alumni in the arts, politics, sports, science, and business.
context_section_description: Belvedere College is run by the Jesuit order. Most of the school's teaching staff are lay-persons, although a number of Jesuit priests and brothers assist with administration and chaplaincy.
  The school motto is Per Vias Rectas – "By Straight Paths" – and the college aspires to produce "Men for Others". Students often write "AMDG" for Ad maiorem Dei gloriam, "For the greater glory of God", the motto of the Society of Jesus, on the top left of pages of their copybooks. They formerly also wrote "LDSetBVM" or Laus Deo Semper et Beatae Virgini Mariae ("Praise to God forever and to the Blessed Virgin Mary") on the bottom right of the same page.
  The students are assigned to one of six lines or houses, mainly named after Jesuits who were either famous or had an association with Belvedere: Loyola, Xavier, Aylmer, Kenney, Finlay and Scully (previously named Dempsey after George Dempsey). Years are named after the progression in the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum: Elements, Rudiments, Grammar, Syntax, Poetry, and Rhetoric. Each form except Rhetoric has a captain and vice-captain.
  The unofficial school anthem, often heard at rugby matches, is "Only In God", based on Psalm 62 in the Bible. The song was first sung at rugby matches during the 1995 and 1996 Senior Cup Campaigns after being popularised by religion teacher David O'Hanlon ('Dead-on Dave'). The official, less popular anthem, "Belvedere, Oh Belvedere", was composed by a past pupil and recorded by the school choir in 1997.
  The school's yearbook is The Belvederian. The term "Belvederian" is also sometimes used to refer to current students and "Old Belvederian" (OB) for alumni. Old Belvederians normally refer to their graduation by using "OB" followed by their final year in the college, for example, "OB 1984".
  Belvedere College is the backdrop for much of James Joyce's novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. It is a semi-autobiographical piece of work and the teacher, Mr Tate, was based on Joyce's own English teacher, George Dempsey. In the book Joyce mentions his involvement in the College Opera which continues today. In 1884, Fr. James Aloysius Cullen S.J. was appointed spiritual father at Belvedere, a position he retained for twenty years while also engaged in other ministry. Cullen was founder and director of the Sodality of Our Lady at the college, which duties included counseling students. In 1896, James Joyce was elected Student Prefect of the Society. According to Neil R. Davison, the sermons in Chapter III of A Portrait of the Artist are modeled on those given by Cullen during a retreat held in 1897.
caption: Belvedere College SJ. View from the Dargan-Maloney Science and technology block, into the yard.
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