Curriculum

Academic English is a three-level course designed to strengthen the students’ mastery of the English language within the context of humanistic studies. Students are placed in beginning, intermediate, or proficient sections according to their demonstrated level of English, with each section pursuing the same academic objectives through instruction appropriate to the student’s proficiency. The course places particular emphasis on the development of academic writing through the study and practice of composition, while also fostering careful reading, vocabulary development, grammatical accuracy, and effective written expression. As students advance, they engage in increasingly sophisticated analysis of texts, including selected works of English literature and poetry, using them as models for critical reading, interpretation, and academic writing. Throughout all three levels, the course seeks to cultivate precision of language, clarity of thought, and excellence in written communication. Taught by Fr. John Pietropoali LC, Fr. Junior Santos LC and assisted by Mr. Elijah McLellan.

This course is designed as an introduction to the basic concepts of art history, and to its development from Antiquity up through the High Middle Ages. While the history of art will be presented in chronological progression, common underlying aesthetic and ideological principles are identified and reflected upon in order to evaluate and appreciate better the patrimony and the impact which the visual arts has exerted on man. In particular, for painting, sculpture, and architecture, the following periods are studied: Pre-History, Ancient Near East, Egypt, Crete, Mycenae, Greece, Rome, early Christianity, Byzantium, Pre-Romanesque, Romanesque and Gothic. Each period and artistic style is placed within the socio-cultural context of the epoch, emphasizing underlying ideas and beliefs. The most representative works of art from each period are presented along with references to primary texts about art and aesthetics. The course format will include both lecture and more in-depth discussion of a select few of the most representative artworks along with references to primary texts about art and aesthetics. This course will also emphasize, through reflection and discussion, historical artworks in relation to contemporary cultural issues as well as their potential for application as tools of apostolate. Guided visits to the following art museums will provide firsthand experience of the material covered in class: The Yale Art Gallery; The Museum of Russian Icons; The Worcester Art Museum; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Taught by Mrs. Louise Joyner.

This course builds upon that covered in its prerequisite, Art History I, as it continues the socio-historical presentation of painting, sculpture, and architecture during the Renaissance, Mannerist, Baroque, Rococo, and Neo-Classical periods. The most representative works of art from each period are presented along with references to primary texts about art and aesthetics. The course format will include both lecture and more in-depth discussion of a select few of the most representative artists and their artworks. “Mock Virtual Tours” will offer an opportunity to simulate the experience of presenting a guided tour in the context of an art museum, a church or an artistic landmark. Guided visits to: The Boston Museum of Fine Art; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Frick Collection, New York; and The Hispanic Museum and Library, NY, will provide firsthand experience of the material covered in class. Taught by Mrs. Louise Joyner.

This course, following upon prerequisites Art History I & II, concludes the socio-historical survey of art history with a variety of modern and post-modern movements from the nineteenth and twentieth-centuries up to present-day contemporary art. Some of the key art historical movements that will be studied include: Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Expressionism, Futurism, Cubism, Surrealism, Pop Art, and Post-Modernism. The course format will include both lecture and more in-depth discussion of a select few of the most representative artists and their artworks. The leitmotif for the survey of modern art will be an emphasis on aesthetics, art theory and criticism, that is, an introductory overview of art historical methodologies and aesthetics, that is, the philosophy of beauty. As in the prerequisite art courses (Art History I and II) this course will continue to emphasize, through reflection and discussion, the artworks in relation to contemporary cultural issues as well as their potential for application as tools of apostolate. “Mock exhibitions” will offer the opportunity to travel back in time through role playing the parts of artists and critics at various exhibitions and events from the late nineteenth century to the present. An architectural walking tour of New Haven and visits to the following art museums will provide firsthand experience of the theoretical principles and the historical overview provided through lecture and discussion covered in class: The Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford; Museum of Modern Art, NY; and a walking architectural tour of New Haven. Taught by Mrs. Louise Joyner.

In this course, students read, analyze and discuss selected works from classical authors. The authors or themes treated are as follows: introduction to Greek Literature, Homer, Hesiod, Lyric Poets, Greek Tragedy, Lucretius, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Catullus, Early Medieval Epics (from Beowulf to the Nibelungenlied) Dante, Petrarch, Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Cervantes, the Spanish Golden Century, French Theater, Jonathan Swift. A weekly seminar period is dedicated to Virgil’s Aeneid, with students reading the entire work and preparing a presentation on a specific topic. A discussion of major themes and topics—such as literary devices, ideas and intuitions regarding human nature—follows each presentation. Taught by Dr. Baltazar López.

This course entails reading, analysis, and discussion of selected works from the nineteenth century. The authors or themes treated are as follows: Goethe, Romanticism in England, Spain, and Italy, Realism and later literary movements. For the seminar, students will go deeper into Dante and his Divine Comedy. They prepare different presentations throughout the semester with the help of various commentaries and under the modality suggested by each seminar director. Taught by Mr. Baltazar López.

This course entails the reading, analysis, and discussion of selected works from the twentieth century, such as Wilde, Kafka, Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, Hesse, Hemingway, Tolkien, Lewis, García Márquez, Borges, Paz and others. Taught by Dr. Baltazar López.

This course is the first part of a three-semester survey of the history of European art music from Greco-Roman antiquity to the twentieth century. The course opens with a general, basic introduction to music theory, including consideration of music’s aesthetic and ethical dimensions. The course then begins the survey, covering topics and composers such as Mesomedes of Crete, Gregorian chant, the beginnings of polyphony in the Middle Ages, and liturgical and secular music of the Renaissance. Concerts and other special events will be part of the program. Taught by Dr. Charles Mercier.

This course is a continuation of Music History, covering seventeenth and eighteenth century European art music, the Baroque and Classical periods. Included will be topics and composers such as Sweelinck, Pachelbel, Bach, Handel, Mozart, and Beethoven, the development of opera, Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, and sonata form. Concerts and other special events will be part of the program. Taught by Dr. Charles Mercier.

This course is a continuation of Music History, covering nineteenth and twentieth century European art music, the Romantic and modern periods. Included will be topics and composers such as Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Wagner, Debussy, Schoenberg, Messiaen, and Glass, nationalism, atonality, and minimalism. Concerts and other special events will be part of the program. Taught by Dr. Charles Mercier.

This course entails the reading, analysis, and discussion of selected works written in Spanish, with an emphasis on the twentieth century. Some of the authors to be covered in the course are Rubén Darío, Antonio Machado, Miguel de Unamuno, Octavio Paz, Gerardo Diego, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Miguel Delibes, Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel García Márquez, Mónica Ojeda, among others. Taught by Dr. Baltazar López.

This course stresses the connection between philosophy and literature; it shows how they intertwine, how one discipline draws from the other, and how the exchange between them is mutually enriching. At the same time, it highlights the distinctions between philosophy and literature and the different methods they employ to approach their respective objects, where there is a significant, if not total, overlap. The course will examine the lives and works of Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure, Descartes, Spinoza, Pascal, Locke, Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, and others. Taught by Dr. Baltazar López.

This course will study composers, genres, and themes not represented in Music History I-III or ones that were represented but in greater depth. Topics may include Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical liturgical music, Catholic and Lutheran; opera and ballet; and English and American music. Taught by Dr. Charles Mercier.