Stella Maris fosters the Artist hidden in our students.
Beauty originates from the Creator and ultimately leads us back to Him. At Stella Maris, we believe that an appreciation for beauty is essential to the holistic development of students. Through the fine arts, students not only recognize beauty in various forms but also develop their innate ability to create beautifully, uniting their action to the divine.
The arts are more than mere expressions of personal feelings. Each brushstroke, musical note, and dramatic performance becomes an opportunity for students to express their understanding of the world and their place within it. Thus, they can realize that beauty is not a solitary experience but a reflection of God’s handiwork in the world around us. They learn to recognize beauty every day, and to see God passing by at every hour and in every circumstance. We strive to develop students’ hearts so they may be properly moved of true good.
St. John Paul II, in his Letter to Artists, emphasized that the pursuit of beauty encourages individuals to strive for a higher ideal in their lives, one that encompasses not only the external expression of beauty but also the internal cultivation of virtues such as love, compassion, and integrity. Through their artistic journeys, students are invited to reflect on their ends and desires, fostering a virtuous search for beauty at every moment. By learning the arts, students learn to see God in all things, to collaborate with God in their own creation, and to move toward God in lives ordered toward beauty.
As boys grow, and with them their passions and affections, they need arts to be able to order their affectivity rightly toward God. The arts develop boys’ imagination, which is key for them to understand and strive for the greatness God calls them to. The world God has placed our students into is not meant merely to be looked at, observed, but to be brought to fullness through man’s working hand. In learning art, students learn to exercise their assertiveness, to imagine themselves and their world in a lens of greatness, and to collaborate with the Creator in achieving it.
