First established Roman Catholic Church and School in Cayo, 1908
There was a school, which was administered by the Church with lay teachers. The first teachers being Mr & Mrs Marchand.
This Church and School were located on the right side going up to the present Sacred Heart Church.
I can hear the Mass in Latin with all the Choir praising God. How beautiful it was. Just memories...
When I started school in 1934 they had built good wooden buildings including a convent for the Palotti Nuns.
Those houses of thatch roofs are Maya traditional houses , they are plastered with white marl that made it sturdier and safe vs wind chills and rain... That means that our Maya Ancestors were builders of those structures for the Catholic Faith impositioned on them ...
These are the lands donated to the Roman Catholic Church in San Ignacio in the early 1900's. - -This included the grounds where the Church, Convent, Schools and Prestbitery and towards Bullet Tree Road known as WAIGHT STREET.
I also attended Sacred Heart school in the early 50s. I remember the royal palms leading to the church. Below was the old theater I use to watch Roy Rogers, his horse Trigger and Gene Autry movies. They could cover from grade 1 to 6 in this building.
I remeber the old theater. Going to watch a scary movie then walking home at night Had to pass through the cemetary to get home on the other side. Well it was no walking it was running as fast as I could all the candles flickering on top of graves seeem as though they were following me. We lived at the Agriculture Station next to Arthur Mapp.
Photograph courtesy Hector Silva
Click here to comment on this picture.
Belize Slideshow