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"the country is something else that the mere place where we were born. It is something spiritual that would transform our life. The country´s visible stamp resides, rather than in monuments, in its most eminent people´s writings..." Aurelio
Espinosa Pólit s.j. |
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HISTORY AT A GLANCE Aurelio
Espinosa Polit founded on April 1, 1929 the Ecuadorian Library that
justly took his name several years later. In 1930, San Gabriel High
School´s magazine "Mi Colegio", published Aurelio'
s article about the origin and reason of the Ecuadorian Library.
This remarkable statement was the base for the future declaration
of the National Congress that in 1995 proclaimed the Ecuadorian
Library as "Library Archive of Ecuadorian books and Aurelio
Espinosa used to say that "the country is something else that
the mere place where we were born. It is something spiritual that
would transform our life. The country´s visible stamp resides,
rather than in monuments, in its most eminent people´s writings.
Olmedo' s immortal song, Gonzalez Suarez´s history, Leon Mera
and Montalvo' s proses, and Crespo Toral´s verses..." FR.
AURELIO ESPINOSA POLIT, S.I. Aurelio
Espinosa Polit, S.I. was born in Quito, Ecuador in July 11, 1894.
His family was forced to leave his native country when Aurelio was
only four years old. He finished the high school in Namur (Belgium),
afterward he joined the Society of Jesus in Granada (Spain) where
he studied philosophy for several years. There, he taught Literature
from 1917 to 1921. Since 1922, Aurelio studied theology in Sarria
(Barcelona) being ordained to the priesthood by the Archbishop of
Quito Manuel Maria Polit Lasso, brother of Aurelio´s mother.
From this time on, his life will be shaped by his priestly vocation. In
1927 Aurelio traveled to Cambridge, England to get a degree in classical
humanities. He came back to Ecuador in 1928 to be the responsible
of studies in the Jesuit novitiate of Cotocollao, a small town near
to Quito. In few years, Aurelio´s bright intelligence and
religious virtues began to shine over young Jesuits and lay students
as the founder and first president of the Catholic University. Aurelio
Espinosa was a prolific writer and appreciated translator of classical
authors. His bibliography is rich and diverse with more than 600
titles. Thus, we can find complete translations from the Greek and
Latin to Spanish of Virgil, Horace, and Sofocles. His "Virgil,
the poet and his providential mission" received the national
award of literature and universal acclamation. Moreover, he prepared
the critical editions of several books written by distinguished
Jesuits such as the "Life of Saint Mariana of Jesus" by
Jacinto Moran de Butron, S.I., the "History of the Kingdom
of Quito" by Juan de Velasco, S.I. and the epistolary of the You
are in: www.beaep.org.ec/Introduction
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