August 2007

August 2007

St. Aloysius College, Mangalore.

Part I

What the College Has Come to Be:

.... the greatest glory of Mangalore, let us say it humbly and thankfully." This was what Fr. A. Ambruzzi s.j. the tenth Rector of St Aloysius College, Mangalore, said of it fifty-two ago; and now, in the centenary year of the College, the writer of the present history has no hesitation at all in saying it again; “.... the greatest glory of Mangalore, let us say it humbly thankfully."

In the course of a hundred years, St Aloysius College has traveled (as it were) very far. In 1880, it was only an Upper Secondary School meant to prepare students for the Matriculation Examination. Functioning in a single building, it counted on the opening (January 12, 1880) a hundred and fifty students on its rolls and just two teachers (Fr. Jos Willy s.j. and Scholastic Postlewhite s.j.) on its staff. It grew to be a Second Grade College in the third year. In the mean time, in the fifth year, it had come to have a Middle School (or Lower Secondary) Section added on to its Upper Secondary Department. In the twenty-eighth year, it came to have a Primary Section tagged on to its Middle School Department.

Now, in the centenary year, the world of St Aloysius College includes in its grand sweep a First Grade Day College, a First Grade Evening College, a High School, an Evening High School, a Higher Primary School (or Middle School) and a College of Business Administration. Having nineteen buildings of its own (including among others the Centenary Commemoration Building the College Students' Recreation Centre, the old Academy Hall, the College Auditorium, two workshops, the buildings served as Staff Quarters for a good number of the College teachers, three blocks of the former "Down College" providing residential accommodation for quite a few Middle School teachers and other employees, the three hostels and the former Boarding House where the vocationalised courses are currently held) the College now counts 4,591 students on the rolls of the several institutions in its fold (as against the original number of 150 students) and 148 teachers (as against the original number of two teachers)!

Yet, even in the centenary year, after the College has come to have such a plurality of buildings, when one says, "St Aloysius College," what invariably "flashes upon the inward eye" (bringing to the mind Poet Saldanha's lines quoted above) is that 1885 building on the top of Edyah Hill, 'the Acropolis of Mangalore', that old two-storeyed building 496 feet long, with the magnificent Chapel and the ornate Academy Hall (each 118' x 50') at it two ends, and the Tower rising from its middle, the whole edifice designed somewhat after the Oratory of St Philip Neri in Rome. This happens because, for long years, with its tower it was the tallest building in Mangalore; and though, in course of time, taller buildings have come up on all sides, to this day it is the College tower that rises higher into the Mangalore air than any other building in the city on account of its natural advantage of being perched on the top of Edyah Hill. Moreover there is nothing else comparable to it in terms of majestic lay-out and sheer size in Mangalore.

But what is really pertinent to the present history is not the physical eminence of the College but something else, viz., the fact that the physical eminence is symbolic of the educational eminence that the College has come to have in the district, symbolic of its great age, of its immense prestige and of its very impressive record of service to the district.

In a hundred years, how many able priests, administrators, diplomats, politicians, judges, advocates, doctors, engineers, scientists, industrialists, manufacturers, businessmen, civil servants, men of the Defence Services, teachers, writers, journalists, artists and social workers has not the College given to the country? Therefore what the College has meant to the country in general is not irrelevant to a consideration of what the College has come to be. But, in relation to the second element of the title of the present history, what is more important is what the College has meant to Dakshina Kannada (South Kanara) in particular.

If today Dakshina Kannada is an honored name on the map of India, it is chiefly on account of its spectacular progress in education; and this progress is to be reckoned not merely in terms of the large number of the Primary Schools, Secondary Schools and Colleges (both those given to general education and those given to professional education) in the district, nor merely in terms of the very good examination results in these institutions (always above the State averages), but also and chiefly, in terms of the catholicity, modernity and urbanity of the people of the district and their admirable enterprise. The credit for this progress must largely be given to St Aloysius College. For one thing, it was the only First Grade College for men students in this district for nearly sixty years; for another, when the district went in for a rapid multiplication of High Schools and of Colleges in the first four decades and the next two decades respectively of this century, the first contingents of educational personnel in these institutions had to be, by and large, the products of St Aloysius College.

Even when their subsequent streams of educators did not inevitably have to be Aloysians, these institutions continued to be indebted to St Aloysius College: in another way: they chose to emulate it in some important matters. Thus Dr T. Madhava Pai, himself an Old Boy and the far-renowned maker of the vast and varied educational complex at Manipal, who founded not only several Professional Colleges of acknowledged excellence but also six very good Colleges of Arts, Science and Commerce (including M.G.M. College, Udupi, the most formidable rival of St Aloysius College for the title of the College par excellence of Dakshina Kannada) always looked upon St Aloysius College as well worth the tribute of emulation. We have it on the authority of a bulletin of Manipal Academy of General Education that, "to Dr Pai, the educational activities of the Missionaries were a source of inspiration; and today the managers as well as the teachers in his institutions hail the premier college of the district, viz., St Aloysius College, as a model institution so far as academic standards and discipline are concerned. Although each one of these Colleges has its own individuality, each secretly cherishes the desire to be compared (of course, favorably) with the College on top of Edyah Hill." (- Italics, the Editor's comments.)

It would be easy to pile up the evidence of the excellent image that the College has projected of itself in the public mind in the course of a hundred years. But, for want of space, the present history has to be content with just one more piece of evidence. Rajesh Mallya, a mere High School lad, gives this interesting piece of information in an article in The Littleman: "There was a time when the boys of St Aloysius were admitted to medical colleges in Ceylon without being required to take the Entrance Examination, which it was necessary for the Ceylonese and other boys to take." Of course, the High School lad, being unexposed to the sophisticated requirements of documentation, cites no authority for his information. The present writer, however, likes to believe that the lad's information is correct. Even if it is not so, it should serve at least as a pointer to the splendid image of the Alma Mater in popular imagination and also to the very understandable proneness of her admirers to invent legends about her, seeing that her reputation is so good and so well-founded that almost any legend about her would gain credence.

Part II

How the College Has Come to Be Such

Before turning from the foregoing summing up of what the College has come to be, to chronicling proper, it should not be out of place to dwell for a while on how the College has come to be such. From the beginning, the Jesuits trained their sights very high. They always had very great solicitude for the spiritual and material good of the students entrusted to their care. Consider, for instance, their reason for choosing to have only the Fifth, the Upper Fourth and the Lower Fourth Classes (i.e., the three classes prior to the Matriculation Class) in the opening year: "It was considered prudent not to start with the Matriculation Class, as our want of experience of Indian examinations might have lessened the chance of passing for prospective Matriculation students."

Further, the Jesuit Fathers insisted on regularity of attendance, good conduct and application to studies. In the first decade in particular, this was an uphill task, given the situation that neither the parents of their scholars nor the scholars themselves used to be sufficiently appreciative then of the value of regularity in attendance at college. The first Annual Report of the second Rector Fr. Cavadini (the Report for 1885-86) has this lament: "We have to complain of irregular attendance in not a few cases." The adverb "still" reveals what the situation must have been during the Rectorate of Fr. Willy earlier. Fr. Cavadini's second Annual Report shows how he would not give up the fight against irregularity; for, accounting for the decrease of the student strength during the course of the year, the Report says: "Some were dismissed on account of their irregularity, others left. Most of the latter belonged to that class of traveling-scholars who, by joining one school, then another, then a third, avoid indeed the strict measures of school discipline".

But such firmness paid good dividends, apparently; for, after Fr. Cavadini's term, the Annual Reports lament neither about irregularity nor about the traveling-scholars traveling away from the Aloysian measures of discipline. In fact, since then student enrolment has always kept mounting, and the cry has ever been "Still they come."

More than these measures of discipline, and also more than precept (such as Fr. Cavadini used to place before the parents of his scholars in his Annual Reports), practice and example must have begun to tell before long both on the scholars and on their parents; for, from the start, the Jesuit Fathers laboured with utter dedication. Consider, for instance, how Fr. John Sergeant and Fr. Ryan dispensed with the luxury of "joining time" when they arrived at the College on January 29, 1880, notwithstanding the fatigue of their four-week voyage from Europe: "As we (i.e., Fr. Sergeant and Fr. Ryan) arrived about midday, the midday meal (we were all hungry) received our first attention. During dinner, Fr. Maffei, who was waiting to take up his work at Jeppu, and had been teaching for a few days until our arrival, asked me when I should be ready to begin school work. I answered, 'As soon as you like, after dinner.' Accordingly, just before two o'clock, we were taken to the College .... That afternoon was spent in preliminaries. Next morning Fr. Ryan was sent round the corner of the bungalow and I was installed in the front verandah," to teach the two classes accommodated there.

Again, consider the following from the pen of the same Fr. Sergeant:, "My first day of teaching was a most pleasant one, and a type of all the days I spent in teaching till I left India. I never had a dull day, and until my health failed in 1886, I doubt if I was absent from class for a single hour during the whole period of six happy years."

The example of the Jesuit Fathers in not being absent from class except when their health failed has been naturally very telling,. Hence the lay teachers, too, have generally been very scrupulous in this regard. The Casual Leave account of many a teacher has remained not drawn upon at all, in many a year. Many a teacher has retired without getting to know the rules concerning such varieties of leave as Commuted Leave, Half-Pay Leave, Extraordinary Leave, and what not. Hence Fr. A. Ambruzzi's observation in the Annual Report for 1935-1936: "It is a most pleasant duty to thank all the members of the teaching and clerical staff for their unstinted labor throughout the year. In spite of family and other difficulties, some did not absent themselves from work for a single hour." Hence, again, Fr. A. P. Menezes observation in the Annual Report for 1962-63: "This Institution has not lacked devoted teachers who joined service when young and who have grown old with it. They love teaching so much that they would not appreciate the cancellation of even one working hour in a term. Their first and last lesson is a lesson in discipline and order. The younger men too have quickly fallen in line with the old and imbibed the same spirit of devotion to work and personal interest in their pupils."

The results of examinations have been consistently good, especially after the first decade. In the first decade, when the students had yet to appreciate the value of regularity, the examination results used to be, as Fr. Cavadini put it in the Annual Report for 1885-1886, "not exactly what we might have wished for." But early in the second decade, the examination results began to be good; thus the Annual Report for 1892-1893 notes: "The results of the B.A. Examinations were highly satisfactory, the percentage of passes being greater than that of any other college in the Presidency." Since then the examination results have generally been what we have wished for.

The question arises whether this has been on account of the careful selection of students both for enrolment and for taking the public examinations. The hundred years of the College have, by and large, passed without such careful selection. . Fr. A. P. Menezes disposed of this question very well in the Annual Report for 1962-1963: "There has been much mud-slinging at private colleges by responsible persons and by sections of the press, of late. If the private colleges secure good results, this is attributed to the fact that only students who secure a first class in the S.S.L.C Examination are admitted to these colleges .... Suggestions have therefore been made that at least 25 % of the seats in private colleges should be reserved for third class students! At the risk of offending some people and tiring others, may I indulge in a bit of statistical analysis. Of the 442 candidates who appeared for the P.U.C. Examination from this College, 16 were repeaters, 88 had secured a first class in the S.S.L.C, 142 a second class and 191 had just a third class (some after more than one attempt). It is not surprising that, of these 191, 95 failed. But you may be agreeably surprised to learn that, of these 191, 42 secured a second class, and 4 even a first class. Of the 142 candidates who had secured second class marks in the S.S.L.C, 53 obtained a first class!"

In the following year's Annual Report, Fr. Menezes came out with further statistical information tending to the same conclusion: "Lest our success be attributed entirely to careful selection of students at the time of admission and a more careful selection of candidates for the public examinations, let me tell You that, out of 503 students on the rolls in the Pre-University Class, 499 were permitted to appear for the examination; and out of these 499, 122 (i.e. 25 '/,,) had only third class marks in the S.S.L.C Examination, and 65 of these had passed after more than one attempt."

What then is the secret of such, success? "A simple word summarizes it: WORK, tireless efforts of the Principal to maintain order, discipline and regularity, tireless efforts by the teachers to . impart excellent instruction and serious effort by every student.

I do understand that work is irksome, and discipline more irksome still. But there is no alternative road to success. The Romans were very realistic when they used the term 'discipline' to signify not only what we generally mean by that term but also the study of any subject, implying thereby that the two cannot be separated." (-Italics, the Editor's)

There is an obvious question that arises in this context: how come that even across a span of a hundred years the lay teachers on Edyah Hill have, by and large, been men of such dedication? The answer is two-fold: for one thing, the dedication of the Jesuit Fathers themselves has been infectious; for another, that very dedication has made the Fathers careful, in the first instance in selecting the lay staff, and thereafter, in approving of their performance as probationers. Every Rector of St Aloysius College has done these two things without fear or favour, not having an axe to grind.

Mr John Monteiro, who in the sixties was a probationary Lecturer in the College for a year, and who has been a successful journalist since then, bears frank testimony to this in the course of his reminiscences appearing in one of the Centenary Bulletins: "I have to be grateful to St Aloysius College for much, not in the least for helping me to discover my vocation. After my post graduation, the College was kind enough to offer me a Lectureship. The students were, by and large, tolerant and courteous. So was the Principal. But the interests of the students came first with him. He was firm in telling me at the end of the year that teaching was not my vocation. This from a Principal who bears my own surname and who is the brother of one of my close friends. But he had to weigh the interests of one against those of so many eager students entrusted to his care. This Principal, who has now retired, is one of the people whom I meet faithfully every time I visit Mangalore. The incident reflects the integrity of the Jesuits of St Aloysius College."

This integrity is something that cannot be enough praised, as should be evident from the contrast presented in the following dismal narrative: (a) We are now living in very bad times when corruption is mounting highland mounting fast in our society; employment in the public sector (not to put it more pointedly) is more and more coming to depend upon payments made under the table to sundry personages. (b) There is worse to follow: as employment in private educational institutions is now as gainful as that in government educational institutions, increasing numbers of the candidates for such employment seem to think that, if they must pay the customary "prices" for employment in the public sector, they might as well pay the like prices for employment in the private sector too. Towards the end of his term as the Principal of a private college, the present writer himself found candidates for employment as Lecturers in his College offering not only to give donations to the College, but also to make payments under the table to him if only they would be selected for employment; a few had even gone to the length of making the offers in writing, in the covering letters appended to their applications; such "prices" are offered even for employment in Primary Schools nowadays! (c) The worst part of the narrative is here: already there are Managements, (even in Dakshina Kannada,) that have been caving in before such offers so that the !jobs in such institutions go not to the best-qualified and the most competent but to those who pull their purse-strings the widest.

The integrity of the Jesuit Fathers of St Aloysius College is the only explanation for the phenomenon of their getting such dedicated lay teachers right through a hundred years. Let it also f be said, and not merely in passing, that the lay teachers too have been as much men of integrity as they have been men of dedication.

Having said so much of examination results and of the underlying dedicated effort, it is now necessary to make it clear that the College has not been merely an examination-oriented institution. It is not as if, in a bid to keep up the high academic standards, the Jesuit Fathers have lost sight of the need to work for sound minds in sound bodies. Athletics and games have ever had their due importance in the College; and the students on its rolls have distinguished themselves in the district as much by their proficiency in games as by their proficiency in studies.

Cricket was developed very early as a St Aloysius College specialty by Fr. Ryan s.j. one of the earliest Jesuits who laboured in the College. At Oscott, he had been dubbed Public Man, "the term applied there to the best all-round student."' On Edyah t Hill, "the Public Man of Oscott would take part in Badminton, Tennis, Football, Running and Jumping to show how it should be done. But Cricket was his great game. He stood at the wicket in his lovely white soutane, and showed what 'Forward Play' meant ' and what 'Drive' meant. Cricket was in its glorious days when the College team under Fr. Ryan pitted itself against Military Officers, European Officials and Planters .... The history of cricket at St Aloysius College might fill a whole volume. But as Dr L. P. Fernandes of Kankanady said recently, if Fr. Ryan had not started cricket in 1885 and earnestly promoted it up to his death, St Aloysius College would not have achieved its unique record in cricket."'

Hockey, too, soon became as much the forte of St Aloysius College as cricket. Right through the century, the students of the College have had a hectic career of winning trophies for the College in the matches and tournaments relating to different games. Fr. Joseph A. B. Coelho s.j. the twelfth Rector of the College, stated the St Aloysius College policy in regard to sports and games very well thus: "In Jesuit education, play has its rightful place after study, and with a view to better study".-2

Nor have the Jesuit Fathers at St Aloysius College lost sight of their responsibility for the development of leadership qualities in the students. As early as 1895, the College went in for a Debating Club. Since then the co-curricular activities have been greatly diversified, as should be evident by and by, from the chronicling proper. The amount of money that now goes into student activities in the College might well make old-timers wince. It is significant that, among the prizes awarded at the College Associations Day Ceremony in recent years, there has been one for the Best Outgoing Student. It is a prize awarded by the Staff of the College Department and is meant for a student of one of the Final Year classes who excels in conduct, in studies and in either sports or extracurricular activities. It does credit to the St Aloysius College scale of values that such a prize has been conceived of.

When the country became independent in 1947, and an awakened social conscience called for a change of attitude on the part of the haves towards the have-nots, the College encouraged the students to engage themselves after working hours in social work among the poorer sections of the society. Thus was born the Social Service League of the College during the year .1947-1948. The League went on diversifying its activities from year to year so that within a few years its activities came to include adult education at night in a plurality of centers in Mangalore, the adoption of specific villages for rural development projects, medical relief work in leper asylums and colonies, work camps during vacations and so on. Latterly, with the Government of India itself getting the colleges in the country to implement the National Service Scheme (i.e. the N.S.S.) under the supervision of the appropriate universities, the old Social Service League has made way for the N.S.S. Unit of the College. The work of the N.S.S. unit serves to make the young realise the dignity of labor, to bring home to them the problems and needs of the poor, and above all, to develop compassion in them.

Right through its first century of existence, the College has striven to give a good moral training to the students and to prepare them for their proper places as citizens of this great country. By means of the Sodality (which has been there right from the start), the Students' Missionary League (i.e., the S.M.L., which came later on) and the Catholic Service in the University (i.e. the C.S.U., which came in the sixties), a determined effort has been made all along to give the Catholic students the firm spiritual grounding so necessary for a Christian life. Annual Retreats for Catholic students have been a special feature of St Aloysius College. In recent years the closed retreats, the C.S.U. cells and leadership camps have been additional facilities for the Catholic students to practice their religion.

Hence Fr. A. Ambruzzi very rightly made this claim for the College in 19-)8' "The College has ever maintained its tone of a thoroughly Catholic Institution. No one has failed to recognize this-from Cardinal Lepicier, who felt at home in the Catholic atmosphere of the College, to the last non-Christian pupil who, on first crossing the thresholds of our classrooms, hears the prayer we address to God our Father and to our Heavenly Mother."

Nearly half a century later, Fr. A. P. Menezes had no hesitation in making the claim again: "In all the activities of the year, we have not forgotten the raison d'etre of the Institution. St Aloysius College was established to provide the Catholic youth of S. Kanara with a sound liberal education. Although no discrimination is made of caste or creed at the time of admissions, or during the year, we have felt justified in giving additional facilities to our Catholic students in the practice of their religion."

It is small wonder then that the spiritual atmosphere of the College has proved congenial soil for vocations. The following statistical information (up-to-date in 1955) is significant: "No less than a hundred of its pupils have entered the Society of Jesus; 50 have entered other religious orders; about 450 are either priests or are preparing for priesthood."' If the present writer had more up-to-date information, it would be more impressive indeed.

Space must be found. here for a detail (very rightly figuring) in the 1946 Report on the New Extension Scheme of Fr. Jos. A. B. Coelho for the College Department: "Bombayites were glad to hear that .... the Catholic student was intently national and non-committal, and that the non-communal atmosphere in the College was responsible for the election of Catholics as Presidents of the College Union for three years in succession."

As for the non-Catholic students, their moral development, too, has been taken care of. As early as 1897-1898, Fr. Frachetti the fourth Rector, introduced the teaching of what he called General Ethics - it used to be a course in Practical Philosophy conceived for the benefit of the non-Catholic students. The teaching of General Ethics has continued to the present time, though with a change of name; it has latterly been called Moral Science. It has always made the desired dent on the taught., What Dr Taxeira, the then Bishop of Mylapore, said in 1929 (at the Prize Distribution Ceremony in the College) still holds good: "As to the non-Christian element in the College,, I understand that it compares well with the Catholic in the practice of the civic and natural virtues, another index of the efficiency of the educational endeavor here."

Part III

How It All Began

Apparently the leaders of the Catholic community in Mangalore were among the first people in the country to feel the need for modern education imparted especially by a body of religious men who could very well be trusted to set about the tasks of education with utter dedication. Being aware of the excellent work done in education by the German Jesuits in Bombay, the Belgian Jesuits in Calcutta and the French Jesuits in Trichy, they petitioned the Holy See "as far back as 1858,114 and prayed that the Mangalore Mission be handed over to the Society of Jesus so that the very Society that had been doing so handsomely by Bombay, Calcutta and Trichy might do likewise by Mangalore.

The 1858 petition was followed by further petitions during the next twenty years. At long last, in 1878,5 Pope Leo XIII acceded to the request and issued a Brief assigning the Mangalore Mission to the Society of Jesus "mainly with a view to start a College;" and then "Very Rev. Fr. Beckx, the then General of the Jesuits, assigned the Mangalore Mission to the Jesuit Province of Venice.”

On November 27, 1878, three Fathers and two Brothers of the Jesuit Province of Venice sailed out from Naples to India. In Bombay, four Fathers of the Bombay Mission (which itself was in the charge of the Jesuit Province of Germany) joined them so that there were now nine Jesuits, in all, proceeding to Mangalore to take charge of the Vicariate of Mangalore in the first instance, and to found a College by and by. Their arrival in Mangalore is described in The History of the Diocese in Mangalore thus: "The steamer S.S. Khandalla dropped anchor in Mangalore on the morning of December 31, 1878, when a gaily-decorated launch came out to take the Fathers ashore. A splendid shamiana had been erected at Bunder, where Fr. Victor, accompanied by a large assemblage of clergy and laity, of Catholics and Hindus, received them when they landed. Mr Alexander E. C. Vas read an address, which was then presented in a handsome sandalwood casket to Fr. Pagani, the Pro-Vicar Apostolic.”

The great significance of the event cannot be brought out better than in these words of Dr A. M. Taxeira, the then Bishop of Mylapore, who spoke them on the occasion of the Annual Prize Distribution Ceremony in 1929: "They ',came not as conquering heroes with banners unfurled of the proud Caesars of Rome but as ambassadors of the humble martyr of Golgotha, and with His message of Peace and Love. Would that I were able to describe the inestimable blessings rained down from Heaven during their presence here, and drive home the recognition of the un-redeemable debt of gratitude they have placed you under, you students both past and present of this great educational institution, St Aloysius College of Mangalore, your Alma Mater.”

The new Fathers set about their task with a will. The holding of various meetings with the local leaders, and the other necessary spade work occupied the best part of a year. On December 19, 1879, Fr. Jos. Willy S. J., who had been appointed the First Rector and Principal of the College, issued a Prospectus announcing that the new College would be inaugurated on January 12, 1880, and that the inaugural ceremony would be followed straight away by the teaching programme.

When the College opened on January 12, 1880, Fr. Jos. Willy and Scholastic Postlewhite were the only two teachers available; and owing to the great difference in age between them two, the boys called them Abraham and Isaac! Fr. A. Maffei soon came to their aid; and on January 28, there came Fr. John Sergeant and Fr. Ryan, whereupon it became possible for Fr. Maffei to withdraw, for the time being, from the College and turn to other work at St Joseph's Seminary in Jeppu, which too was revived by the pioneering Jesuits in 1879.

But the new College had no habitat of its own. So a private bungalow belonging to Mrs Mary Magdalene Coelho was rented for the purpose. That there was nothing posh at all about the first habitat of what was to be "the greatest glory of Mangalore" is very evident from one of the letters of Fr. John Sergeant wherein he refers to the day of his arrival (January 28, 1880) and says: "Entering the compound belonging to Mrs Mary Magdalene Coelho, we saw a huge pandal supported by a dozen poles. This was the principal College hall. Lower down the front verandah were seated the older boys. This was the top class. Round the corner of the bungalow was the second class.” In the front verandah was the third class.

"Such were the humble beginnings of St Aloysius College, which began with three comparatively small classes-the Lower Fourth, the Upper Fourth and the Fifth. But it grew steadily under its indefatigable first Rector Fr. Willy and his devoted staff.”

Part IV

The Fr. Mutti (1878 - 84) - Fr. Willy (1879 - 85) Period

An Institution is Created

In the St Aloysius College Golden Jubilee Number of The Mangalore Magazine, the un-named Old Boy writing the article "Across Fifty Years," refers to an un-named "fine observer" who took his stand in the year 1905, looked both backward and forward and wrote: "The fifty years of the life of the College are made up of three well-defined epochs. The first was the Fr. Mutti and Fr. Willy Period; they were the founders and more truly the creators of the Institution. The second epoch came just a quarter century later: Fr. Perini's Rectorate... The third (period is)... identified with the beloved names of Fr. Proserpio and Fr. Ambruzzi."

In the first of these three periods, the dominant figures of the College were Fr. A. Mutti (who was one of the first nine Jesuits and stayed in Mangalore for six years) and Fr. Jos. Willy (who was not one of the first nine Jesuits but came in the following year and rendered yeoman service for six years as the First Rector and Principal of the College).

In Mangalore, Fr. Mutti was assigned several tasks, the most important and exacting being that of erecting a proper habitat for "the Greatest Glory of Mangalore" that was to be. He it was that conceived the grand design of that building completed in 1885 which in popular imagination is still "the College", that two-storyed building 496' long, with the magnificent Chapel and the ornate Academy Hall (each 118'x 50') at its two ends and the tower rising from its middle, the whole being designed somewhat after the Oratorio of St Philip Neri in Rome.

It was from Fr. Mutti that the -architect and the engineer had their inspiration, and the builders their instructions. He had to see not only to the planning and it’s execution but also to the financing. Luckily the site cost nothing, as the late Lawrence Lobo Prabhu made a munificent donation of the site on Edyah Hill to the College at the instance of a deputation of the Catholic community in Mangalore. Fr. Nicholas Pagani, one of the first nine Jesuits, played a key role in negotiating the transfer of the property to the College. Naturally it has been said that to mention Fr. Pagani's name is to mention "gold, gold, twenty-four carats.”

The building was estimated to cost Rs 1,50,000, but much more was actually spent upon it. The General of the Society of Jesus contributed nearly 32,000 rupees; Fr. Mutti himself toured over Europe and collected over 17,000 rupees; donors in S. Kanara gave over 13,000 rupees; an additional sum of over 12,000 rupees was collected in the then Vicariate of Mangalore; benefactors in Europe gave over 7,000 rupees and lent over 17,000 rupees. When an application was made in 1883 to the Government of Madras for a grant of Rs 34,000 (approximately a third of the estimated cost of the Ground Floor only, as the upper storey was meant for the Fathers' residence), the Director of Public Instruction recommended that Rs 15,000 be paid by the Government and Rs 5,000 by the Municipality (which never paid it). The Government refused to give more than Rs 8,000, as it objected to the ornamental features of the edifice and to the vast scale of its design. "One wonders with what righteous indignation Ruskin would have met these objections.” Later on, ' on representations made by both the District Collector and the Inspector of Schools, the Government sanctioned a further grant of Rs 7,000. An eye-witness has left behind this enthusiastic picture of Fr. Mutti: "There came a band of workers with spades and pickaxes led by a priest whom they called Fr. Mutti. They started digging on all sides, and from the foundation there went up, as if by magic, lofty walls with a forest of slender pillars and graceful arches. The walls of Thebes rose not faster to the sound of Amphion's lyre."' In 1884, before the building could be commissioned for use, Fr. Mutti had to leave for Europe to recoup his health; the exacting work of directing and supervising the construction of the College building and the enervating climate had undermined his health and brought on tuberculosis. He never came back, for he died in Europe in the same year. But his work remains as a worthy and enduring monument to his pioneering zeal.

Fr. Willy, a Swiss by birth, came to Mangalore with a splendid record of twenty years' competent and devoted educational work at St Mary's and St Xavier's in Bombay. He had been sent for the sole purpose of founding a new college. It was a Herculean task, as there was no proper habitat, hardly any funds, very few teachers and students not all of whom were used to study or discipline. But being possessed of the requisite academic qualification teaching experience and ability and administrative capacity, he did a splendid job. During his six-year term as Rector and Principal the College made great progress both in regard to student enrolment and examination results. To the three classes with which the College began in 1880, there was added the Matriculation Class in 1881. In 1882, the Institution became a Second Grade College affiliated to the University of Madras; the F.A. Class was introduced that year, with Ancient History, Modern History, Logic, Mathematics and Physiology as the Optional Subjects to choose from. In 1885 the new building for which Fr. Mutti had laboured with such heroic dedication was commissioned for use; the ground floor was occupied by the classes of the High School and the College; the first floor became the Fathers' residence.

According to one of his gifted pupils, Mr J. A. Saldanha, Fr. Willy's memory was powerful, his insight into men and matters keen, and his action energetic. "He did everything thoroughly, and with an eye to minute details.” This was certainly remarkable, considering what an immense plurality of things he did: "He was Rector, Principal, Prefect of Studies, Collector of school fees, Director of the College Choir and of the Sodality at Codialbail, Spiritual Father of the Nuns at St Ann's and what not.” And yet "he found the time to visit each class once a month, to examine the boys and to read out the 'Honoris Causa' List. He went over the examination papers and revised them carefully after the professors had assessed them." When you visit the College Chapel, "you cannot fail to see the tiny red lamp near the altar. It is a gift made by Fr. Willy's students to perpetuate his memory. Its steady flame is a reminder to us of the flame of learning that Fr. Willy lit way back on 12th January 1880. It burns in memory of that rare one-man combination of rector, principal, secretary, clerk, teacher, music master and prefect of discipline who ushered in higher education in the district.”

Part V

Fr. A. Cavadini's Rectorate (1885-1890)

"Great Undertakings Have Small Beginnings"

In the summer of 1885, Fr. Jos. Willy was recalled to the Bombay Mission: "Bombay had but lent him, and Bombay wanted him back." Fr. A. Cavadini, S.J. was then appointed the second Rector of the College. (Unlike his predecessor, he was not both Rector and Principal.) "In the task of maintaining the reputation the College had won in the days of his predecessor, Fr. Cavadini was greatly helped by the two Fathers who were Principals during his rectorate Fr. Hoene and Fr. Kemp. They were both Germans, and Germans at their best."

"The six years of his Rectorate were not years signalised by many stirring events. But it was a period of sure and steady growth." "The most important event of this period was the affiliation of the College as one of the First Grade institutions of the University of Madras.” It was in August, 1887, that the University formally granted affiliation so that in the following year the College was able to introduce the B.A. Degree Course. The B.A. students had to study two languages (English and Kannada or Latin) and either history or Mental & Moral Science. Physical Science could not be offered, as the Government was not willing to give any grant-in-aid on that account, and the College could not then afford to buy the necessary equipment or to build a laboratory altogether from its own funds.

Even so, it "was a great thing the College had done;” for, until 1923 there used to be only one other First Grade college on the West Coast, south of the Vindhyas (that other College being the Maharaja's College in Trivandrum). But "it made no noise. Only four students were enrolled in the Junior B.A. Class. It did not occur to any of the successful F. A. candidates of the Government College, Mangalore, to try and see what sort of a place St Aloysius was.” Fr. Cavadini himself put it thus in the Annual Report for 1888-1889: "All the successful F.A. candidates of the local Government College chose to go to Madras rather than join the College here. We console ourselves with the saying that great undertakings have small beginnings."

During Fr. Cavadini's Rectorate, there was a steady growth in the School Section as well. In his first year (1885), the Third Class was added to the School Section so that the Third, the Lower Fourth and the Upper Fourth Classes now formed a complete Middle School according to the then nomenclature (whereas in 1881, Fr. Willy's second year, the addition of the Sixth Class had brought into being a complete High School consisting of the Fifth and Sixth Classes).

This growth, however, took place under somewhat difficult circumstances; for, in Fr. Cavadini's second year, (1886), the Institution withdrew from the competition for municipal assistance to the Middle School, feeling that "the scanty assistance held out by the Municipality was not worth competing for.” In the following year, the Government itself withdrew the aid hitherto given to the High School.

Fr. Cavadini's fourth year saw the bifurcation of the per Secondary Department into two branches,' one preparing students for Matriculation and the University Course, and the other preparing students more for the practical paths of life. In this second branch, the first two years were to be devoted chiefly to the teaching of practical English and Kannada; the third year was to add Commercial Correspondence and the Elements of Book-keeping to these subjects. At the same time, drawing, plan drawing and ornamental drawing too were to be taught. St Aloysius' was thus forward-looking even from the early years.

Fr. Cavadini showed cool courage and determination throughout his Rectorate. Being himself a "model of regularity,” he insisted on regularity of attendance. He did not hesitate to dismiss some students on account of either their irregularity or their misbehaviour. In the short run, such sterness led to a slight fall in student enrolment; but in the long run, it was to be productive of not a little good.

In his Annual Reports, he did a good deal of plain speaking. Sometimes it was directed against the parents of the students, thus:...... irregular attendance in not a few cases .... is more the fault of the parents than of the scholars. There seem to he those who think that everything else is of greater importance for their children than to attend regularly at school, and hence they keep their children at home for the most trivial causes."

Sometimes his plain speaking was directed against erring institutions, thus: "It is greatly to be deplored that there are so many struggling schools where boys find ready admission if they get into difficulties in the school they first joined." Or thus: "Again we have to express our extreme regret that boys who left us for not being promoted to higher classes, for which they were completely unfit, found ready admittance in higher classes of other schools in town."

At times, he did not spare the Government either, thus: "There is so much shifting and changing in the educational policy of the Government that one never knows what the next year may bring. “ Evidently the tendency to tinker with schemes of education was there even in pre-Independence India!

Fr. Cavadini took hard decisions sometimes, as when he decided that the Middle School should withdraw from the competition for Municipal aid; again, he got the School Department to withdraw from the examinations that used to be held jointly by some, local schools for the purpose of regulating the promotions to higher classes. "The chief reason for doing so was that we think it will serve our purposes better to regulate the transfer of boys to higher classes by our own examinations held in the different months of the year.” Evidently this thing called "continuous internal assessment," of which there has been so much talk latterly, is not all-that new!

Part VI

Fr. A. Maffei, the Third Rector, (1891-1896)

The Glory to the College from His Eminence as a Linguist and Historian

When Bishop Pagani "departed this life, all eyes were turned o Fr. Cavadini, and the vox populi in the Diocese of Mangalore anticipated the vox Dei in Rome appointing him Bishop."' Fr. A Maffei S.J. (one of the first nine Jesuits who landed in Mangalore on December 31, 1878), was thereupon appointed Rector of the College.

During his tenure of office as Rector and Principal, the College made signal progress. This was reflected both in the increased student enrolment and in improved examination results, which were distinctly above the Madras Presidency averages. In consonance with the policy of the Government, a new class was added to the High School, making it a three-year course now. Further there was a change of nomenclature; for, now a class was not a class but a form; thus the Middle School and the High School together came to consist of six forms (from the First Form to the Sixth Form).

In the College Department, there was an innovation in Fr. Maffei's final year as Rector. A co-curricular activity in the shape of a Debating Club was introduced this year. It consisted of all the pupils in the College Department, one of whom was the President, and another the Secretary, both elected by the pupils. Its object was two-fold, first to accustom the pupils to sound and clear reasoning, secondly to accustom them to express their ideas in fluent and" correct English. The Club met once a week. "It happened several times that the subject of the debate was of such importance as to occupy the debaters for several meetings."

There were no developments or stirring events in St Aloysius' during Fr. Maffei's Rectorate. But the Institution came in for a lot of glory reflected from the eminence of Fr. Maffei as a linguist and historian. Sounding "all the depths and shallows" of Konkani, he wrote a Dictionary of Konkani and also a Grammar of Konkani. On his arrival in Mangalore in 1878, he had observed that the district was an unworked mine of historical information. Being "a deep man and one that took infinite pains," he went about collecting material for a voluminous history of Dakshina Kannada. Though death claimed him before it could be published, the manuscript was to be used later by Fr. Moore in his History of the Diocese.

The Madras Government was quick to discern the scholar in him and offered to publish his Konkani Dictionary, his Konkani Grammar and also his Lectures in History. "Examiners and Fellows may at present be the order of the day. But it was considered a great honour to the College when in 1892 His Excellency the Governor nominated Fr. Maffei a Fellow of the Madras University, a distinction which had been held by Fr. Willy before him." A saner syllabus of Philosophy in the Madras University another subject which engaged much of Fr. Maffei's attention

Part VII

Fr. E. Frachetti's First Rectorate (1896-1900)

The First Expansion of St Aloysius College

In September, 1896, Fr. E. Frachetti S.J., was appointed fourth Rector of the College. He chose to retain Fr. Maffei in position of Principal for a little over a year, after which Fr. J. Moore succeeded Fr. Maffei as Principal.

Fr. Frachetti decided to erect a new building for the College classes, as the number of students had been constantly on increase, and the ground floor of the main building was no longer sufficient to accommodate both the College and the School, his third year, he drew up a plan for a new detached two-store building (which later came to be known as the Red Building) perpendicular to the main building, at the northern end of the in front of the main building. It was to consist of four room the size 25' x 20' and a larger room (52' x 20') to serve as drill room

"It is interesting to recall that, only fifteen years before, Government had refused to grant more than Rs 8,000 (as against Rs 15,000 promised at one stage) for the erection of the building because it had been designed on too vast a scale." Hence the new building now proposed was designed in rigid conformity with the directions imposed by the Grant Regulations." Of course, the Government agreed to give a third of the estimated cost of Rs. 9,000, "but as to its style, it was well Ruskin never got to know of it." This building was to mark "the first expansion of St Aloysius College."

In his second year as Rector, Fr. Frachetti introduced two subjects in the College Department. The first was General Ethics (which consisted of Practical Philosophy): it was meant for benefit of the non-Catholic students, as Fr. Frachetti felt called upon to strive for the moral training of the non-Catholic element in the College as well as for the religious training of the Cat element (for which there already was the provision for religious instruction). The second subject introduced was Manuscript Reading in Kannada & Practical Kannada (the ability to read and write Kannada) to all the students including those who had opted for the study of Latin.

Realising the great need for a knowledge of Manuscript Reading and Practical Kannada for ready employment, he introduced it in the High School Department too.

The same year, Mr J. M. Castelino, one of the lay Staff in the High School Department, was asked to hold an evening class at which Book-keeping and Commercial Correspondence were to be taught. This was meant to make up for the loss of fee income entailed by the closing of the Upper Secondary Course (i.e. by a revised course coming to replace the Matriculation Course and leading to the change of nomenclature from "Class" to "Form"). About sixty students joined the class. The results of the Public Examinations in these subjects were satisfactory. For all that, the evening class was not destined to have a long life. But interest in commercial subjects, first awakened in Fr. Cavadini's time when the Upper Secondary Department was bifurcated, and now further stimulated by the experiment of the Evening School, was destined to bear fruit in due time.

The year 1898-1899 is important in the history of the College in that it saw the birth of The Mangalore Magazine, a quarterly meant to serve "as the College organ and record, as well as a bond of union between present and past students, with one another and with their Alma Mater.”

Part VIII

Fr. J. Moore s.j., the Fifth Rector (1900-1904) & Br Aloysius Moscheni s.j.

Wafted the Sweet Odour of the College Far and Wide

Fr. J. Moore S.J., "who had for three years been Fr. Frachetti's right arm as Principal, succeeded him as Rector in 1900." Throughout his Rectorate, lie was also the Principal of the College. Using an Elizabethan metaphor, it may be said that all the perfume of the College was wafted far and wide during his Rectorate.

As far as numbers went, the years of his Rectorate were lean Annual Report for years (for the College. According to the 1900 - 1901, (the first of his Rectorate),, this decrease was ' accounted for by the fact that an unprecedented number of students went, at the beginning of the year, to St Joseph's College, Trichinopoly; but perhaps a greater number withdrew on account of failing in the examinations." The following two years were exceptionally trying years on account of the Bubonic Plague that then raged in Mangalore and rendered it at times very difficult to keep the Institution open and in proper working order. In fact, one of the classes of the College Department had to be suspended for a month. To add to Fr. Moore's troubles, the monsoon storm of 1902 damaged a part of the College building, which had to be repaired at quite some cost.

However, "the new Rector with his Irish humour and American initiative (Ireland was the land of his birth and California of his adoption) battled bravely with the difficulties that faced him."' The new building, the construction of which was begun in Fr. Frachetti's time, and which has since then been known to Aloysians as the Red Building, was completed and occupied in the First Term of 1900. "This proved a decided advantage as the College classes could be kept apart from the School Department. It moreover gave some additional classrooms as well as a room for the College Library and a Reading Room for the students of the College Department. The gymnasium, also accommodated in the new building, was placed under a trained instructor in drill and gymnastics."

In the second year of his Rectorate, the Old Boys of the College formed an association of their own: the Aloysian Association. This must be regarded as a very meaningful event; for, though the Association has again and again gone into a long sleep, as it were, whenever the Alma Mater has found it necessary to raise funds in a big way, the Association has responded magnificently.

It was Fr. Moore that had founded the quarterly Mangalore Magazine during his predecessor's Rectorate; he was its first editor too. It is "as the founder and first editor of the Mangalore Magazine that Old Boys best remember Fr. Moore today. His name is cherished by them as of one who wafted the sweet odour of the College far and wide to distant lands, by means of its organ and record. Yes, Fr. Moore did a great thing when he started the periodical. Whatever its fate may have been since it became an annual in 1914, the Mangalore Magazine, in the hands of its first editor, was universally acknowledged as a high class quarterly .... It was particularly articles of historical interest that were appreciated by the scholarly reader. On his landing in Mangalore, he discovered that South Kanara was a historical mine which had been but partially worked. He set himself the task of unearthing or of getting others to unearth the hidden treasures of the land, and he offered them to the public in the columns of his periodical. The Madras Mail and the Madras Times were liberal in the praise they bestowed on the Mangalore Magazine."

Praise came from far-off quarters too. Of the first issue of the quarterly, the Catholic Times said: "It is admirable in every way, and although the land of its birth is so far removed from us and unknown, the handsome magazine will bear comparison with the output from many older and better-known home colleges." The Irish Monthly declared that it was "full of very interesting and clever matter." The Notre Dame Scholastic called it "one of the best exchanges on our table." Fr. Sewell, in his presidential speech at the Prize Distribution Ceremony in 1901, said: "I know of no more readable or better-written periodical for its size and aim than the Mangalore Magazine, which, as a College Magazine, is unsurpassed for interest and literary talent."

There was, it seems, somebody who complained at the time that all the articles seemed to have been written by one man. Actually the articles were not all written by one man, but many of them, were re-written by one man, viz., Fr. Moore. "Infinite pains, that was the secret of Fr. Moore's success as editor. Nothing was sent to the press until it had been brought as near to perfection as human things may."

To Fr. Moore's time belongs another detail of very great importance in the history of the College: the work of Br Moscheni s.j., in the College Chapel. It was in 1899 that this Italian Jesuit began to paint the College Chapel, "which in the end, he converted into a pictorial Bible. The beauty and splendour of its frescoes is beyond words.” It took him two years and a half to complete it. As justly famous as the frescoes are the canvas paintings in the Chapel. Though Fr. Moore's periodical has ceased to be the organ and record of the College, Br Moscheni's work continues to do what Fr. Moore's periodical did in his time: wafting the sweet odour of the College far and wide; for, it continues to attract visitors from far and wide,

Even the stage in the old Academy Hall (now fallen into disuse) owes much to Br Moscheni. "When a College Father once congratulated Mr Malim, Principal of the local Government College, on an excellent performance he had given to the public, his only answer Give me your stage.' If the preacher as the American says is half the preachment, the stage is half the performance....... Br Moscheni's bold and prolific brush provided the stage with quite a repertoire of scenes, while he transfigured the front of the stage into a blaze of lndian art. Some of the great rovers of the forest - the tiger, the bison and the elephant-are much in evidence here; but ill under the sway of Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom, while from the summit of the stage the world-old motto in Sanskrit proclaims to the world: 'Truth alone conquers, and never falsehood."

Though Fr. Moore was a Professor of English, he researched a good deal into the history of Dakshina Kannada, as has already been said. Making use of Fr. Maffei's researches too, he brought out his monumental History of the Diocese in Mangalore. His historical works naturally brought credit to the College.

In December 1904, Fr. Perini S.J. was appointed Rector, but Fr. Moore continued to be Principal until the following year when he was recalled to America. There he died within a Year. "At his departure from Mangalore, he seemed to be in the vigour of manhood, being but forty-seven years old. But the climate of India had silently done its work.” Poet Saldanha sang of him thus in The Mangalore Magazine:

“Speak, thou dear, mourning Record! that didst drain The very life from his large heart and brain.”

Part IX

Fr.- Perini S.J., the Sixth Rector (,1904-1910)

A Great Builder in the Augustan Tradition

The most glorious event of Fr. Perini's Rectorate was the celebration of the Silver Jubilee of the College in 1905. "All the Alumni of the College from far and near contributed their mite towards the festive occasion, and nothing was left to be desired in the shape of musical, dramatic, athletic or pyrotechnic entertainment to lend gusto and grandeur to the blissful event. The illumination on the occasion was the brightest ever seen. The Jubilee left lasting results behind it. Old Boys had responded generously to the proposal for a Memorial Fund. “ A portion of the Fund was to cover the cost of the cenotaph to the memory of Fr. Willy, and the rest was for perpetuating the jubilee by founding a Silver Jubilee Scholarship.

Unfortunately the failure of the bankers Arbuthnot & Co., in the following year, involved the College in a loss of Rs 9,000/- This amount consisted mainly of the Silver Jubilee Scholarship Fund and the Fr. Moore Scholarship Fund!

In the third year of the Rectorate, the improved transport facilities between Malabar and Dakshina Kannada brought a contingent of students from Malabar. Foreseeing the likelihood of their number increasing, provision was made for teaching Malayalam not only in the College Department, but also in the High School. Naturally a hostel for the out-station students became a necessity, A house leas--d by a certain Mr Bernard Gonsalves was the first hostel. At the same time, work was begun for the erection of a new two-storeyed building for the hostel in the College premises itself.

In the following year the hostel was housed in the new building. "Meanwhile, its reputation had spread to out-stations. In particular, it attracted Coorgis from Mercara. " The same year Fr. Perini drew up plans for a new building for the Middle School on the western slope of the Edyah Hill and another building to house all the College Classes, an examination hall, the -College Library and the Physics and Chemistry Laboratories. The new building for the Middle School was to contain two new classes (Standards Ill and IV) besides the First Form. In due course it was to become known as the Down College. The estimated cost was Rs 20,000, and the Government promised a grant of Rs 3,000. The building for the College was estimated to cost Rs 35,000 and the equipment was estimated to cost Rs 30,000; the Government aid towards the building and equipment for the College was to be Rs 25,000.

"The requisite amount had to be made up by donations from friends and benefactors in India and in Europe. The appeal made to well-wishers in India met with a hearty response.” The Annual Report for 1908-1909 indicated that the donations in Indict had reached the figure of Rs 13,200.

In the year 1908-1909, the College came to have a Primary School, with the amalgamation of St Joseph's School, Codialbail, as directed by the Director of Public Instruction.

In the last year of Fr. Perini's Rectorate (1909-1920), the new building erected for the College was occupied, though it was riot fully equipped yet. The F.A. Course was replaced this year with the new Intermediate Course. The combinations of, Optional Subjects in the Intermediate Course were Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry; Ancient History, Modern History and Logic; and Ancient History, Modern History and Latin or Sanskrit. Even for the B.A. Course the College had to be re-affiliated as per the university regulations. Hence affiliation wag sought not only for the existing Optionals of History and Economics s but also for the new optionals of Mathematics (Group 1); Logic, Psychology and Ethics; Group VI (two languages),. and Philosophy. But actually Mathematics (in the B.A. Course) was not introduced till the beginning of the next Rectorate, whereas Philosophy had to wait until 1023.

Further additions were made during the year to what had now come to be known as the Boarding House. (That is, there had come to be separate accommodation for Christian and non-Christian students, and the hostel for the Christian students had come to be called the Boarding House.)

Well has it been said: "Fr. Perini's Rectorate was a brilliant period. Let facts and figures speak their own tale. A Roman Emperor is said to have found Rome a village of brick huts and left it a city of palaces of marble. Fr. Perini found the College a small institution of 450 and left with 1,080 on the rolls. He added three mighty edifices to its limited accommodation - the College Department with its Library, examination hall and Laboratories; a Boarding House and Hostels; the Lower Secondary Department, popularly known as the Down College.”

As it was during Fr. Perini's Rectorate that there occurred the first considerable measure of growth, the author of the article "Across Fifty Years" in The Mangalore Magazine (VII, 3), seems to look upon Fr. Perini as the Second Founder of the College; this is the implication of his calling (on page 57) Fr. Proserpio the Third Founder. But it seems desirable to make a distinction between the initial founding and the subsequent developing; so we may' by a variation of sobriquets, put it thus: whereas Fr. Mutti and Fr. Willy were the Founders of the College, Fr. Perini was the First Great Builder who built on the work of the Founders.

Part X

Fr. E. Frachetti's Second Rectorate, (1911-1913)

A Period of Consolidation

In January' 1911, when Fr. Perini was made Bishop of Calicut, Fr. E. Frachetti was appointed the Rector of the College' For him this was a second term as the Rector. He remained at the helm for only two years this time. During this brief periods he was concerned more with consolidation than with expansion.

In the College Department, thanks to the indefatigable Fr. M. Chiappi s.j., Professor of Physics and Chemistry, the work on the Gas Installation was completed; an electricity generator and an oil engine were set up for providing electric lights and fans in the laboratories, in the first instance, and in the rest of the College Department later on; and the Intermediate Physics and Chemistry Laboratories were equipped thoroughly.

In the High School Department, thanks to Government aid, a Commercial Course was introduced; i.e., Commercial Practice and Geography, Book-keeping and Commercial Arithmetic, Type-writing and Short-hand were included among the optionals of the High School curriculum. This practical course was meant especially r such students as did not aspire to university education, either from an innate disinclination to academic pursuits or from a variety of other circumstances. The School Laboratory was much improved with the acquisition of new items of equipment.

Another important development of this Rectorate was that the Institution came to have a Branch High School in the Milagres Secondary School; this happened when the Milagres Church Board of Administration requested the College to take over the management of that School,

Yet another important event was the establishment of a Provident Fund for the lay teachers in fulfilment of a long-felt desire.

The accommodation in the hostels and the Boarding House was considerably increased with the purchase of lands and houses at a cost of Rs 16,500.

Part XI

The Rectorate of Fr. C. Perazzi, (1913-1921)

A Further Period of Consolidation

As Fr. Frachetti had to leave the College in 1913, "to take up the higher duties of the Superior of the Mission and Vicar General of the Mangalore Diocese,” Fr. C. Perazzi S.J., succeeded him as the Rector of the College. Like his predecessor, he addressed himself to the task of consolidation.

In his first year, Mathematics as an optional subject was introduced in the B.A. Course. The equipment of the laboratories in the College Department was further improved. Similarly the School Laboratory was provided with further equipment.

In the second year, a new building was erected to provide additional accommodation in the hostels. The playground of the hostels was extended at a great cost. Electrification, which in Fr. Frachetti's time had been limited to the laboratories of the College Department, was now extended to the College Library and the College lecture rooms too.

At the initiative of Prof. C. J. Varkey, Professor of History, the old Debating Society was reorganised into the College Union, which itself comprised three separate societies: the Literary & Elocution Society, the Historical Society and the Scientific Society. The object of the Union was that the members should develop their literary or scientific bent, and cultivate the art of public speaking and public debate.

An ambulance corps styled St John's Ambulance Corps (and meant to train the students in First Aid) and a Boy Scouts Troop were organised this year, both by Lt A. A. Pereira, a retired army officer and Old Boy.

In the third year, the hostel playground was once again extended. The Boarding House and hostels were provided with electric lights. As the demand for hostel accommodation was far in excess of the availability. the College was obliged to begin the practice of permitting out-station students to stay in approved hostels maintained by private associations of different communities.

During this Rectorate, two of the lay teachers of the College Department brought great credit to the Institution by winning recognition of their scholarship from learned bodies: Mr N. Anantha Bhat of the Department of Sanskrit was awarded a Gold Medal in January, 1915, at the Sanskrit Conference held in Udupi, where his proficiency in. Sanskrit was judged worthy of the highest honour; Mr Muliya Thimmappayya of the Department of Kannada was awarded the title of Kannada Kavyarnava by the Nikhila Bharath Sahitya Sangha of Calcutta, in 1920.

Part XII

Fr. L. Proserpio s.j., the Ninth Rector (1921-1928)

The Second Great Builder, Who Brought to Fruition High Aims and Hopes

In April, 1921, Fr. L. Proserpio S.J., took over as Rector from Fr. Perazzi. The College now entered upon its second great period of extension and expansion, with the new Rector enterprisingly introducing new Optionals for study in the College Department, boldly planning both new buildings and extensions and resolutely raising funds and executing his daring plans. The Old Boy who wrote the article "Across Fifty, Years" in the Mangalore Magazine, (VII, 3), called Fr. Proserpio the Third Founder of the College, (implying that Fr. Perini was the Second Founder and that Frs. Mutti and Willy were the First Founders). But the present writer, choosing to preserve the distinction between founding and developing, and having called Fr. Perini the First Great Builder, prefers to call Fr. Proserpio the Second Great Builder.

His first measure to relieve the congestion on the Ground Floor of the "main building" of the College was that of relegating the lower Forms of the Hi h School (i.e. Forms 1, 11 and 111) to the "Down College" and to the Branch High School at Milagres. As a result, the Ground Floor of the "main building" was now exclusively reserved for the High School classes. His next resolute measures to the same end were the erection of a new commodious building for the Primary School on the northern slope of Edyah Hill and close to Kadri Road, and the addition of two new rooms to the existing "Down College" building.

To relieve the congestion in the College Department building and to house the two new laboratories that would become necessary on the introduction of Physics and Chemistry as Optionals in the B.A. Degree Course, Fr. Proserpio planned the addition of two large wings to the College Department building; one wing was meant for lecture rooms and two laboratories for the degree classes; the other was meant for the Library and the Reading Room. The estimated cost was Rs 1,00,000. Fr. Proserpio opened a Fund for the Science Extension & Equipment, and plunged boldly into the work of erecting the two wings. Friends of the College then formed themselves into a Working Committee for the Collection of the Fund for Science Extension & Equipment, and collected over Rs 30,000; the Government sanctioned a grant of Rs 34,200 for the erection of the extension.

The erection of a beautiful grotto of Lourdes near the western end of the "Red Building" and of a fine statue of the Sacred Heart in the atrium (on the occasion of the Consecration of the College to the Sacred Heart) 'belong to the same Rectorate. Further, Fr. Proserpio began the construction of a massive portico in front of the College Chapel (which had long been a felt-need on account of the fury of the S. W. Monsoon beating against this building facing the west).

"During his whole regime, the College grounds underwent a constant transformation,” as hills were levelled and valleys were filled in. The playground was extended by the purchase and levelling of about two acres of land situated below the southern end of the College. As a result of all this determined work, a perfect hockey court and three tennis courts became possible; moreover there was plenty of room for cricket.

The College Union developed remarkably during this Rectorate, thanks to the initiative of Prof. Varkey of the History Department. It came to be comprised of six societies now: the Senior Literary Society, the Junior Literary Society, the Scientific Society, the Philosophical Society, the Historical Society and the Philo-Dramatic Society. The division into Senior and Junior corresponded to the division between the Degree and Intermediate classes.

The Scout Troop was resuscitated, with friends of scouting undertaking to raise Rs 2,000 towards the recurring expenses.

A seismograph was set up in 1924; this was an event befitting the status of the College as the premier Science College of the district.

-In his last year as Rector, Fr. Proserpio obtained for the College affiliation to the University of Madras in respect of Natural Science as an optional Subject in the Intermediate Course.

Fr. Proserpio's labour of love for the College cannot be better summed up than in the words of Fr. A. Ambruzzi, his successor: "But for him it (i.e. the erection of the two wings of the College apartment building) would never have been planned; and even if planned, it would have been but an idea in the realms of fancy. As Rector and Principal he guided the destinies of this Institution during seven eventful years and brought to fruition high aims and hopes for the education of youth in and around Mangalore.”

Part XVIII

Fr. A. Ambruzzi’s Rectorate, (1928-1937)

The Longest Rectorate

Fr. A. Ambruzzi s.j., who succeeded Fr. L. Proserpio as Rector in May, 1928, remained at the helm for nine years. His was the longest Rectorate in the history of the College. As he was an able administrator, his Rectorate was marked by both expansion and consolidation in the College. Moreover, by his eminence as a Professor of Economics and Political Science, by his eloquence as a speaker, by his forcefulness as a preacher, and by his output as a writer (especially on religion), he brought great fame to the College. In the first year of his Rectorate, the Milagres Secondary School was handed back to the Milagres Church Board of Administration. The building projects launched upon by his predecessor were brought to completion at the beginning of the year; thus the portico in front of the College Chapel and the two new wings of the College Department building were completed and commissioned for use. So the College Library was now housed in a hall more airy and commodious than the previous one. There was also room now for the College Museum with its famous collection of mineral ores (probably the best in India).

Now that the two new wings were commissioned for use, it became possible to introduce these new subjects this year: Natural Science as an Optional Subject in the Intermediate Course, in respect of which the necessary affiliation to the University had been obtained the previous year by Fr. Proserpio, and Chemistry as an Optional Subject in the B.A. Course.- On account of the very considerable outlay required and the heavy recurring expense that was inevitable, Chemistry as an Optional at the B.A. level had ,been long deferred; but now the long-standing want was fulfilled.

In the following year, the second of the Rectorate, the Golden Jubilee of the College was celebrated with great enthusiasm. Old Boys and friends of the College responded very well to the appeals made for donations towards the cost of the jubilee festivities, the restoration of the Chapel paintings, the building up of funds for various schemes of assistance to poor students, the-foundation of several memorial scholarships and prizes, the erection of tablets, in memory of the Departed Fathers of the College, the development of the College Museum, and so on. The Science Exhibition organised as part of the jubilee celebration was a very great success.

The Golden Jubilee of the College was followed three years later-by that of the Boarding House and the Hostels; an arch was erected in front of the main building of the Boarding House, and a out. The following year, (the sixth of the neat garden was laid Rectorate), the erection of a new building for the Hostels was begun, the location chosen for it being between the Malayalee and Mysore lodges. In the seventh year the grounds in front of the hostels were levelled for use as playfields, and the new hostel building begun the previous year was completed.

Four other events of the seventh year require special mention: the establishment of a Provident Fund for the non-teaching lay staff, the first appearance of the St Aloysius College Annual (in large measure the organ of the College Union), the enriching of the College Museum with the acquisition of many curios and the replacement of the old College Tower (which had suffered much from age) with a new and more elegant one. "From its top, visitors can enjoy a picturesque panorama during the day, and, on fine nights, an enchanting view of the firmament."

In the following year, the Natural Science lecture-hall of the College was doubled in size; an additional room was erected to contain the Zoological and Botanical specimens. One of the Chemistry lecture rooms was provided with a new platform and demonstration desk; and the lay-out and appointments in the Chemistry laboratories were re-organised to enable more students to work in them at a time. In the Library, a special room was set aside for those students who might wish to give themselves to serious study.

The same year, the Middle School was provided with a drill shed in fulfilment of a long-standing want.

In the last year of the long Rectorate, the accommodation in the Hostels was increased with the erection of a new block of ten rooms. This was the second new block built for the Hostels in this nine-year Rectorate.

It is small wonder then that "a fine observer” taking his stand in the year 1930, and looking both backward and forward, should have regarded the Rectorate of Fr. Ambruzzi (together with that of his predecessor Fr. Proserpio) as the third important epoch of the first fifty years, (the two previous important epochs having been the Fr. Mutti-Fr. Willy period and the Rectorate of Fr. Perini).

Part XIV

Fr. B. D'Souza s.j., The First Indian Rector (1937-1942)

the Big Rector with a Big Heart, Who Simply Refused to be Chicken-hearted

The Rectorate of Fr. B. D'Souza s.j., who succeeded Fr. Ambruzzi as Rector in November, 1937, stands out in the history of the College as one during which hostel accommodation was greatly increased. If Fr. Perini was the great Hostel-Founder of the Aloysian world, Fr. D'Souza was the first Hostel-Builder, who built so purposefully on, and added so greatly to, the work of Fr. Perini and his successors in this matter.

In this context, it should be borne in mind not only that he used to be a dedicated Director of the Boarding House for a number of years before his appointment as Rector, but also that, for a year after becoming Rector, he "continued to be in charge of the Boarding House and Hostels.” Just as it is the wearer who knows where the shoe pinches, it was this College Rector and Boarding House Director who recognised better than anyone else the crying need for additional hostel accommodation. So in the Annual Report for 1937-1938, his first report, he said: "Last year we reported that a new block of ten rooms was added in order to meet the increased demand for accommodation. We had plans ready for a larger building, which we submitted to the Director of Public Instruction."

But even as he recognised the need for increased accommodation, he recognised the prevailing constrictions to growth in that period of economic depression; and so he went on to add: "But times are not propitious for building schemes or even for the expansion of higher education. This year we have not succeeded in getting the sanction for even our equipment grant." But, luckily for the Institution, he was too forward-looking and determined to let finances have the veto in the matter, when once he had set his heart (big as himself) on growth. So he added: "All the same, we find that the need for a modest building of forty rooms is imperative.”

Notice the epithet "modest" applied to the block of forty rooms projected in the very year following the erection of a block of ten rooms l Evidently there was nothing chicken-hearted about the big Father "Bonab" (as inmates of the Boarding House endearingly called him); and he had trained his sights high. Yet "bold" rather than "rash" would be the right epithet for him; for, in the very Report in question, he went on to say, "On account of the prevailing financial depression, we have not had the courage to make an appeal for help." What was lacking was the courage to appeal for donations, and not the courage to build; for, the next sentence implied that the decision to build had been made already: "We trust, however, that our friends and benefactors will not leave us to shoulder the burden alone."' Incidentally, he did make a tactful appeal for donations, immediately after protesting that the courage to make the appeal was lacking. This part of the Report came to a close with this touching expression of a lively anxiety: "We also hope that we shall not find ourselves in the plight of the man who began to build but was not able to finish."

Here then we have the picture of a man torn between two opposites: the awareness of the constrictions to growth, and the determination to build. This dilemma was nothing new in the history of the College. All the previous great builders in Aloysian history had been torn between the same two opposites. What was new was that Fr. D'Souza's Report brought out so clearly the dilemma in question. The way in which Fr. D'Souza and the other builders of the Aloysian world conducted themselves in such situations is a detail of vital significance in Aloysian history. It is a detail that should bear returning to, in the Epilogue to the present history.

From Fr. D'Souza's lively anxiety about the possibility of finding himself in the plight of the man who began to build but was not able to finish, it is a breath-taking transition to the triumphant reporting in the very next Annual Report: "Last year we announced that we intended to construct a new hostel with forty rooms. It is now an accomplished fact." As if that were not triumphant enough, the Report continued: "An up-to-date Mess House is also under construction and will, it is hoped, be completed in a short time. We have also to mention a third block which is being erected on the eastern slope of the College Hill, parallel to the main building. It is destined to provide further (residential) accommodation for the students of the School Department."

What Aladdin’s lamp had Fr. D'Souza found in the interval between the two consecutive Annual Reports? It was simply this: the determination not to let the lack of finances be an excuse for postponing whatever new constructions were necessary in the highest interest of the Institution; so this big Rector with a big heart had set about begging in a big way, and the friends of the College had rallied round him in a matching manner.

In the third year, Fr. D'Souza again bestowed his attention and energy on the Hostels: he extended and improved the play-fields of the Hostels, and he brought to completion the Mess House mentioned in the previous year's Report.

The introduction of Hindi as an Optional Language in the High School was an important development of the third year of his Rectorate. Hindi was introduced as an Optional Language in the College Department too, but two years later.

In Fr. D'Souza's final year as Rector, the combined student strength of the College Department, of the High school and of the "Down College" added up to 2,000, and so a holiday was declared on July 20, 1942. The crowning achievement of Fr. D'Souza's last year as Rector was, however, something else: the College property which had hitherto had a much-indented outline (with other People's properties jutting like so many peninsulas into the "Aloysian sea," as it were) was now rounded off, with the purchase of properties on three sides. On the western side, the building known as Katre’s Building was bought; since then it has served as an extension of the College Hostels. On the eastern side, an acre of land adjoining the High School compound was bought and used for the erection of the White Building of the High School. on the southern side, the coveted "Judge's Bungalow Compound', adjoining the College Chapel was acquired from the grandson of the late Lawrence Lobo Prabhu, the donor of the original College site. The acquisition of this plot in particular was a great feather in Fr. D'Souza's cap; and it paved the way to the daring New Extension of the College under the next Rector.

Part XV

Fr. Joseph Coelho s.j. the Twelfth Rector, (1943-1949)

A Daring, Dynamic and Determined Builder

On Fr. B. D'Souza's transfer to Calicut, in May, 1943, Fr. Joseph Coelho S.J., was appointed Rector. He proved to be yet another Great Builder in Aloysian history, a builder whose daring was matched only by his dynamism and his determination, a builder in the great tradition of Frs. Mutti, Perini, Proserpio and Ambruzzi, but in times less congenial (than theirs) for building projects. , For one thing, on account of the Second World War, government aid for his building project remained frozen until the first year of the next Rectorate so that, so far as Fr. Coelho was concerned, aid delayed was aid denied. For another, wartime- prices and wages made building ventures prohibitively costly and, at the same time, greatly eroded the capacity of the Old Boys and the other friends of the College to lay by their savings whether for a rainy day or for a good cause. If in the result, his grand project was only partly fulfilled, his was failure in great endeavour; and, according to Robert Browning's poem the Grammarian's Funeral, failure in great endeavour is in itself more creditable than success in common endeavour:

"That low man goes on adding one to one, His hundred's soon hit. This high man, aiming at a million, Misses an unit."

In Fr. Coelho's very first year as Rector (1943-1944) there occurred a great leap forward in the College Department, with the introduction of new courses. The B.Sc. Degree Course (wit Physics and Chemistry as the Main Subjects, and with Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry as the Subsidiary Subjects for the students to choose from) replaced the old B.A. Degree Course with Physics and Chemistry as the Optionals, leaving in the B. Course only the Humanities as the Optionals. Moreover, altogether fresh ground was broken, with the introduction of the B.Com Degree Course.

To provide the physical accommodation required for the new courses, the Red Building, which had originally been allotted to the College Department but had latterly come to be used by the High School Department, was once again assigned to the College Department. To make up this loss, four more rooms were add to the White Building of the High School Department. Further, the erection of two more rooms for the College Department was taken up.

Being "an impenitent believer in higher education for all those who are fit for it," (which was how Fr. Coelho represented himself in one of his Annual Reports, he designed in 1945-1946 second year as Rector), a massive three-storeyed building (the first such in Aloysian history) to be erected on the coveted ground adjoining the College Chapel (which Fr. D'Souza had bought for the College and which was known as the Judge's Compound from the circumstance that for years and years the official residence of the District Judge used to be situated there). It was to be a "Rs five-lakh building for the College Department, providing for Honours Courses and for Botany at the degree level, larger science laboratories and up-to-date lecture-halls and amenities for students such as common rooms and a canteen".

At the same time, Fr. Coelho was not the one to neglect the practical side of education; he intended that the old College Department building of Frs. Perini, Proserpio and Ambruzzi, on being vacated by the College Department, should be utilized for Technical Courses to be provided by the High School Department. In fact, there already was the promise of a handsome donation towards the cost of such Technical Courses.

Not given to drifting, or to procrastination, Fr. Coelho lost no time in setting about the task of translating his dream into reality. He had the Foundation Stone of the proposed New College Extension laid on October 8, 1945. The construction of the building was begun straight away.

Yet, in the same year, money had to be found, (and it was found), for the purchase of eight acres of land (adjoining the "Judge's Compound") along with the four cottages and the bungalow situated there. The bungalow used to house the Officers' Club formerly. Fr. Coelho promptly converted it into a Hostel.

Having launched upon the erection of the New College Extension, he proceeded to constitute a New Extension Committee consisting of devoted Old Boys and other friends of the College in Mangalore, for the raising of funds for the New College Extension both in Mangalore and in Bombay. Fr. William Sequeira s.j., was the energetic Secretary of the Committee. The members of the Committee went round Mangalore, hat in hand, and sent appeals to Bombay. They visited Bombay and met prominent Old Boys. In a Report published in December, 1956, the Committee revealed that nearly a lakh and forty thousand rupees had been subscribed in Mangalore and Bombay during the year.

But in proportion to the proposed outlay on the New Extension this subscription was quite small; so the Committee observed in their Report: "Many must have thought that they could not afford to subscribe handsome sums and to vie with Industrial magnates, landlords, retired officials, etc. But will they reflect that the estimate for the building is five lakhs, and that wages have been ever rising since the estimate was first made, and that prices are soaring? The Government, which has vowed to make elementary education compulsory, has declared its inability to give grants to Boys' Colleges. And we are in a quandary."

So it was decided that Local Committees should be formed by enthusiastic Old Boys in every town in which there were a sufficient number of Old Boys, and that these Committees should explain to them Fr. Coelho's scheme for fund-raising: according to it, a donation of Rs 20,000 was sufficient for a wing, Rs 5,000 for a hall, and Rs 3,000 for a lecture-room to be named after the donor; and those who could not afford to belong to any of these categories were welcome to subscribe a month's salary or even half a month's salary, in ten or twelve easy installments!

In the following year, Fr. Coelho's third as Rector, he lamented in his Annual Report: "The building is struggling for want of materials, steel, iron and cement in particular. Still .... we will not give up the game until our dream of a fully-equipped, up-to-date building for our University students, and a Technical School has been realised.” Further, he revealed that the estimated cost had now gone up to Rs 6,20,000, that the equipment for the College Department was likely to cost Rs 50,000 and that the equipment for the Technical School was likely to cost another Rs 50,000. , Thus, while his requirements added up to over seven lakhs, his collections had halted at just a lakh and forty thousand. He again confessed that the small donations of the rank and file of the Old Boys were as welcome as the big ones of the donors with greater means.

In the mean time, whatever the preoccupation of the Institution on this account, there was no diminution of the dedicated educational work going on day after day in the various Departments. Nor was there any neglect of the need to be innovative. So in Fr. Coelho’s third year as Rector, extra-curricular activities were provided even in the Boarding House and Hostels. Moreover, both in the College Department and in the High School Department, intramural tournaments were organised; and this innovation enhanced interest in games and sports by leaps and bounds.

In the following year, the New Extension of the College, which was now only a part of the original project and consisted of only fourteen halls, was commissioned for use. These halls sufficed to house the Arts and Commerce Courses and the Library, but not the Science Courses (which therefore continued to be housed in the old College Department building).

Another development of the year, in the College Department, was the establishment of the Social Service League so that the

students could have opportunities to take up social work among the poorer sections of society. Their first activity in this direction was that of adult education at night in two different centers in the town.

If all had gone well with the New Extension Scheme, and if the old College Department building had been vacated by the College Department, the High School Department should have provided this year the Technical Courses so fondly projected by Fr. Coelho. But this was not to be, as the donations towards the New Extension had added up to only Rs two lakhs which was far below the revised estimated-cost of Rs seven lakhs. Yet an Engineering Section was opened in the High School this year; a spacious workshop was set up and fully equipped. Facilities for teaching typewriting too were provided here both within and outside the school hours, as per the scheme envisaged by the Ministry of Education.

As the Annual Report for 1947-J948 pointed out, there was a considerable re-organization in the High School this year: ','Under proper guidance, the whole school has been re-organised as a government of the boys, by the boys, for the boys. The various activities that form an important complement to the regular courses in Citizenship and Social Studies, have been assigned to six different student committees, each with its leaders who among themselves govern the entire student body .... Though social service, the general assembly, the young writers' club, the school magazine, the library hour, debates, sports and games are the main occupations of the six houses, various other activities such as the school museum and aquarium, tree-planting, folk-songs, dances and dramas are precious pastimes in which our boys take interest, pleasure and pride.

Fr. Coelho's brilliant Rectorate came to a close in May, 1949, when Fr. E. J. Jacques S.J., was appointed the next Rector. His first Report had naturally this to say of Fr. Coelho. "This year's report has to be writ large with the name and work of Rev. Jos. A. B. Coelho s.j., who was Rector and Principal of the College from May, 1943 to May, 1949 .... Gifted with initiative and an inexhaustible fund of energy, albeit in frail health, he left a record of service that can hardly be surpassed. One has only to look round to discover the developments during his period of office: B.Sc. (Physics and Chemistry) and B.Com. Courses were opened, laboratories were extended, additional hostel accommodation was provided, and properties adjoining the College were purchased; and the strength rose from 600 to a thousand. But his magnum opus will ever remain the New College Extension. Undeterred by difficulties attendant upon huge constructions at the present day, he succeeded in completing well over half of the proposed building."

If one considered that the magnificent three-storeyed pile left behind by Fr. Coelho by way of the New College Extension was only about half or a little more than half of what he had projected, one would be able to form a fair idea of the immensity of this dauntless Father's dream for the College, and one would be reminded of Browning's lines,

"That low man seeks a little thing to do, Sees it and does it; This high man, with a great thing to pursue, Dies ere he knows it."

On Fr. Coelho's death four years later, his successor paid him this rich tribute: "Never of robust health, yet inspired by a wide vision and a devouring energy, he threw himself into his work and left a lasting impress of his dauntless character on whatever task he was engaged in.” It seems that the inscription on the tomb of Sir Christopher Wren in Westminster Abbey reads thus: "Si monumentum requiris, circumspice." That is, "If you are looking for a monument, look round." As Westminster Abbey owed its restoration largely to Wren, that Abbey itself was the aptest monument to him; similarly visitors to the College, looking for a monument to Fr. Coelho, have only to stand in the New Extension and look round; for, that itself is the monument.

Part XVI

Fr. E. J. Jacques S.J., the Thirteenth Rector, (1949-55)

Able Administrator and Natural Leader

In May, 1949, when Fr. Joseph Coelho was transferred to Bangalore, Fr. E. J. Jacques S.J., was appointed Rector. He devoted himself to consolidation rather than to expansion, as his predecessor's ambitious venture of the New College Extension had overstrained the financial resources of the Institution, which was consequently in debt now to the tune of over three lakhs. Being an able administrator, he succeeded in wiping off a great part of this debt during his six-year term as Rector; and, at the same time, he increased the accommodation in the hostels and also the number of places in the B.Sc. Courses in Physics and Chemistry, and acquired for the Institution not only the bungalow known as West Hill Bungalow (i.e., the one adjoining the present Primary School ding) but also a small block near the main hostel.

In his first year as Rector (1949-1950), thanks to a munificent donation of Rs 25,000 received from an Old Boy in Bombay who bed that his name should not be made known, Fr. Jacques equipped the Engineering Section of the High School Department so that the District Education Officer wrote thus appreciatively in his Inspection Report: "The Engineering Section is equipped superbly. The machinery installed includes circular, scroll and band planing and drilling machines, and power lathes. The Workshop, may well be the envy of a Technological Institute."

In the same year, the Government sanctioned a grant of Rs.75,000 towards the New College Extension; but the sanction as not followed up with the actual release of the grant. Fr. W. Sequeira, the indomitable Secretary of the New College Extension Committee, continued tirelessly to collect funds for the unfinished New College Extension; but now the donations practically ceased, ,with perhaps only a dribble coming in, here and there, now and then. Hence, this year, the total donations towards the New College Extension did not go very much beyond the total touched in Fr. Coelho's time; i.e. it advanced from two lakhs to two lakhs and seven thousand; that was all.

Such distressing evidence of the prevailing financial stringency was bad enough; and there was worse evidence in the following year (1950-1951), when the Government was able to release only ten thousand of the sanctioned seventy-five thousand rupees towards the New College Extension, and could not see its way to paying the College the Equipment Grant for the year; but the worst of the Aloysian situation then was this: whereas the unfinished New College Extension had already landed the Institution in a debt of over three lakhs, it was plain that the finishing of it would require nothing less than five lakh rupees, and in such difficult times too! So Fr. Jacques had to make a hard decision; and he very regretfully decided to suspend the work on the New College Extension, for want of resources.

Another hard decision of the year was that of putting off the opening of a new B.Sc. Course with Botany as the Main Subject. Such a course would have met a long-felt need of the district, where so many students of Natural Science, on passing the Intermediate Examination, were at a loss to know what to do when they were denied places in the medical colleges of the State, and eventually drifted into courses in the Humanities or even into the Commerce Degree Course.

However, this year, Fr. Jacques managed to find funds not only, for the additional outlay on the Physics and Chemistry laboratories made necessary by his increasing the number of places in the B.Sc. Courses in Physics and Chemistry, but also for the purchase of a small block near the main Hostel; as a result of this purchase, there was hostel accommodation now for eleven more students.

In his third year as Rector, the Government paid the College Rs 65,000, which was the balance of the grant of Rs 75,000 sanctioned towards the New College Extension. This substantial measure of aid, together with the eleven thousand rupees donated by Old Boys and by other friends of the College towards the New College Extension subsequent to the suspension of the work on it, enabled Fr. Jacques to clear a great part of the debt of the College.

An important event of his fourth year as Rector was the introduction of the valuable training provided in the N.C.C. programme. The first-ever St Aloysius unit of the Army Wing of the N.C.C. was formed this year.'

The Social Service League of the College Department, founded in Fr. Joseph Coelho's time, greatly diversified its activities during Fr. Jacques' Rectorate. In Mangalore proper, it conducted night schools for adults in different centres; in the beginning there were only two of these centres, but their number rose to six by and by. Its service in the town included slum clearance, anti-mosquito work, visits to hospitals and the distribution of clothing, milk and medicines in Harijan colonies. Its village-uplift service, rendered in collaboration with the officials of the Community Development Project, was of a high order. It organised a Village Sangham in the Pavoor-Harekal group of villages, got the Sangham to found a Higher Elementary School and to erect a building for the school on a plot granted by the Government. Further, it organised weekly visits to these villages by a mobile Homeopathic Dispensary. Towards the end of Fr. Jacques, Rectorate, the League extended its service to another rural area, viz., the Belma-Manjanadi group of villages. Thus, by selfless work, the volunteers of the Social Service League learnt the great truth that "it is more blessed to give than to receive."

In Fr. Jacques' fifth year as Rector, the Social Service League began to offer a Diploma Course in Social Service, the Diploma being that of the Indian Institute of Social Order, Poona. The subjects dealt with were First Aid, Social Diseases, Social Problems, Industrial Relations and the Welfare State. Only those members of the League who attended 80% of the lectures and of the periods devoted to field-work were eligible to take the Diploma Examination at the end of the year. In the following year, the subjects dealt with were Labour Welfare, Rural Reconstruction, Social Psychology and Trade Union Laws.

In the final year of his Rectorate, Fr. Jacques made his hard decision: that of letting the Diamond Jubilee Year of College pass without any celebration. To celebrate it in a befitting manner, he would have had to appeal again to Old Boys and other friends of the College for contributions towards both the cost of the celebration proper and the outlay on a worthy jubilee project. But this was not to be thought of, so soon after the demands made on them in respect of the New College Extension.

Fr. Jacques will always be remembered as an able administrator, and as a natural leader whose natural eloquence in public-speaking and whose excellent personal relationships (whether with the students, or with their parents or with the staff) made him very popular in Mangalore.

Part XVII

Fr. A. J. Saldanha S.J., the Fourteenth Rector (1955-59)

His Staid Captaincy in a Period of Many Changes

In the summer of 1955, Fr. Jacques was transferred to Christ Hall, Calicut ' and Fr. A. J. Saldanha S.J., was made the next Rector of St Aloysius College. His Rectorate was a period of many changes for the district, both administratively and educationally; he then provided the Institution with the staid captaincy appropriate to such times.

In his first year as Rector, he added a new wing to one of the hostels. The following year proved to be one of many changes: the University of Madras replaced the old two-year Intermediate Course with a new one-year Pre-University Course, to be followed by a three-year Degree Course in the place of the old two-year Degree Course. But half-way through the year, there occurred

in the country the Reorganisation of States on a linguistic basis. As a result, Dakshina Kannada which had hitherto formed a part of the composite State of Madras, now became a part of the State of Mysore (now Karnataka); another result was that all the colleges in the district had their affiliations changed by a Government Order; in the first instance, they were affiliated to Karnataka University, Dharwar; but within months, there was yet another change of affiliation, in response to political pressures; and now the colleges of the district were all affiliated to the University of Mysore. Hence the Pre-University Examination at the end of the year had to be as per the Madras University schemes and syllabi, though it was the University of Mysore that conducted it. Similarly the Degree Examinations, though of the pattern of the University of Madras, had to be held by the University of Mysore. The same year saw a third result too, of the Reorganisation of States: the cessation of the enrolment of fresh students coming from Malabar.

Two other developments of Fr. Saldanha's second year as Rector must be mentioned here. First, the Prize Distribution Day of the College Department was separated from that of the High School and Middle School; from that time forth the Annual Reports of the College have been confined to the events in the College Department only; and the developments in the High School and Higher Primary School have been covered in Reports by the Headmaster of the High School. Secondly, the Diploma Course of the Indian Institute of Social Order, Poona, which the Social Service League of the College had been offering for a couple of years now, was formally recognised by the Government.

In the third year of his Rectorate, Fr. Saldanha was obliged to close a section of one of the Hostels; for, the demand for hostel accommodation had gone down, in the wake of the Reorganisation of States and the consequent cessation of the enrolment of freshmen from Malabar. The same year witnessed the formation of the first ever St Aloysius unit of the Naval Wing too, of the NCC; the NCC training was thus diversified a little.

The other achievements of Fr. Saldanha were that he extended to some extent the unfinished New College Extension, purchased a new gas plant, enlarged the College Museum and improved the playfields of the College. Above all, there is this to be recorded of him: "He spared neither time nor expense to give those who showed an ear for music a good grounding in instrumental music and brought the College Band to a very high standard.”

Part XVIII

Fr. S. Monteiro S.J., the Fifteenth Rector (1959-1961)

A Man of Vision & An Exponent of Human Relations in Education

Fr. S. Monteiro s.j., succeeded Fr. Saldanha as the Rector of the College in the summer of 1959. His Rectorate was one of the shortest in Aloysian history; for, when he had been Rector for only two years, his services were required at the higher post of the Provincial of the Jesuit Province of Karnataka. He was a man of vision and ideas, who insisted on bringing fresh thinking to bear upon all that engaged his attention in the Institution. Long before the concept of human relations (which was at first invoked in industry) came to be invoked in the sphere of education too, Fr. Monteiro was an ardent exponent of this fine concept in education.

He began his regime with the fulfilment of a long-felt need: he raised Botany and Zoology to the status of Majors in the B.Sc. Degree Course. In the following year, he erected a portico at the entrance of the New College Extension of Fr. Coelho to prevent rain water from flooding the entrance. He provided much-needed amenities to the Staff of the College Department in the Staff Room. He began the construction of an auditorium and 'open air stage' close to the old bungalow known as "Chettur's Bungalow" in the former Judge's Compound in his first year, and completed it in the following year. He got "Chettur's Bungalow" itself transformed into a Recreation Hall for students.

Just as he pleaded passionately with the staff that they should always aim at human relations in their dealings with the students, he himself never forgot to aim at human relations in his dealings with the staff. But in spite of his wonted gentleness, he never made the mistake of taking human relations in education to be simply a matter of Sunday School morals. When necessary, he could be very firm both with students and with the staff, as shown by an episode narrated in Section II of the present history. There is no doubt that if he had been allowed a longer term as Rector, he would have done great things for the Institution.

Part XIX

Fr. A. P. Menezes s.j., the Sixteenth Rector (1961 - 1966)

Firm Believer in 'Investment in Man'

On Fr. Monteiro's elevation to the office of Provincial of the Jesuit Provincial of Karnataka, in the summer of 1961, Fr. A. P. Menezes S.J., was made the new Rector. During his five-year Rectorate, undeterred by rising prices and wages, Fr. Menezes set to work to provide the Institution with a stadium; for, he was a firm believer in what may be called 'investment in man'. In other words, like all the Great Builders in Aloysian history before him, he would not let finances have the veto, when once he had recognised a felt need of the Institution.

An important development of his first year as Rector related to the Diploma Course in Social Service; this Course, which had hitherto been restricted to the students of the College, was now thrown open to the members of the public as well.

In his second year as Rector, N.C.C. training was made compulsory in the College Department for all the medically-fit students. This was in keeping with the decision of all the universities in the country, in the wake of the Chinese aggression on Indian territory in 1962. Thus the College came to have four N.C.C. Companies with a total cadet-strength of nearly seven hundred. As every cadet was required to attend two-hour parades twice a week, and as a minimum of 75y,, attendance at parades was made a necessary condition, whether for promotion to a higher class or for taking a university examination, every day there used to be rifle training for one Company or another.

This situation served to bring home to Fr. Menezes the inadequacy of the existing playfields. In the Annual Report for 19621963, he pointed out how, even before the great increase in the number of cadets, the Institution had been finding it difficult to accommodate the students of all the Departments in the existing playfields; and then he observed: "Now, with NCC training becoming compulsory, it is practically impossible to have any games without a minor clash every day. We have sufficient space on the eastern slope of the College property for building up a stadium. But the levelling of the hill slope will entail enormous labour and expenditure. Will the sports-loving public of Mangalore patronise the scheme which will give them the means of watching undisturbed inter-collegiate, or even inter-state, matches?" Having made this appeal, he proceeded to get a plan ready for a stadium costing about Rs 70,000.

But in the following year he had to modify the plan, owing to the difficulty of obtaining sufficient grants and donations. The University Grants Commission, having given a grant of Rs 35,000 earlier in the same Plan Period towards an auditorium and 'open air stage' (i.e. the one erected in Fr. Monteiro's time), could not see its way to giving a second grant now. Nor could the State Government see its way to helping the College in regard to the stadium. So Fr. Menezes sadly observed in the Annual Report for 1963-1964: "The plan has now been considerably modified, and the work will be undertaken in stages, as and when funds become available. If a nation-building work in which 800 cadets are being trained does not evoke much interest, we must own that our belief in what is called 'investment in man' is not quite firm."

"Work on the stadium commenced on August 4, 1964, without any fanfare, with about forty students rendering shramdan An announcement was inserted in the local daily inviting Old Boys, friends and well-wishers to contribute generously towards the Stadium Fund. There was an immediate response from three Old Boys, but that was all. We only recovered the cost of the advertisement. During the past three months, the work of levelling the hillside has been going on. But our resources are exhausted. We have appealed again to Old Boys and friends individually, and this time we have been a little more successful. It is hoped that this work undertaken entirely in the interest of students will find favour with the parents of our students and with the public. The students have so far put in about 2,000 hours of shramdan.”

He was able to collect over Rs 21,000 from the public before the end of his Rectorate in the summer of 1966. But the stadium was still far from completion; and it was evident that much more money (in fact, about Rs 60,000) would be required for completing it. Fr. Menezes had to be content with leaving it to his successor to complete it. (It has been nearly completed since then, and it will always remain as the eloquent evidence of Fr. Menezes' belief in 'investment in man'.)

Finally there remains to be mentioned "another beginning, small in every human way,” that was made during Fr., Menezes' Rectorate, viz., the opening of St Aloysius Night High School "on August 2, 1963." The initiative in this regard was chiefly that of Fr. Stany Coelho (who was then the Headmaster of the Day High School) and Rt. Rev. Dr Basil D'Souza, the Bishop of Mangalore (to whom the new venture owed much more than initiative, as it was he who generously rendered the required financial assistance in the first year). This night school (which was to prove the forerunner of St Aloysius Evening College) was meant to coach at night those who worked for their daily bread by day as factory hands or shop assistants; so coached, they were to take the S.S.L.C. Examination as "private candidates." The Night High School provided all the three classes of the High School (viz. Standards VIII, IX and X) in the first year itself; Mr Alexander D'Souza (of ",the Day School staff) was the first Headmaster. In the summer of 1964, "the first batch that appeared for the S.S.L.C. Examination was four in number,” like the first batch of St Aloysius students who took the B.A. Degree Examination in 1890. What Fr. Cavadini had then said of the smallness of that first batch may very well be said of the smallness of this first batch too: "Great undertakings have small beginnings." This small batch, incidentally, proved that "small is beautiful"; for, all the four candidates passed the S.S.L.C. Examination of April, 1964. "Today one of them is a teacher, another an accountant, the third an engineering assistant, the fourth a Central Government employee.” In the Centenary year of St Aloysius College, the number of students who are to take the S.S.L.C. Examination from this night school is 196, as against the original number of four! This shows the steady growth that has occurred from the small beginnings of 1963. The total enrolment in all the three classes of the Night High School is 238 in the Centenary Year.

Part XX

The First Rectorate of Fr. M. Lewis S.J., (1966-1972)

Which Made it Possible in Mangalore to Seek in the Darkness of Night the Light of Knowledge

In the summer of 1966, Fr. Menezes' "time was up", and he was transferred to St Joseph's, Bangalore. Fr. M. Lewis S.J., was made the next Rector. He proved to be not only a man of vision but also a man of deeds. During his stewardship, there were some far-reaching developments in the Institution such as the founding of the Evening College, the construction of Quarters for the Staff, the renovation of the stage of the old Academy Hall of Fr. Mutti's time and the addition of a hall to the unfinished New College Extension of Fr. Coelho's time (to which Fr. Saldanha had added a hall during his Rectorate).

Fr. Lewis' truly Christian sympathy for the under-privileged made him take thought for the class of persons, who, on account of adverse circumstances, fail to take up at eighteen the university education for which they are qualified, and who, some ten years later, come to see that it is worth taking up, but who cannot join a day college for the purpose, as there can be no question of their suspending their bread-winning even for a few years. For the benefit of such eager learners, who are obliged to learn while earning,] Fr. Lewis opened the St Aloysius Evening College in December 1966, his very first year as Rector. No doubt, elsewhere in India, the concepts of part-time education and own-time education had been already known for quite some time; but, in Mangalore, it was given to Fr. Lewis to be the pioneer who made it possible to seek in the darkness of the night the light of knowledge.

In its first year, the Evening College offered only the First Year Pre-University Courses in the Humanities and in Commerce. In the second year, it offered (in addition to the First-Year and Second-Year Pre-University Courses) the First-Year B.A. Course, but not the First-Year B.Com. Course; in the third year, it was the First-Year B.Com. Course that was offered, and not the First Year B.A. Course; for, it had been decided, as a matter of policy, to offer these two Courses alternately. But, in 1971, this policy had to be given up, on account of the mounting demand for both.

There is another important detail about the Evening College to be mentioned here: unlike the other institutions of the Aloysian world, St Aloysius Evening College is coeducational. Naturally, it has a few women on its teaching staff.

Now a few words must be said about the kind of students accepted in St Aloysius Evening College. In the beginning, the College did accept a few youngsters of eighteen or so who had failed to get into full-time day colleges and who had no full-time jobs to do during the day. But latterly it has been a sine qua non of entrance to St Aloysius Evening College that one should have full-time employment during the day. So what Prof. Geoffrey Tillotson has said of the kind of students accepted in Birkbeck College, the far-famed Evening College of London founded a hundred and fifty-seven years ago, is very substantially applicable to the kind of students accepted in St Aloysius Evening College too:

"All its undergraduates are in full-time employment (apart from some of those in their Finals year who have resigned their jobs, or have got paid or unpaid leave so as to study full time). Most of the undergraduates are mature enough to know what hey want, and also what they will have to sacrifice to get it. They resemble the war veterans who flooded back into the universities at the close of the War and who are remembered by full-time colleges as the best students they have ever taught. Morally, the Birkbeck students are the salt of the earth-for the sake of their degrees, they are prepared to give up the spare time of four years as well as being keen as mustard. Intellectually, they vary, but examination results are about the same as elsewhere in the university. I am pleased, of course, to get good results in Finals, but I am more interested in the students' work in essays. The answering of the specified number of questions in three hours is designed to be a fair test for twenty-one-year-olds but not for older people, who are a little demoralised before they begin to answer, knowing that anything they can write in three hours on, say, Donne, Milton and Dryden must be worthless. At their serious age, they would like to spend six months on an answer and make it really good-worth printing, shall we say. They are too old for snappy answers because they see so much in the questions, being old enough to be aiming at achieving truth, or what they conceive to be as near it as they can come, having given themselves the opportunity by long reading and much thinking to achieve it., Moreover, at thirty, their memories are not so spry. They like to work with books. It is not always our very best students who get the Firsts, the race of Finals being to the swift......... We prefer students of about 25-35 years. 40+ is rather too old, we find, because we cannot easily break down, especially in the examination room, the bad mental habits they have formed over the years.”

Another ambitious project taken up in the first year of Fr. Lewis Rectorate was that of erecting (with aid from the University Grants Commission) Quarters for the staff, on the plot adjoining the Primary Department. This building costing over five lakhs and meant to provide residential accommodation for twelve families was completed in the following year itself. Here was tangible recognition by the Institution of the identification of the staff with it; and here was yet another reason for the staff to work devotedly for the attainment of the educational objectives of the Institution. (In recent years, it has come to be called Jnanaprakash.)

In the third year of Fr. Lewis' Rectorate, there occurred a leap forward in the Students' Recreation Centre of the College Department, when a new radio was bought for the Centre, and many good magazines were subscribed to and made available there. (Earlier, when the Centre was established in Fr. Monteiro's time, a canteen had been provided there.)

In Fr. Lewis' fifth year as Rector, the University Grants Commission included the College in its short list of select colleges in the country for the implementation of the College Science Improvement Programme (COSIP). Against the sanctioned grant of three lakhs to be utilized in three years under this programme, the College submitted this year to the University Grants Commission proposals requiring two lakhs for fulfilment, and received forthwith the first instalment of Rs 80,000 towards this account. The Science Departments of the College immediately set about acquiring laboratory equipment, scientific kits and biological specimens. Moreover, they organised students' seminars, Extension Lectures and study tours, and provided opportunities and facilities for advanced supplementary experiments.

The same year, Fr. Lewis got the stage of the old Academy Hall renovated and provided with better facilities. Towards the expenditure incurred by the Institution on this account, some Old Boys gladly contributed over twenty thousand rupees.

As for the unfinished stadium of Fr. Menezes' time, the work on it was carried further, as and when funds became available during Fr. Lewis' Rectorate. By 1968, the investment on it had exceeded Rs 60,000, with the Old Boys' contribution adding up to Rs 30,000. The following year, the investment touched the 75,000 mark, and still the stadium was far from complete. The Annual Report for 1968-1969 revealed that the work on the stadium would be suspended for the time being, and added: "Just at present, there are more pressing and urgent issues that need our attention. It will have to be taken up again, in course of time."

The High School Department, during Fr. Lewis' Rectorate, conducted some preliminary experiments for a pilot project in education under the leadership of Fr. Stany Coelho, its dynamic Headmaster. His staff and he perceived that the School had a duty to prepare the students to face the worst situation that teenagers had ever faced, viz., that of too many people seeking power and shirking responsibility. The way out of this situation seemed to be only through one ideal: formation in responsibility. This view led the Headmaster and his staff to a two-fold programme: (1) that of intensifying the moral and religious formation of the boys and (2) that of integrating and co-ordinating curricular and co-curricular activities in the School.

In pursuance of the first part of this objective, for the boys of the Tenth Standard only, instead of the weekly hour of religious instruction, three one-week courses were conducted, on the lines of a retreat, in an endeavour to make religious instruction both interesting and purposeful. In pursuance of the second part of the programme, the School tried (as the Headmaster modestly put it) "if not to go, at least to look, ahead." It broke new ground in two fields of educational experimentation. One of the experiments was with what used to be called Craft-Centred Education formerly, and has latterly come to be called Work Experience. Woodwork and book-binding (by way of Crafts), drawing, painting, music (Indian and Western, vocal and instrumental) and dramatics (by way of Arts) were given a fair trial in the School. The working part of the weekly half-holiday was set apart for this. Thus it was made convenient for every boy to take interest in his chosen activity. The teachers, according to their special interests and aptitudes, were appointed to guide the different activities.

Having thus given a fair trial to the Work Experience Scheme, Fr. Stany Coelho was in a position to reveal in the Annual Report of the High School for 1968-1969 that the Scheme would succeed and would benefit the students in every way and make them more versatile, creative and useful citizens and individuals, if the Government made sufficient financial provision for paying the required technical staff and for the contingent expenditure on equipment and consumable materials; that the problems connected with the implementation of the Scheme were matched by its usefulness and revolutionary far-sightedness; that the glib talk of "the dignity of labour" would lead nowhere unless schoolboys could use their hands productively and gainfully; and that until the Government woke up to a realisation of the financial implications of the Scheme and stirred itself to make the necessary financial provision, it was up to t e parents themselves, in their own interests, to provide the wherewithal for making their children a little more self-sufficient by a more productive use of their hands. Fr. Stany Coelho summarised the conclusion drawn from his experiment thus trenchantly: the facilities of the costliest education were not to be had at the rates of the cheapest schooling.

His second experiment in education followed logically from his stand that it was up to the parents to do what the Government would not do yet. This was his experiment with the Parent-Teacher Association. The Association was such a success that, at the General Body meeting held on 10-12-1969, Sri Mukunda Rao, M.A., L.T., M.L.C., declared: "This is the only School in the entire State of Mysore where the P.T.A. is a fact, where 3,000 parents cooperate wholeheartedly in a noble endeavour."

During Fr. Lewis' Rectorate, the Science Block of the High School was greatly updated; and two Science classrooms were rearranged so as to make the provision of a gallery possible and also to make for greater seating accommodation.

Part XXI

Fr S. F. Vas s.j., the Eighteenth Rector (1972.1974)

A Scientist at the Helm During the College Science Improvement Programme

On Fr. M. Lewis' transfer to Bangalore in May, 1972, Fr. S. F. Vas s.j., was appointed Rector. His Rectorate, however, turned out to be very brief; for, in May, 1974, he was suddenly called away to assume the responsibilities of Rector at St Joseph's College, Bangalore.

It was in the fitness of things that during the brief Rectorate of this Father, who was a "Chemistry man," the main development was the utilisation of the greater part of the two-lakh grant sanctioned by the University Grants Commission in 1971 under the College Science Improvement Programme. As a brilliant Professor of Chemistry who had, especially, the very valuable experience of having done his doctoral research in Chemistry in an American university (where he doubtless gained a valuable insight into science education of the advanced kind, into new and effective ways of organising college laboratories and also using new teaching aids and scientific kits), he was able to ensure the worthy utilisation of the grant for the improvement of science education in the College.

Very instructive scientific film-strips, useful kinds of apparatus, effective teaching aids and purposeful scientific kits were bought; a Physics Workshop was set up; a miniature zoo and a fern-house were established; and the science library was greatly expanded. For the students, inter-collegiate seminars were organised and extra “practicals" of an advanced kind were provided. For the Science Teachers, the COSIP grant afforded participation in various "Workshops" and seminars in different parts of the country. The experience gained by them at these "Workshops" and seminars enabled them to devise many useful teaching aids. As a result of the College Science Improvement Programme, there certainly occurred a distinct improvement in science education in the College, as revealed by examination results.

Further, it is to Fr. Vas' credit that he applied his mind, even eight years in advance, to the question of celebrating worthily the centenary of "the greatest glory of Mangalore". Evidently he thought nobly of the great event and did not want it to catch the administration napping. He did not want the centenary commemoration project to be considered in isolation; instead, he wanted a Master Plan of long-term development to be carefully drawn first; the centenary commemoration project was to be chosen only thereafter so that it would be wholly in keeping with the Master Plan. Such a scientific approach to the question was quite natural on the part of this Rector who was a "science man". He constituted a "Centenary Cell" for the purpose of suggesting a suitable Master Plan.

Part XXII

Fr. L. F. Rasquinha S.J., the Nineteenth Rector

A Forward-looking Administrator (1974-1977)

When Fr. S. F. Vas was suddenly posted to St Joseph's College Bangalore, in May, 1974, Fr. L. F. Rasquinha S.J., was made the new Rector of St Aloysius College.

In his very first year as Rector, he got the Old Boys Association to constitute a Centenary Planning Committee to consider ways of celebrating the centenary in a befitting manner, and also to suggest ways of raising the very ample funds that would be required not only for the celebration proper but also for whatever worthy project that might be chosen for commemorating the centenary.

In the following year, the Managing Committee of the Old Boys' Association, at its monthly meetings, considered various aspects of the centenary celebration. The Centenary Planning Committee worked steadily to draw up a tentative programme of the centenary celebration.

A very important project of Fr. Rasquinha's Rectorate was that of giving the Primary Department a new habitat. The erection of a new and spacious three-storeyed building for the Primary Department in the premises of the former Gonzaga House was begun in his very first year as Rector; so generous and enthusiastic was the support of the Old Boys on this occasion that the building was completed in the following year itself. The former habitat of the ,Primary Department, i.e. the "Down College," was then converted into Staff Quarters for teachers of the Primary Department.

Fr. L. F. Rasquinha will always be remembered as a forward looking administrator who, though he was Rector for only a short spell, was Principal for the longest term in Aloysian history. It was when Fr. M. Lewis took over as Rector from Fr. A. P. Menezes that the administration of the College Department, as such, was first assigned to Fr. Rasquinha. He did so well as Principal that the succeeding Rectors did not choose to disturb the arrangement for fourteen long years, the longest tenure that any Principal has had in Aloysian history. This last 14'/, of the life of the hundred year-old Institution was a very difficult period marked by major upheavals not only in the body politic of this country but also in educational organization; and these repeatedly triggered off a good deal of student unrest. For example, the ill-starred experiment with the Semester System by the University of Mysore, though abandoned in a year's time, lasted long enough to break rudely the famed even tenor of college life in Dakshina Kannada. During such upheavals Fr. Rasquinha stood firm as a rock and maintained discipline in the College Department, quite undeterred by the possibilities of personal hazard and discomfiture. When changes were called for, either in educational administration or in the organization of the educational programme, he saw to it that such changes were brought about in an orderly way. Thus transition from the system of indirect elections to one of direct elections in respect of the offices of the President and Secretary of the Students' Council was managed by Fr. Rasquinha with great tact going hand in hand with firmness.

Part XXIII

Fr. M. Lewis S.J., the Twentieth Rector (1977-80)

The Occasion Found the Man

In May, 1977, Fr. L. F. Rasquinha, who had been both Rector, and Principal for three years, was relieved of the Rectorship; with the Centenary drawing near, obviously one man could not have gone on holding both the offices any longer. Fr. M. Lewis S.J.,

who had been Rector once before, was now appointed for the second time as Rector, If there is such a thing as the occasion finding the man, here was the man whom the occasion found, i.e. the occasion of the fast-approaching centenary celebration and the requisite fund-raising.

Fr. Lewis was quick to realise that the raising of funds in a really big way was imperative for a worthy celebration of the centenary, and that the Centenary Planning Committee of the Old Boys Association would not be able to do much in this matter without the help of others. 'So he constituted the Aloysian Centenary

Committee consisting mostly of Old Boys but also including teachers, friends and well-wishers. Local "chapters" of the Aloysian

Centenary Committee were constituted wherever there were large numbers of Old Boys, especially in the cities of Bombay, Madras, Secunderabad and in the countries of the Persian Gulf. In Mangalore itself, a Centenary Working Committee was formed; it consisted of twenty-five members drawn from the Old Boys Association, the Parent-Teacher Association and the different institutions of the Aloysian world, viz., the Primary School, the High School, the Day College and the Evening College. Further, a Centenary Secretariat was established, with its office in one of the rooms of the College.

An important project, undertaken by the Centenary Working Committee was the preparation of a list of all those who had at some time or other studied in one of the institutions of the St Aloysius fold. Letters were then sent to all those whose names were on this list, and they were requested to contribute their mite to the Centenary Fund and to help in all possible ways to celebrate the centenary of the Institution worthily.

Not content 'with sending these letters, Fr. Lewis himself, accompanied sometimes by Prof. K. A. Krishnarnurthy (the Vice-President of the Aloysian Centenary Committee) and sometimes by Sri Santhosh Kumar Kadri (the very enthusiastic Secretary of the Committee) did plenty of travelling, for the purpose of raising funds.

As important as fund-raising was the choice of a befitting Centenary Memorial project. After much deliberation, the Centenary Working Committee decided that the centenary should be commemorated by a Centenary Memorial Aloysian Cultural Centre, consisting of a well-furnished auditorium (large enough to accommodate 1,200 persons, and provided with a well-equipped modern stage), a separate conference room, a foyer for the exhibition of rare works of art, a gallery for the projection of films, a

modern gymnasium and a swimming pool. This Cultural Centre was to be an independent building by itself, and was to be erected on the site of the former "Officers Club," i.e. of the present Lighthouse Hill Hostel, which itself was to be demolished for the purpose.

It was with a heavy heart that the Centenary Working Committee suggested that the old Academy Hall of Fr. Mutti's time and the not-so-old Auditorium of Fr. Monteiro's time should be no longer used but left to be hallowed relics of Aloysian history, with the erection of the Aloysian Cultural Centre. "The reason why" was explained well in The Aloysian, Centenary Bulletin No. 5, October, 1978: "From time to time, an educational institution like ours has to bring the students together for specific functions-a School Day, a College Day, a sociocultural event, the projection of a film, and the like. The old and rickety Academy Hall can contain only 300 adults, and that too with some risk; the Auditorium can hold only 400; but the combined strength of all the Departments of the Institution is over 3,000. In order to accommodate all the High School boys or all the College youths at a function, the only place that we now have is the playground. With God's blue sky above, and the furniture shifted overnight from the classrooms, we have managed pretty well so far. But we cannot begin a function when the sun reigns supreme; and rain compels us to go indoors. Hence the idea of a large auditorium befitting the centenary........ Isolation from the hue and cry of the city is a blessing for educational activities. But, in the bargain, we tend to be as in an island, without the public rubbing shoulders with us. We expect the proposed Centenary Memorial Cultural Centre with its Auditorium, to rectify this and establish greater rapport between us and the public; a large hall with all modern facilities and equipment’s is apt to be an attraction for the public, an incentive for them to hold their functions there and thus frequent the campus."

With such a worthy project placed before them, Old Boys and friends from far and near began to contribute enthusiastically to the Centenary Fund. The students of the year 1977-1978 organised a Fancy Fete and contributed the net proceeds thereof (Rs 25,000) to the Centenary Fund. Early in 1978, the Centenary Fund was still short of the target of thirty lakhs, and its advance towards the target was not very promising.

This sad circumstance as well as the mounting prices and wages and the dwindling supplies of building materials like steel, cement and timber compelled Fr. Lewis to abandon the ambitious project of the Aloysian Cultural Centre. At the prevailing prices, the Cultural Centre alone would have consumed Rs twenty lakhs. He and the Centenary Working Committee now chose a less ambitious project-that of an extension of the New College Extension of Fr. Joseph Coelho (as added to subsequently by Fr. Saldanha and also by Fr. Lewis himself in his first Rectorate). This was be called the Centenary Memorial Extension. The basement w to house the workshops of the Vocational Courses and the Ground Floor was to consist of their class-rooms; the First and Second Floors were to house the College Library. What has been said Fr. Joseph Coelho's failing to erect the New College Extension fully in conformity with his original design may very well be said of Fr. Lewis having to defer to a future date the construciton of the Cultural Centre; it was failure in great endeavour, and still very creditable according to Browning's scale of values.

The foundation stone of the Centenary Memorial Extension was laid on January 21, 1978, by Shri Govind Narain, Governor of Karnataka. The work on the edifice proceeded briskly thereafter The modification of the plan of the Centenary Memorial Extension did not, however, lead to any diminution of the energy with which Fr. Lewis and the Centenary Working Committee addressed selves to the task of fund-raising.

In the following year (1978-1979), the Old Boys Association organized a "Nutan Musical Nite" in the College premises, with help of the Bombay chapter of the Aloysian Centenary Committee, which got down the famous film star Nutan to Mangalore to sing film songs to a very large and admiring audience. The "Nite" fetched the very sizable sum of Rs 25,000 towards the Centenary Fund.

On January 12, 1979, the Centenary Year was inaugurated by Sri C. M. Poonacha, Governor of Madhya Pradesh and Old Boy of the College, and the Centenary Commemoration Medals were released by Sri P. K. Nambiar, Chief Justice of Kerala and 01 Boy of the College. During the months following the inauguration of the Centenary Year, the Centenary Working Committee organised a series of seven seminars on subjects very germane td education in contemporary India.

By October 1979, the Centenary Memorial Extension was complete, with only the finishing touches remaining to be given and the equipping remaining to be done.

In December, 1979, with only a month left for the centenary celebration proper, the College organised an eleven-day intercollegiate Sports Meet in which the athletes of the different colleges the district participated with keen relish. Close on its heels, came Kavi Sammelana of the students of the various colleges in Dakshina Kannada; at this "poets' meet," the participating students ad out some of their poems. Similarly there followed inter-collegiate drama and music competitions.

The series of functions connected with the Centenary Celebrations began with the Academic Prize Distribution on January 6; Dr. S. Patrao, the very distinguished Old Boy who had headed the Bombay Chapter of the Centenary Working Committee, very Purposefully presided over the occasion, and Smt. Patrao gave way the prizes. On January 7, the staff and students of all the institutions of the St Aloysius fold provided a "Cultural Evening" Consisting of skits, dramas, music and dances. The next day was named "Parents' & Old Boys Day"; it was organised by the Parent Teacher Association and the Old Boys' Association. At 7 a.m. in .,he College Chapel, there was Eucharist; and in the evening, there was a Get-Together on the College Grounds, over which Prof. K. S. Hegde, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mysore presided. ,On the fourth day, there took place a Kannada Poets' Meet in the Forenoon, a Kannada Literary Seminar in the afternoon, and a programme of Folk Art in the evening. The fifth day in the series was the "Staff Day" when there was again Eucharist in the morning and a Get-Together in the evening attended by a great many of the Staff, Past and Present, with their wives. Sri K. Panduranga Pai, retired teacher, was the Chief Guest and Sri T. Srinivasa Pai proposed the toast. " Benefactors' Day" was celebrated on the sixth day, when again there was Eucharist in the morning; at the "Social Evening" of the day, the Very Rev. Fr. Pedro Arrupe s.j., Superior General of the Society of Jesus, was the Chief Guest of Honour. The Centenary Day was observed with the solemn celebration of the Eucharist in the evening at which the Rt. Rev. Dr Basil S. D'Souza, the Bishop of Mangalore, presided. The grand finale of the Centenary Celebrations, originally scheduled to take place on the seventh day (January 12), but put off to January 16 to suit the convenience of President Sanjiva Reddy brought the celebrations to a fitting close, when the President addressed a gathering of more than 13,000 on the gaily decorated College grounds. Present and speaking were Governor Govind Narain, of Karnataka and Speaker K. S. Hegde of the sixth Lok Sabha. The Centenary Memorial Building was declared open that day by the President.

Though Fr. Lewis' main preoccupation in his second Rectorate was that of preparing for a worthy celebration of the Centenary, the period was not altogether without growth in the Institution. In fact, in the very first year of the Rectorate, new ground was broken when vocational courses at the Pre-University level in Electrical Wiring, Building-Construction Technology Fisheries & Fertilisers, and Pesticides & Weedicides were introduced in the College Department, in accordance with a scheme devised by the Government of Karnataka on the strength of financial assistance from the Government of India. The purpose of these courses is to help young people to acquire skills likely to obtain immediate employment for them on the completion of the courses. On the completion of the Secondary School-Leaving Course, students with aptitudes for manual work can now opt for these vocational courses at the Pre-University level, leaving the general or more academic courses at the Pre-University level to those with aptitudes for academic pursuits. While the technical subjects are taught by qualified technical personnel, some of whom are appointed on a full-time basis, the non-technical subjects are taught by the regular staff of the College Department.

In the year preceding the Centenary Year, Fr. Lewis founded the St Aloysius College of Business Management. It offers a oneyear postgraduate course in Business Management. Designed to prepare young men and women for junior and middle-level positions in business and industry, the course is spread over two semesters; in each semester, five programmes of thirty lectures each are conducted.

The five programmes of the first semester have to do with Management Principles & Practice, Financial Accounting, Business Law, Organisational Behaviour & Development and, by way of specialisation, either Office Management or Export Management. The five programmes of the second semester pertain to Managerial Economics, Production Management, Market Management, Personnel Management & Industrial Relations, and, byway of specialisation, either Market Research or Management of Small-Scale Industries.

Those who take this course are required to present dissertations, participate in group discussions and seminars and undergo practical training at selected industrial locations. The members of the Faculty have been chosen from a wide spectrum of eminent businessmen and experienced administrators.

Further, Fr. Lewis managed to spare money (over a lakh) for improving the High School play-field (sometimes called the "down ground" "or “pathala ground” on account of its being at a far lower level than the main campus); and he brought the stadium (projected by Fr. Menezes) a good deal nearer completion so that when the inter-collegiate Sports Meet was held in December, 1979, as a part of the centenary celebration, the stadium proved quite sufficient even in its state of being not complete yet. The outlay on this project so dear to Fr. Menezes had by now exceeded lakh and a half.

Though Fr. Lewis relinquished his office as Rector within two months of the Centenary celebration, he will always be remembered by Aloysians as the man who rose to the occasion of the Centenary of " the greatest glory of Mangalore The present writer is reminded, at this point, of a speech by Swami Ranganathanandaji of the Ramakrishna Mutt wherein he made these two points (among others) very vigorously: that, as a people, we in India have any number of opinions but not one conviction; and that we are not given to the pursuit of excellence. But considering the way in which Fr. Lewis planned in advance for the Centenary celebration, leaving nothing to chance, attending to every detail, obtaining the co-operation of hundreds of Old Boys and friends spread so tar and wide, setting about the arduous task of raising funds in a big way, getting the Centenary Working Committee to devise a worthy Centenary Commemoration Project, and getting everything done well ahead of time, we may well say of him that here was a man who had the conviction (among others) that the celebration of the centenary of "the greatest glory of Mangalore" had to be of a very high order, and who very determinedly pursued excellence in all his plans and preparations for the big event of January 12, 1980.

Part XXIV

Epilogue

The 'Moral' of the Hundred-Year Tale

The chronicle of "the greatest glory of Mangalore" has a twofold moral for all educational institutions in the private sector. A really sound educational institution cannot be built up without dedication. Nor can it be built up without sights trained very high.

It has been already pointed out in the second section of the chronicle how such dedication as that of Fr. Sergeant (who dispensed with the luxury of "joining time" on his arrival in Mangalore from distant Europe) or that of Fr. Monteiro (whose commitment to human relations in education would not deter him from the seemingly inhuman course of telling a probationary teacher that he had no vocation for teaching) has always called forth answering dedicati611 from the lay staff. All that needs to be done now is to reinforce the moral with the second part of Fr Menczes' reply to the charge that St Aloysius College was not forging ahead and opening new courses and new schools and colleges:

"The starting of new courses, and more so the starting of new institutions, needs fully trained men fit for the task. Of late, we have been experiencing an acute shortage of Jesuit personnel. Education, if it is to be anything more than mere instruction, must be undertaken with missionary zeal."

The second part of the moral is this: those who would found a college have the duty to form, at the very start, as grand an idea as they can of what a really good college can be like, and must be like, in modern times; they must then proceed dauntlessly to the challenging task of raising funds in a big way for the translation of their grand idea into reality. Not to start with a sufficiently grand idea because of the diffidence about fund-raising, and then not to do any determined fund-raising because of the poverty of the initial idea itself-this can be a vicious circle in the private sector of education. Neither poverty of concept nor faintness of heart has ever enabled anyone to build up a really sound educational institution.

Again and again, Aloysian history affords examples of Rectors who refused to let finances exercise a veto over their development projects. Fr. Joseph Coelho (who called himself an impenitent believer in higher education and set about planning the New College Extension in a big way), Fr. Boniface D'Souza (who lamented that the times were not propitious for building schemes and yet proceeded to erect building after building to increase hostel accommodation) and Fr. Menezes (who talked of the "firm belief in investment in man" and boldly began the construction of a stadium) are all examples of great builders who trained their sights very high.

Again and again, the Annual Reports of the College have included NOT the complaint that the Equipment Grant scheme of the Government entailed the expenditure of a matching amount by the College from its own funds, BUT the complaint that the Government failed to release the, Equipment Grant. To appreciate this, one has only to note that there are colleges which have, in consecutive years omitted to avail themselves of Equipment Grants, protesting that it was awkward that they should be called upon to spend Rs 17,500 from their own funds because someone was going to give them an equal amount towards equipment costing Rs 35,000. Unfortunately it does not occur to them to view it thus: hat by expending Rs 17,500 from their own funds, they would be enabled to acquire equipment worth Rs 35,000. But this has never en the St Aloysius' way.

It is very significant that this was the outstanding impression that Fr. Martin, the English Jesuit who taught English in the College luring Fr. Maffei's Rectorate, bore with him in 1892 to Wales, from where he wrote in a letter nearly forty years later: "The Jesuit Fathers of the Venetian Province were the pioneers in the work. , 'they built a fine College, up to date in the exact requirements of educational authorities. They expended large sums of money on its equipment. I remember how, on one occasion, Dr Miller of the Madras Christian College spoke in the highest terms of the work done in the College."

The present writer can do no better than conclude with a recollection of the first nine Jesuits who landed in Mangalore in 1878 to found the College; and he cannot do it in better terms than those of Dr. T. M. Taxeira: "I wish I could wield the brush of a Raphael to depict in vivid colours the great achievement of this comparatively little band" who came "not as conquering heroes with banners infurled of the proud Caesars of Rome, but as ambassadors of the humble martyr of Golgotha, and with His message of Peace and Love."

THE COLLEGE CAMPUS

Extract from Centerary Souvenir by - Cyril Gonsalves

The College Campus consists of various properties acquired either by gift or purchase over the years.

The first is the gift of about 9 acres made by late Mr Lawrence Lobo Prabhu by a gift deed dated 18-1-1882. This was the northern portion of the land he had purchased in 1874 from Mr Thompson, a District Judge. The Main Building (the present High School) was constructed on this land in 1882-85. The Red Building as also the College Science Blocks are built on this land.

The land to the rear of the High School Building (about 75 cents) was acquired from Mrs Mary Magdalene Coelho though no formal gift deed was executed. On this plot stands the White Building. The land to the East of this plot (about 1.10 acres) was purchased for Rs 5,000 from Mr B. Vyasarayachar, Vakil. This is the playground of the Middle School.

The New Middle School as also the Staff Quarters and the District Central Library are oar the two plots (altogether about 2.10 acres) which were purchased in 1954 and 1957 from Mrs Lota Shenoy at a generously concessional price of Rs 45,000 and Rs 50,000. The Old Middle School was built on the land which was a grant from the Government.

Two small plots of land, situated behind the Chapel and to the South of the New Middle School playground, were purchased later (20 cents from Mr Gratian Fernandes for Rs 9,000 and 53 cents from Mrs Stella Pinto and others for Rs 30,000). Adjoining these plots is the strip of land (56 cents) obtained from Dr Stany P'atrao.

The land to the West of the High School Building, where the Hostels and the High School playground are located, were purchased under sale deeds between 1911 and 1925 from Messrs Sebastian Sequeira, Joachim G. Saldanha, Francis A. Rebello, John P. Sequeira, A. M. Gonsalves and Mrs Josephine Pinto.

The land to the South and East of the Chapel, being the remaining portion of the land which Mr Lawrence Lobo Prabhu had purchased from Mr Thompson in 1874, and which had fallen to the share of his grandson Mr Gerald L. Lobo, was purchased by the College from Mr Gerald L. Lobo in 1942 and 1946 at the very generous concessional prices of Rs 43,000 and Rs 1,08,735. On these lands (about 12 acres) are the Main College Building, the Canteen, the Auditorium, the Light House Hill Hostel as also the Hockey Field and the Stadium. (Courtesy: College Archives)

A Glance Over the 100 Years

• 1878, 31st Dec. Landing of the Jesuits in Mangalore
• 1880, 12th Jan. First three classes opened in a bungalow rented for the purpose
• 1882 College affiliated to the University of Madras
• 1885, 12th Jan. SAC Building on the Edyah Hill inaugurated
• 1897 First issue of the Mangalore Magazine (College Annual) published
• 1900 Red Building opened
• 1901, 22nd Aug. Br Moscheni completes Fresco Paintings in the Chapel
• 1905, 12th Jan. Silver Jubilee Celebrations
• 1908 Separate two-storeyed building for the College classes opened
• 1908 Separate Building for the Primary & Middle school opened
• 1908 Boarding House and Hostels started
• 1928 Extension of a two-storeyed building for science & the library
• 1930 Golden Jubilee Year
• 1939 White Building for the High School opened
• 1940 Addition to the College Building for English & language classes
• 1946 Foundation Stone laid for College Extension Building
• 1955 College affiliated to the University of Karnataka
• 1956 College affiliated to the University of Mysore
• 1963 Evening High School started
• 1964 College Auditorium opened
• 1968 Evening College started
• 1969 Staff Quarters for College teachers constructed
• 1976 Primary & Middle School New Building opened
• 1978 Vocationalised Courses for P.U.C. opened
• 1979-1980 Centenary Year, Centenary Building for the Library, Reading Room and Vocationalised Courses opened Inauguration of the Aloysian Service Centre, Ullal Opening of Post Graduate Course in Business Management & Course for Companies Secretaryship Extensions of College & High School Playgrounds Work on the Konkani Research Institute begins Second spring ushered in.

Jesuits in Mangalore

Extract from Centerary Souvenir by John M. Rebello

Mangalore is called the Rome of the East. Credit for earning this title goes largely to the Jesuits. These men, 'restless for Christ', have deeply influenced Catholic Mangalore. Through the institutions and organizations founded by them, they have moulded the history of Mangalore during the last hundred years.

Who are these 'Jesuits'? They are the 'spiritual sons' of St. Ignatius of Loyola, a Spaniard, who organised the 'Company of Jesus' or the 'Society of Jesus', or the 'Jesuits' in 1534 at the University of Paris. Originally the 'Society of Jesus' had six members. But many joined their -ranks. At present there are about 28,000 Jesuits spread all over the world, serving humanity in practically all spheres of life. They are probably the most influential group of men within the Catholic Church.

Much has been said about the long and rigorous training of a Jesuit. In fact, a Jesuit spends about 15 years in spiritual and intellectual training. The training begins with the novitiate (2 years), and invariably includes the study of philosophy (3 years) and theology (4 years). But a Jesuit usually spends some years in doing university studies. The nature and duration of these studies vary according to his abilities and his future work. Probably, it is this long training that makes a Jesuit 'restless for Christ'. Certainly it prepares him to work for the benefit of others, guided by the principle that ultimately his activities are directed 'For the Greater Glory of God'.

The Jesuits have been known to engage themselves in a great variety of activities. But it was their reputation as educators. that brought them into contact with the Mangaloreans.

The Mangalorean Catholics trace their origin to Goa. During the 17th century, a large number of Christians from Goa came to South Kanara and settled down primarily as agriculturists. They were welcomed by the local rulers. By their hard labour they prospered. Some of them joined the administrative and military services under their rulers. But these favourable conditions did not last long. Suspecting their loyalty, Tippu ordered that all of them should be taken to Seringapatam as captives. Their land was confiscated and wealth was carried away. Thus on February 24, 1784,about60,000ofthemwereledintocaptivity. Thecaptivity decimated their number. It also reduced the survivors to utter poverty. However, the survivors returned to South Kanara in 1799. Though the Captivity had done immense harm to them, it did not crush their spirit of enterprise. Once again, by their industry and hard work, they began to prosper. But their leaders felt that further progress was not possible without modern Western education. It was then that they turned to the Jesuits.

From 1858, the Catholic leaders of Mangalore began to appeal to Rome to transfer the Church administration of Mangalore to the Jesuits. 'These appeals took the form of petitions and cables, whose number increased as the years passed by. At last the appeals bore fruit. Pope Leo XIII, in September 1878, separated Canara from the Diocese of Verapoly (Cochin) and entrusted it to the care of the Jesuit Province of Venice (Italy), with Fr. Nicholas Maria Pagani as the Pro-Vicar Apostolic.

There was much rejoicing in Mangalore. Elaborate preparations were made to give the Jesuits a fitting welcome. There were 7 Priests and 2 Brothers. They were Fathers Pagani, Angelo Mutti, Angelo Maffei, Quintinus Sani, and Brothers Francis Zamboni and Matthew Meneghetti (all Italians), Frs. Augustus Muller and Urban Stein (Germans and Otto Ehrle (Austrian). In course of time Jesuits of various nationalities came to Mangalore.

The first batch of Jesuits landed in Mangalore on 31st December 1878. They lost no time in beginning their activities.

Realising the importance of the diocesan clergy, the Jesuits turned their attention to the seminary. They not only revitalised the existing seminary, but also began to construct a suitable building to house the seminary. The present buildings at Jeppu owe their existence to Fr. Diamanti. The Jesuits also started a Jesuit Novitiate in Mangalore in 1882. But later it was closed down and the novices went to Shembaganur.

The principal reason for the coming of the Jesuits to Mangalore was to provide secular liberal education. In keeping with the chief aim of their coming, the Jesuits founded the St. Aloysius College on January 12, 1880. From its modest beginnings in a rented house, the College has grown into a mighty institution.

Fr. Muller, besides his teaching work, also gave homoeopathic medicines to the physically weaker students of the College. Their improvement in health brought to him the elders also. This forced Fr. Muller to shift his activities to Kankanady. Thus the Fr. Muller's Hospital came into existence in 1881.

To give a good and proper religious training to the Catholic youth, Fr. Stein established the Gentlemen's Sodality at Codialbail Chapel in 1879. He also started a library for the benefit of the Catholic youth. The Recreation Club started by Fr. de Bonis in 1894 became the Catholic Union Club in 1901 under Fr. Cavaliere. The Temperance Association founded in 1897 by Fr. Lazzarit)i continues to this day.

In the mean time, Br. Foglieni assisted Fr. Diamanti in starting the Jeppu Orphanage and the Industrial Workshop in 1884. These two institutions were expanded as and when required. Thus in 1955, the Belve Agricultural Colony was established by Fr. William Sequeira.

Another important activity undertaken by the Jesuits was the setting up of the Codialbail Press in 1882. Br. Doneda guided its destinies for 42 years.

It is impossible to list all the achievements of the Jesuits in Mangalore. However, mention must be made of the pioneering work of Fr. Maffei in writing the Konkani Dictionary and Grammar. Similarly, the work of some of the Jesuits for the benefit of the Koragas cannot be ignored. But most important of all these activities were the ordinary things done by scores of Jesuits. They taught in the College; they worked in the parishes; they spent hours in consoling people in the confessional; they visited the poor; they nursed the sick; they preached retreats. It is true that the Diocesan Clergy soon came to their help. They were also assisted by the Ursuline Sisters and the Sisters of Charity. But it was the responsibility of the Jesuits to nurse the Catholic spirit in Mangalore. That the Jesuits fulfilled their original mission can be proved from the fact that in 1923, the Diocese of Mangalore was handed over to the Diocesan Clergy.

Another measure of the success of the Jesuits in Mangalore is the fact that a select batch of young Mangaloreans joined the Jesuits. Already in 1883, three young men had joined them: they were D. Coelho, P. Rego and P. C. Rosario. As the number of Mangalorean Jesuits increased, the number of foreigners in Mangalore began to decrease, till only a handful of them remain today.

'The Jesuits came to Mangalore not as conquering heroes with banners unfurled of the proud Caesars of Rome, but as ambassadors of the humble martyr of Golgotha'. Some of them did pioneerng work, others were content to do the humble tasks entrusted to them. Some died young, others served their fellowmen for decades. Some of them were scholars and men of culture, others were simple and humble in their ways. But all of them had something in common: they were restless for Christ.

May the restlessness of the Jesuits continue to shine and burn with greater lustre and warmth for centuries to come.

(Extract from Centerary Souvenir by P. Narayana Rao, M.A. Ph.D. (London), an Old Boy & ‘Old Teacher’)`

Source: http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Cabana/2280/aloy1.htm