ST JOSEPH'S COLLEGE (1858-1937-1978)
Life shows itself in growth. For sixty years the attention of the Jesuits was concentrated on Mangalore as far as the education of youth was concerned. Now came an offer for them to widen their horizon. This came in the form of a request from the ecclesiastical authorities of Mysore to take up from the French Foreign Mission the St Joseph's Institutions in Bangalore. Each of these institutions has a chequered history of its own.
Adapting to the biblical parable, the history of St Joseph's College is the growth of a mustard seed. The seed was sown when in 1858 Bishop Brigot opened a school at Bangalore for boys of European descent. It was in fact a seminary, a school, an orphanage and a boarding house all in one. From this has grown today's complex of St Joseph's Institutions: St Joseph's College, St Joseph's Boys' High School, St Joseph's Indian High School, St Joseph's College of Commerce, St Joseph's College of Business Administration, St Joseph's Evening College, with the adjuncts St Joseph's Hostel and Boarding House all shoots of one plant. The germ of division and development was in the seed itself.
Soon after founding the school for 'European' boys the Missionaries of the 'Foreign Mission Society of Paris' strongly felt that the doors of education should be opened to Indian students also. Thus came into existence the St Joseph's Indian High school. Fr Vissac, Fr Accouturier and Fr Blaise were the three gardeners par excellence in the Lord's vineyard. They were administrators., builders and men of God. Thanks to their ability and vision the College and the Indian High school had not only a firm habitation of its own but had acquired a name too.
In 1937 however the Society of Jesus had been requested to take over the management of St Joseph's Institutions from the efficient hands of the 'Foreign Mission of Paris'. For want of personnel from among their own ranks they generously handed over the Institutions to the Jesuits of the Karnataka Vice-province (at the time the Calicut Mission). On a mere human level it is impossible to gauge the sacrifice involved on the part of the Foreign Mission Fathers. If the Jesuits have built much it is because of the seventy years of self-sacrifice of those fathers who had laid solid foundations. In 1937, when handing over the St Joseph's College to the Society of Jesus, Bishop Despartures of Mysore wrote as follows: "We owe you, all of us, a large debt of gratitude for your kindness in bringing us relief. We need not make a mystery of the fact: if the French Foreign Society had still the glorious recruitment it could boast of forty years ago, we would not have parted with our College and Schools being as they are the fruit of years of devotion on the part of our confreres who formed as fine and efficient a band of workers as one could wish. But for want of men, we had to part with those institutions, and in our plight your Society agreed to succeed us".
In the meantime the parent, the European School, while helping the development of the spreading branches, had been steadily strengthening itself. In 1937 when the Jesuits took it over Fr Leo Proserpio (later Bishop of Calicut) was appointed its principal. Those were hard times, the years of the Second World War. Within five years the school had four principals: Frs V. Lambert, V. Ghilardi and C. Studerus. But the school pulled through bravely and under the principals Frs Em. Jacques and Joseph Coelho made fine progress in all activities so that Fr M. Biscaro, Principal between 1952 and 1958 could keep up the Centenary of the School on superb traditional lines. The strength of the school had gone up without loss of efficiency. From then on the school has gone on from progress to progress in many fields of school-life under the principals who succeeded, viz. Frs Em. Jacques (for the second time) Hilary Pereira, Claude D'Souza, Hedwig da Costa and Frigidian Shenoy. Fr Hilary Perira improved the library, dormitory accommodation and provided a few other conveniences for the boarders. Fr Hedwig da Costa put up the pavilion on the playground in front of the school and the gymnasium which is a great help for games and other activities. A significant change occurred under Fr Hilary Pereira when the school was renamed St Joseph's Boys' High School. Later the I.S.C. was stopped and the School keeps the syllabus of the I. C. S. E.
Meanwhile the Indian School had its own record of progress to show under the administration of Fr Joseph Coelho who look over from Fr Browne, and Fr William Picardo, his successor. The School had improved in every way and the numbers had shot up. There was need of a change of place, need of elbow room for the one thousand boys, and better facilities for games and sports in which the school had secured a place in the State. In 1954 the school kept up its Golden Jubilee while Fr Albert Saldanha was principal. The financial position of the school which was always precarious had improved considerably under Fr E. Fernandes. The time had come to take a new step and in September 1959 during the principalship of Fr James Coelho the foundation stone was laid for a school building at the Boys' High School playground 'New Field'. In 1961, with the ground floor and a part of the first having been completed, the Primary and the Middle Schools were shifted there with Fr W. Sequeira to guide the small boys. This was the beginning which finally led to the full-scale transfer in 1970 under the principalship of Fr V. Farias. In the intervening years, Fr J. B. Frank and Fr Michael Saldanha as the principal and headmaster of the High and Middle Schools respectively had done much spade-work for the final division which came as a natural consequence of development.
With the shifting of the Indian School to the new premises, it was felt that there should be a readjustment of the Jesuit personnel and property. Fr Cyril Pereira as Vice-provincial and Fr C. Andrade as the Rector, with the approval of Fr General, took the step. The Fathers Residence of the St Joseph's Indian High School and the St Louis Boarding House were built on the property adjacent to the New Field, and the Jesuits moved to the new residence with the boarders. They formed a separate House with its own Superior. One branch had struck deep roots and become an independent tree.
St Joseph's College had also been making steady progress. Fr A. Ambruzzi, who was instrumental in accepting the St Joseph's Institutions from the Bishop of Mysore, and then Fr Thomas Gonsalves, had steered the College during the hard times of the change-over and the War that followed. Fr Boniface D'Souza set the pace for expansion. As Principal and Rector he put up the imposing hostel building at the Lal Bagh Road grounds and the block parallel to the College building, after acquiring a strip of land from Bishop Cotton Girls' School. More significant was the Commerce Block constructed across the road opposite the hostel. It formed a unit by itself. Principals who succeeded Fr Boniface D'Souza have maintained the pace of improvement so that today the College, though still attached to the parent tree as under one management, by itself forms three units. The Commerce College situated on Brigade Road constitutes one independent college, with nearly 500 students, (in 1978) and the St Joseph's Evening College of Arts and Commerce forms another independent unit, with more than 1000 students (in 1978). This college meant for working men and women is a boon to thousands. It seeks to carry the benefits of higher education and with it a better status in life to those who would never have hoped to gain them. The subsequent principals, too, have made their contributions to the progress and growth of St Joseph's.
In 1968 the five-year Honours Course was introduced in Economics, Physics and Botany. Subsequently with the dropping of the courses by the University, these courses in the College also. disappeared. It was at this time that research work progressed at the College. Through the efforts of Fr Cecil Saldanha 'The Hassan Flora Project was started in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institute, Washington. This served as the foundation for the Karnataka Flora Project. Research in Plant Taxonomy and in Embryology continued in laboratories set up for the purpose. Fr Cecil Saldanha is in charge of the first and Fr Leo D'Souza specializes in the latter.
An offshoot of St Joseph's is the College of Busine Administration, a postgraduate course which began through the efforts of Fr Francis Rebello in 1968.
With the principals have stood many Jesuits and many more members of the lay staff doing splendid work for the colleges and schools and deserving appreciation and gratitude.
- Taken from the Karnataka Jesuit Centenary, Souvenir, 1878-1978.
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