St. Benedict’s College - example of religious amity

To Catholics in and around Colombo who had no access to a good education, St Benedict’s College, Kotahena, a pioneering initiative of the De La Salle Brothers was a beacon of hope.

At this time Kotahena was home to three main educational houses in Colombo, the Colombo Academy (later Royal College) in Wolfendaal, St Thomas’s College in Aluthmawatte Road (Gal Palliya) and St Benedict’s College, although in later years Royal College moved to Reid Avenue and St Thomas’ College, to Mount Lavinia.

St Benedict’s College was moved from Wolfendaal to its present location in 1865.

The College attracted the cream of the Catholic Community.

Religious amity

With the clamour for unity and religious amity today, St Benedict’s College has led the way by example through its distinguished alumni, the Anagarika Dharmapala as one responsible for the spread of Buddhism in Europe and the famous Hindu Kurukkal Siva Shri Deiva Sigamany of the Munnesweram Temple and to be products of a Catholic school bears ample testimony to the equality and religious harmony that existed in this great institution.

St Benedict’s College, Kotahena is a trailblazer in Catholic education.

As the demand for education among the Catholic community grew, the need for teaching of classical languages too became a necessity. Discussions held between the Archdiocese and St Benedict’s College continued for the inclusion of these subjects in the curriculum.

After this initial development of this branch spanning a period of four years, the Archbishop with the assistance of the Administration of St Benedict’s established the second Catholic School in Colombo in 1896, namely St Joseph’s Colombo 10. To strengthen the new school, many teachers and students were transferred from St Benedict’s College and this paid rich dividends for the furtherance of Catholic Education in Sri Lanka.

Benedictine Rev Fr Nicholas Perera was the founder Rector of St Peters College,Colombo 4 in 1922, for a period of 20 years.

Space constraints limit enumerating all the notable achievements of Benedictines which significantly include a number of ‘firsts’ in every field. This limited resume however, will be sufficiently indicative of the vast contribution made by Benedictines.

St Benedict’s produced the first Sri Lankan Catholic Bishop, Dr Bede Beekmeyer, the first Indian Catholic Bishop, Dr Tibutius Roche and the first Tamil Bishop, Dr Emilanius Pillai.

Fr Peter Pillai was considered the most learned man in the British empire at one time and his record of academic achievement has never been equaled and he was also one of the most distinguished rectors of St Joseph’s College Maradana and the founder of Aquinas University. Archbishop Dr Oswald Gomis, the present Auxiliary Bishop Emmanuel Fernando and Prof Rev Fr Tyrell Alles, these are just a few of the eminent Benedictines who served the Catholic Church.

Eminent Benedictines in their chosen professions namely Justice De Sampayo, Justice Marshal Pulle, Dr Cyril Fernando, the leading physician of his day, Prof Kandiah the first Ceylonese to obtain the D Sc, Sir Marcus Fernando, C M Fernando the country’s first Crown Counsel, Dr A W Joachim the greatest soil chemist who rose to be the first Ceylonese Director of Agriculture, Prof P B Fernando the first Professor of Medicine of the University of Ceylon, P Navaratnerajah Queens Counsel, Professors Mylvaganam, Chapman, Kingsley De Silva Orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Rienzie Peiris, A N S Kulasinghe the country’s leading engineer and many more in various fields made oustanding contributions for the welfare of the country. In sports too , there were many achievements . All round sportsmen include Felix Dias, Allen Gunasekera and L P Rayen. St Benedict’s College has during her long history silently produced some of the finest gentlemen of this Country. These outstanding qualities have been instilled by one verse of the College anthem.

True to our God and true to all men,

Follow we ever life’s holy plan
Doing the duty that is to do,
Bearing the cross with the crown in view

Shirley Tissera. – JP
General Secretary OBU, St Benedict’s College. 1991/92