History
Beginning
St. Mary’s Anglo-Indian School was founded in 1839. It was the first school established by the catholic missionaries in the city of Madras. Since then, the school has been serving for the cause of education. This year (2019-20) the School has entered the 181th year of its founding.
Management
The institution was supported by the Madras Catholic Mission by fees collected and by grant-in-aid from the Government and was initially under the management of fathers belonging to the society of St. Joseph’s Mill Hill, London. Rt. Rev. Joseph Carew, was the school’s founder. The purpose was to offer to the catholic youth of Madras, the opportunity of a liberal education. Known as St. Mary’s Seminary and Day School for the first 44 years, the school had Rev. Dr. William Kelly of Maynooth, Ireland., as its Principal.
In 1906, St. Mary’s was bifurcated into two separate sections: the European/Anglo-Indian section was named St. Mary’s European High School and the Indian Section, St. Gabriel’s High School, which was later shifted to Broadway. It continued to be under the management of St. Joseph’s Mill-Hill Fathers until 1928.
Salesian Presence
In 1928, the mission of North-Arcot including Madras, was entrusted to the salesians, and Fr. Eugene Mederlet, became the first salesian principal of St. Mary’s. In the same year, when he became the Bishop of Madras, Fr. Mora succeeded him as the principal, followed by Fr. Bora, Fr. Cornelius Cronin and Fr. Joseph Cockshoot – all wonderful salesian missionaries who served the youth with the heart of Don Bosco.
In 1945, Fr. George Patrick Whyte from Ireland assumed charge as principal and Correspondent of St. Mary’s School, ushering in a new era in the history of the school. Fr. Whyte’s service of 27 years for the school can rightly be called a saga of devotion and dedication to the service of youth.
The other salesian fathers who donned the mantle of Headmastership were Fr. John Peter Sathiaraj, Fr. Ittyachen, Fr. Bout, Fr. V.V. George, Fr. P.J. Sebastian, Fr. K.C.Francis, Fr. Raphael John, Fr. Joseph Berchmans Fernandez, Fr. K.J.Antony, Fr. Jayaprakash Reddy, Fr. Paulraj Maniam, Fr. Siby Mathew, Fr. Gregory Devarajan, Fr. Francis Sundararaj and a host of other eminent Salesians who toiled and moiled to make St. Mary’s what it is today.
Today, with Rev. Fr. Y.L. Irudayaraj a dynamic and an able educator as the Principal, and with the active support and patronage of Rev. Fr. Pappuraj Antony, the Rector and Correspondent and the guidance of Rev. Fr. Irudayam Thamathiruthuvam, the administrator, St. Mary’s has made great strides in the field of education. St. Mary’s stands out today among the city schools for having often secured centum results in the Board Exams.
Today St. Mary’s has a strength of 1770 students and 60 staff members. Together with the Management, they combine a complementary work-force with a vibrant work-culture in a healthy and growing family atmosphere.We hope that St. Mary’s will continue to forge ahead from strength to strength, following the motto ‘Viriliter Age’ – ‘Act like a Man’ and keeping the flag of St. Mary’s flying ever higher and higher.
Requiescat in pace.
Now Let Us Praise Famous Men
We parted in late November 1970 and went on to various colleges in the city for our PUC courses or on to appreantiships. After that it was on to engineering or medical schools or to colleges primarily in Chennai. The sporting ethos was not abandoned with a number of classmates representing their college’s hockey, football, athletic, volleyball, badminton and swimming teams. The Class produced the first sprinter in Tamil Nadu to break the 11 second barrier in the 100m despite being a mere sixteen years old year while another went on to play professionally in the renowned Southern Railway hockey team. One of members of The Class of 1970 consistently defended his title as State Junior Rifle Champion in the .22mm category, a feat that he went on to defend at senior levels for many years and to date is still active in the sport while yet another member of this distinguished Class of 1970 entered the international stage representing his country of residence in the field of darts. Finally, another member was one of India’s leading yachtsmen and is Commodore of the Royal Madras Yacht Cub.
Five members of the class attended medical school. One liked it so much that he stayed there for at least a dozen years but has since gone missing inaction. The class produced the leading psychiatrist in Chennai, a dermatologist, a colorectal surgeon and a gynecologist. One of the finest brains of the class has established a training program for nurses that has been awarded university status. Having gone to a school where there were all sorts of characters predominated, he had a head start over all his peers and it is not surprising that he is the leading psychiatrist but we will have to have him decipher the inner psyche of why one of the medicos became a gynecologist while another a colorectal surgeon!
The Class of 70 has produced a plethora of professionals all who have climbed to the commanding heights of their professions. Bankers and Engineers dominate the ranks with one brilliant classmate following a career arc that moved from engineer to banker to author and editor. Senior managers, entrepreneurs, sales executives abound. A couple reached senior manager levels at multinational corporations. One engineer has been elevated to CEO of a major corporation and has lifted his company up to new heights while another engineer owns a company that is the recipient of numerous awards and who advice and input is highly sought out. The Dux of the class went to IIT and them was one of early researchers in the field of atomic energy. The roar of the ocean and the call of the sea produced a cohort of Captains. Four in all together with two marine Chief Engineers. A lone teacher, an actuary, a lawyer and an IT professional (unique to any class in India) add layers of diversity to the class. A couple of admirable souls, who had suffered ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous fortunes’ for most of their lives, lifted themselves up by their bootstraps and through dint of hard work and ingenuity becoming ‘princes’ of their respective industries. Overall the Class did relatively well in their various endeavors and we can say with a straight face and a wink to Shashi Tharoor there are no floccinaucinihililificators in the group.
The Committee that was formed has done yeomen’s work planning and arranging the activities for the Golden Anniversary Reunion and is to be applauded. The boys in Chennai met repeatedly, sacrificing time and money to accomplish numerous tasks. Special thanks to the tireless overseas member who stands head and shoulders above everyone both literally and figuratively.
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