St. Xavier's High School
St. Xavier's High School Mumbai in 1908.
Architect: Fr. Karl Wagner, S.J., from Mainz, Germany.
Address
Fort

Mumbai
,
Maharashtra

India
Coordinates18°56′39″N 72°49′49″E / 18.94417°N 72.83028°E / 18.94417; 72.83028
Information
TypePrivate primary and secondary school
MottoLatin: Duc in Altum
(Launch out into the deep)
Religious affiliation(s)Roman Catholic
DenominationJesuits
Patron saint(s)Francis Xavier, SJ
Established1869 (1869)
AuthorityDepartment of Education, Maharashtra
DirectorFr. Francis Swamy, SJ
PrincipalThresia Sini [1]
GradesK-10
GenderBoys
Enrollmentc. 2000
LanguageEnglish medium
Websitestxaviersfort.org

St. Xavier's High School, Fort, is a private Catholic primary and secondary school for boys located in Fort, Mumbai, India. The English medium school was founded in 1869 and is run by the Society of Jesus.

History

First century

The school was built when the Bombay port took on new importance as the "Gateway to India", in the same year as the Suez Canal was built, 1869. At that time it incorporated primary students from the Jesuit St. Mary’s on Cavel Street that had been opened in 1860. By 1870 there were eight years of school and a seminary on the premises, with boarding facilities for the St. Mary’s boys and seminarians. The 512 students came from diverse religious backgrounds: 337 Catholic, 98 Hindus, 45 Parsis, 20 other Christians, ten Muslims, and two Jews. The top floor became the Jesuit residence, then housing sixteen Jesuits.

Music was taught from 1873 – singing, the harmonium, piano, flute, and violin. A band followed in 1878. Cricket was played at the school since 1874 and football from 1896. German fathers founded and ran the school, but during World War I they were sent to concentration camps; Jesuits from Tarragona Spain and some from Switzerland filled in for them. In 1936, five graduates were in the top twenty among 7,014 successful candidates who passed the Matriculation Examination. In 1940 the East Wing was completed to accommodate the upper standards, including a hall with a capacity for 700. In 1948 a night school was opened with members of the Catholic Young Men’s Sodality as staff; it soon had an enrollment of 200 for courses like fitting and mechanics.[2]

Memorabilia

St. Xavier's occupies the neo-gothic building it had from its foundation by the Jesuits in 1869. Fragments of its history are visible in the corridors of the primary section in the form of stuffed hunted animals shot by priests during the British Raj. Notable among these is the butterfly and bird collection on the first floor and the stuffed tiger on the third floor. The tiger was donated by the Maharaja of Vanzra, Gujrat, who attended St. Xavier's. The butterfly and bird collection is the work of Brother Navarro, a Spanish Jesuit and a naturalist who was associated with the school. At one corner of the primary quadrangle is a section of a ship's propeller which landed there at the time of the Bombay Harbour Explosion of 1944. St. Xavier's High School is approaching its 150th jubilee.[3]

Education

St. Xavier's follows the SSC board which is the state board of the Government of Maharashtra. It runs classes from standard one to standard ten. The primary (standard one to four) and secondary school occupy different buildings. A class has four sections (A to D) with about fifty students per section.

All students of the secondary school belong to one of four houses - Claver (blue), Gonzaga (yellow), Britto (red), Berchmans (green). These were earlier known as Ashoka (blue), Tilak (yellow), Nehru (red), and Tagore (green).[4] Each house has an elected House Captain from standard ten and a Vice-Captain from standard nine. Additionally, a School Captain and Vice-Captain are elected from standard ten. There is a sports captain and a sports vice captain also. These student representatives maintain student discipline and lead student and ceremonial activities.[5]

Principals

The following individuals have served as principal of the school:[6]

OrdinalOfficeholderTerm startTerm endTime in office
1Fr. Joseph Willy, SJ186918700–1 years
2Fr. Anselm Lester, SJ187018732–3 years
3Fr. Henry Depelchin, SJ187318762–3 years
4Fr. Edward De Vos, SJ187618792–3 years
5Fr. Theo Dalhoff, SJ187918844–5 years
6Fr. Julius Mayr, SJ188418905–6 years
7Fr. John Stein, SJ189118975–6 years
8Fr. H. Jurgens, SJ189719002–3 years
9Fr. Jos Hoene, SJ190019021–2 years
10Fr. W. M. Shapter, SJ190219052–3 years
11Fr. Henry Boese, SJ190519082–3 years
12Fr. Jac. Weingartner, SJ190819145–6 years
13Fr. Max Rieke, SJ191419150–1 years
14Fr. Max Riklin, SJ191519237–8 years
15Fr. Anice Deniz, SJ192319306–7 years
16Fr. Florencio Zurbitu, SJ193019300 years
17Fr. Aniceto Deniz, SJ193119364–5 years
18Fr. Aloysius Coyne, SJ193619392–3 years
19Fr. Angelus Solagran, SJ193919455–6 years
20Fr. Sebastian Bonet, SJ194519515–6 years
21Fr. Francis Ribot, SJ195119520–1 years
22Fr. Angelus Solagran, SJ195219552–3 years
23Fr. Richard Pereira, SJ195519571–2 years
24Fr. Fredrick Britto, SJ195719602–3 years
25Fr. Hilary Miranda, SJ196019698–9 years
26Fr. Lancelot Rodricks, SJ196919777–8 years
27Fr. Benjamin Fernandes, SJ197719791–2 years
28Fr. Edmund Caracco, SJ197919866–7 years
29Fr. Joaquim Mascarenhas, SJ198619936–7 years
30Fr. Herman Castelino, SJ199319995–6 years
31Mr. Manuel Raphael, SJ199920000–1 years
32Fr. Baptist Pinto, SJ200020109–10 years
33Jennifer Dias201020187–8 years
34Sharmila Sunny2018incumbent5–6 years

Notable alumni

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Principal's message | St. Xavier's High School". stxaviersfort.org. Archived from the original on 4 December 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  2. ↑ "History". stxaviersfort.org. St. Xavier's High School. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  3. ↑ "Home page". stxaviersfort.org. St. Xavier's High School. Archived from the original on 4 December 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  4. ↑ "House System". stxaviersfort.org. St. Xavier's High School. Archived from the original on 14 August 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  5. ↑ "Student Cabinet". stxaviersfort.org. St. Xavier's High School. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  6. ↑ "Past principals". St. Xavier's High School, Fort. 2019. Archived from the original on 22 September 2020. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Alumni | St. Xavier's High School". stxaviersfort.org. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 Vibhute, Kranti (6 January 2018). "150 years of glory: St Xavier's celebrates with alumni today". DNA India. Archived from the original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  9. ↑ Fern, Joaquim; Jun 17, es / Updated (17 June 2015). "The 'Moidekar' who hoped to save Goa | Goa News - Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ "St Xavier's School Mumbai Go Solar". NDTV.com. Archived from the original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  11. ↑ Khurana, Suanshu (9 May 2017). "Ustad Rais Khan (1939-2017): The Man Who Made the Sitar Sing". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  12. ↑ "Top banker Deepak Parekh of HDFC says he barely passed in school". The Financial Express. 8 January 2018. Archived from the original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  13. ↑ "Notable alumni". official website. St. Xavier's High School, Fort. Archived from the original on 3 December 2008.
  14. ↑ "Alma mater to honour late scientist with 'Xavier Ratna'". dna India. 12 February 2011. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  15. ↑ Anand, Utkarsh; Ratnam, Damini (30 April 2021). "Adieu Soli Sorabjee, jurist, legal luminary, and jazz aficionado". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  16. ↑ Gandhi, Parinaz M. (7 January 2006). "Theater's Sunshine Boy". Parsiana.
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