India

Patrician Locations ~ INDIA

In 1875, three Irish Patrician Brothers - Ignatius, Paul and Fintan - began their mission by taking care of the destitute and orphan boys of the Archdiocese of Madras. They founded the St. Patrick's High School and orphanage. Their strong faith enabled them to dedicate themselves to the primary object of their mission in those difficult days.

As time went on, the Brothers were able to extend their mission of educational apostolate to other parts of India. St Joseph's College, Coonoor (South India), a hill station, was started in 1892. The following year the Brothers took over St. George's College and St. Fidelis High School in Barlowganj, Mussoorie (North India) from the Capuchin Fathers.

The origins of St. Patrick's High School and Orphanage in Madras are outlined in the following historical quotation.

"The Institution continued till May 1856, when capitation grants were secured from Government and towards the end of 1863, a substantial two storeyed building was erected within the Church Compound with the aid of a government building grant. (This building is now St. Mary's High School for day pupils.) It was then discovered that the supervision was not as satisfactory as the Brothers of ST. Patrick (a religious community of vigilant and industrious Irish Monks) would have wished. The achievements of these worthy educationalists have been acknowledged by successive inspectors of schools. The institution cotinued to grow and develop and, in order to obtain more suitable and commodious premises in a better locality, the superiors of the Brothers went on a mission to Europe, America and Australia and succeeded in realising the large sum of nearly Rs. 27, 000/-. This success, together with the encouragement by Government for the support of the orphans and destitute children under the grant-in-aide code, enabled the managers to purchase the large property known as Shikar Bagh or Elphinstone Park - the residence of a former Governor - in South Adyar on 1st July 1884."

The Brothers established St. Anthony's High School, Lahore (Pakistan) in 1911. St. Joseph's Academy, Dehra Dun, was established in 1934 and that was followed by St. Michael's Academy, Madras in 1951 and St. Mary's Academy in Meerut in 1952. Mount St. Mary's School. Delhi was started in 1963. It was only in 1948 that St. Fidelis Orphanage was amalgamated with St. George's College in the same Campus in 1949.

In the early fifties an important development took place and that was the introduction of Indian candidates. Formation houses for the training of Indian candidates were set up in Coonoor, Madras and Mussoorie. In this connection special mention must be made of the work done by Bros. McEvoy, O'Brien, Henderson, Ritchie, Long and Coffey.

We run vernacular schools in Mussoorie, Binnaguri and Trichi and these schools are supported by the more prosperous schools.

Brothers also run the National Open School stream to cater for the needs of students who are not able to cope with the normal grade system, as well as over aged children. On keeping with the options for the poor, there is a drive on to open more vernacular schools in the remote villages in the country. These need a great deal of financial support. At the present time, more and more religious people are moving out into village areas to be of help to the marginalised and less privileged and to stand for the cause of peace and justice.

Present Patrician Locations in India

1. New Delhi
2. Dehra Dun
3. Mussoorie
4. Meerut
5. Binnaguri
6. Pune
7. Bangalore
8. Mananthavady
9. Trichy
10. Chennai
11. Dindigul
12. Sathyamangalam
13. Angamaly
14. Coonoor
15. Manendergarh

The total area of India is 3.3 million square kilometres and it has a population of over 1.027 billion people. The major religions are Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism. There are over 17 million Catholics.
The distance from Angamaly (13) to Mussoorie (3) is 2200 kilometres.

buildings
Mussorie graves ~ Dehra Dun 1934 ~ Mussoorie school atop ~ Shelter in Coonoor ~ Modern school at Angamaly

brothers
1900 Coonoor ~ 1929 Visitation ~ Traditional candle lighting ~ Pune 2006 ~ Young men professed Patricians