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St. Aloysius College, Galle & the Irish Connection

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St.   Aloysius College, Galle & the Irish Connection Introduction It is generally known that the College was established in 1895 by Jesuits from the Belgian Province of the Society of Jesus, & that later it was managed by Jesuits from the Neapolitan Province until the handing over of the College to the State  in 1971. The newly appointed Bishop of Galle, Rev. Joseph Van Reeth S. J. from Belgium who established the School , on his ad limina visit to Rome, toured UK & Ireland as well in order to identify suitable persons to augment the teaching resources at the School & as a result of this endeavour, among others, Rev. Fr. Dennis Murphy S.J., Rev. Fr. C. Piler S.J. and Rev. Fr. John Delaney S.J. from Ireland arrived in Ceylon. This article is an attempt to focus on their contribution as well as the friction that arose at the initial stages between them & the Belgian Jesuits, from an Irish perspective, as recorded in the Irish Jesuit Archives & 2 books published in

Highlights of a Hundred Years at St Aloysius College, Galle

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  Highlights of a  Hundred Years  at St. Aloysius College, Galle Compiled by K. K. de Silva  Based on  Articles in the Aloysian Centenary Souvenir, courtesy of  FB pages of   L. K. Hettiarachhi  &  Shanuka Perera    (who have done a great service by preserving Aloysian records in digital format)  & other sources. L. K. Hettiarachhi  Introduction St. Aloysius College & St. Mary’s Cathedral stand together on Mount Calvary Hill, known in earlier times as ‘Poraka kande’ or Gibbet Hill, in Galle. The Hill was the place where executions were carried out during Dutch rule, & Hemantha Situge, a distinguished old Aloysian, refers to its  significance in his blog of 31 Dec. 2012 titled “The Scaffold City Galle”. Later , during Dutch rule, a church was constructed at the premises where the Cathedral is today & it had also been used as a school hall, according to Sagara Jayasinghe in  Dwelling of Faith.pdf p.13.   He points out that a 1795 map of Galle shows a small church, the