St. Thomas College, Thrissur
St. Thomas' College, Thrissur,
Thrissur
,
The establishment of this institution by the end of the 19th century shows that the importance of education as an instrument of nation-building was being realized by the Catholic Syrian community in India and the spirit of nationalism was getting deep-rooted in the minds of the Indians. It was also a period of an intensive process of horizontal growth within the Syrian Catholic community, coinciding with the foundation of new churches and schools. Thus, the "St. Thomas College was founded in 1889 by the first Vicar Apostolic of Trichur, the Rt. Rev. Adolphus Edwin Medlycott, PhD, who was formerly Professor of Rhetoric at the Propaganda College in Rome and was the author of India and the Apostle Thomas (London: David Nutt, 1905) which is a lasting monument of his scholarship in the history of the Syrian Christian community that he was to lead in its formative years of institutionalization.
It was at first only a Lower Secondary School, primarily intended for resident ecclesiastical students. Subsequently, it became a High School in 1894 under the managership of Fr. Zambanelli, an Italian missionary. The naming of the school as "College by Dr. Medlycott at the very inception of the institution, and that too, after St. Thomas the Apostle of India was, therefore, symbolic of the mission the school was to shoulder in the subsequent years. The Rt. Rev. Medlycott purchased the present site of the College, appointed Fr. Paul Alappatt, PhD as the Manager and Rector of the institution in 1895 and prepared plans to house the "College in what he referred to as a "handsome structure". It was the Rt. Rev. John Menacherry, the first Indian to become the Vicar Apostolic of the Vicariate of Trichur, in 1896, who constructed the first building for the institution at the present site and shifted the "College to that site in 1901.
It was Fr. John Palocaren, M. A. (Edin.),a member of the staff of the School and subsequently Headmaster of the School in August 1918,who planned and piloted the "College Scheme along with Prof. Joseph Pettah, the Chief Professor of History & Economics at the Murray College, Sialkot in the Punjab (subsequently Professor of Economics & History at the St. Thomas College, Trichur, University Reader in Economics of the University of Madras, Chevalier of the Diocese of Trichur and Member of the Legislative Council, State of Cochin), Bishop John Menacherry and Fr. Francis Vazhappilly who was the Manager of the School. As part of an attempt at canvassing the College Scheme in the press, Prof. Joseph Pettah published articles in an English Weekly of Kerala emphasizing the need and explaining the feasibility of a College in Trichur.
Funds for the College project were collected initially by the floating of a grand raffle and subsequently by a Diocesan levy to which all the parish churches of the Vicariate of Trichur contributed their one-year�s income in six annual installments. On the basis of the report of the Commission for local inquiry at the School consisting of F. S. Davies Esq., Rev. Fr. Carty S. J., and His Highness Appan Thampuran the University of Madras gave formal affiliation in Group III in April 1919, when the institution was already 29 years old in its service to education, and thus the St. Thomas High School formally became a Second Grade College with Fr. John Palocaren as the first Principal. The Junior Intermediate class was opened on 8 June 1919 with 96 students and 5 teachers, and in August 1919 the inaugural ceremony of the St. Thomas Second Grade College was held under the presidency of His Highness Sir Sri Rama Varma, the Mahârâjâ of Cochin.
The progress made by the College since its inception has been gradual but spectacular. The College rose to the status of a First Grade College in History Group in March 1925. With the formation of Universities in Kerala, the College was affiliated to the University of Kerala in 1957 and to the University of Calicut in 1968. It was the St. Thomas College that offered most of the modern academic disciplines for study at graduate and postgraduate levels for the first time in central Kerala. The importance and stature commanded by the St. Thomas College in the intellectual and cultural history of Kerala in the context of the birth of modernity in Kerala have been well recognized by most students of modern Kerala History.
With the formation of Universities in Kerala, the College was affiliated to the University of Kerala in 1957 and to the University of Calicut in 1968. It was the St. Thomas College that offered most of the modern academic disciplines for study at graduate and postgraduate levels for the first time in central Kerala. The importance and stature commanded by the St. Thomas College in the intellectual and cultural history of Kerala in the context of the birth of modernity in Kerala have been well recognized by most students of modern Kerala History.
The history of the College as an educational institution during the past one century has been inextricably interwoven with the history of the Catholic community and of central Kerala. However, the infancy of the College was days of struggle and hardship, of successfully combating the distrust of the public and the step-motherly attitudes of the authorities. It is worthwhile in this context to recollect the yeomen services rendered by those patrons and members of the St. Thomas College community who took painstaking labour in planning and implementing the affairs of the College.
It is a long list of far-sighted scholar-Bishops and scholar-priests, Professors and students, and laymen, whose memory has become almost epic in the minds of the people of the region. This list includes the founder-Bishop Rt. Rev. Medlycott, PhD, Patron-Bishops Mar John Menacherry, Mar Francis Vazhappilly, Mar George Alappatt, PhD, and Mar Joseph Kundukulam; Managers of the institution Rev. Frs. Zambanelli, Paul Alappatt, PhD, A. J. Ukken, Matthew Edakkolathur and Monseigneurs Antony Pudussery, Paul Chittilappilly, Iype Irimpen, John Maliekkal, Paul Chittilappilly, PhD and Ignatius Chalissery; Principals of the College Msgr. John Palocaren, and Rev. Frs. Joseph Kallingal, Ittyera Mampilly, Thomas Moothedan, D.D., Nicholas Anthikad and Paul Alappatt; and Professors P. Sankaran Nambiar, Chev. Joseph Pettah and T. O. Mathew.
The College has had a very strong scholastic tradition that spans over a century. The meticulously rigorous standards prescribed by the College for its academic community and the stature of the College as one of the premier educational institutions of higher learning in Kerala attracted the best of talents into its teaching and student community. It can count among its past staff and students eminent scientists, literary critics, educationists, jurists, spiritual leaders, administrators, statesmen and others whose contributions to the intellectual, cultural and political life of our nation will ever be remembered. Scientists C. S. Venkatesvaran, R. S. Krishnan who was the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Kerala, K. Gopalan who was the former Director of the N.C.E.R.T. and the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Cochin, and Prof. E. D. Jemmis, a recipient of the coveted Santhi Swaroop Bhatnagar Award; literary critics Prof. M. P. Paul (who has been commemorated by the Sahitya Akademy, New Delhi, by publishing a monograph on him in English and several Indian languages in the series entitled Makers of Indian Literature in 1985), Prof. Joseph Mundassery (former Minister for Education, Kerala and Vice Chancellor of the University of Cochin) and Prof. P. Sankaran Nambiar who had initiated and led the world of literary criticism in Malayalam; Jurists Joseph Thaliath, the one-time Puisne Judge of the High Court of the princely state of Travancore, M. S. Menon, the former Chief Justice of the High Court of Kerala, M. P. Menon and G. Viswanatha Iyer of the High Court of Kerala; spiritualist and interpreter of Indian scriptures Swamy Chinmayananda, Christian Bishops Mar George Alappatt, PhD, Mar Iype Irimpan, Mar James Pazhayattil, Mar Pa
