During a national conference, I introduced myself and mentioned that I hail from St. Berchmans College, Changanacherry. One of the participants approached me and inquired whether it was a Jesuit institution.   I replied in the negative. Curiously, there was a feeling of pride within me, inadvertently, as I found myself linked to the Jesuits, a religious order established by St. Ignatius of Loyola, which has established the world’s largest network of educational institutions. Notably in India, the Society of Jesus has an impressive array of educational facilities, including 118 primary and middle schools, 149 high schools, 58 university colleges, 22 technical institutes, and 16 business administration institutes. This interaction led me to contemplate the association between St Berchmans College and the Jesuits.

John Berchmans a Jesuit seminarian

The College is named after Saint John Berchmans, born in 1599 in Diest, presently situated in Belgium. To sustain himself, John balanced his school studies with a household servant role. After schooling, he joined a newly started college by the Jesuits. Despite facing resistance from his father, he joined the Jesuit novitiate at 17 and journeyed to Rome for philosophical studies. Tragically, in 1621, he fell victim to Roman fever (an epidemic akin to Covid-19), passing away on August 13th at the young age of twenty-two years and five months. Following his canonization, his feast day is commemorated on August 13th, the anniversary of his heavenly birth. St Berchmans College is named after a saint who was a Jesuit seminarian.

Mar Charles Lavigne S J: The Architect of Naming

Mar Charles Lavigne, the first Vicar Apostolic (bishop) of Kottayam Vicariate, hailed from France and was a Jesuit. He had been a science professor at Kausia College in France and Ucles College in Spain. In 1887, he assumed office with Kottayam as his episcopal seat. Recognizing that Changanacherry had a grander church and more Catholic population, Bishop Lavigne, supported by ecclesiastical approval, relocated his seat to Changanacherry in 1890. He had a distinct educational vision and aimed to create an institution, akin to the counterpart in Kottayam, which followed a trajectory from school to college, and thus was christened CMS College High School. In 1891, he founded a school in Changanacherry, named Berchmans, who was declared a saint, three years back in 1888.

Bishop Lavigne traveled to Rome in 1895, to secure funding for the advancement of St. Berchmans School and for the college in Changanacherry. However, due to growing demands and sentiments from the local region, it was decided in Rome that indigenous Bishops shall be appointed in the future. Consequently, he was appointed the Bishop of Trincomali, Sri Lanka in 1898.

The conceptualization and name of the College are credited to Mar Charles Lavigne. In tribute to his enduring legacy, the indoor stadium of S B College, inaugurated in 2018, proudly carries his name.

Rev. Fr. Honore S.J

It is recorded in the college profile that the ‘fully equipped laboratories in the new building of S B College campus were set up under the direct supervision of Rev. Fr. Honore S.J who had been a renowned professor of Physics and Chemistry in the Province of Madras.’ It is claimed that Fr Honore was involved in drawing the blue print for the tower building of the college, started construction in 1927, but completed in 1937. Thus the main building in the campus, the science block with the tower has resemblances to the architecture of St Joseph’s College, Tiruchirappalli, a Jesuit college.

Final stroke:

Intriguingly, the college in Brussels, Belgium, is the only Jesuit educational institution bearing the name of St. Berchmans.