St. Britto's, Goa

St. Britto is a prominent school run from Mapusa, in north Goa, on the west coast of India about 10 km from the beaches of Anjuna and Calangute. It was started in 1946, and is run by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).

History of the school

According to prominent Indo-Portuguese historian Dr Teotonio R de Souza, who himself was on the school staff in the seventies, this was the third institution set up by the Jesuits in Goa.

Actually, it was taken, and built-up on, from a wine-merchant of the North Goa town of Mapusa, called Valentino Pinto. At that time, the school was called the Sacred Heart High School, and its previous owner is believed to have lacked the time to run it, as well as faced problems with the staff. In these circumstances, Pinto decided to hand over the school to the Jesuits. At the time, Goa was still under Portuguese rule.

Dom Caetano Menezes, who owned another local school called St. Mary's, also moved to hand over his institution to the Jesuits.

Early days

Dr Teotonio R. de Souza suggests that the reputation of the Jesuits in Goa was high, after they had taken over the Theotonio High School, which was run by the Goa Archdiocese.

Fr. Sylvester D'Souza was the first principal of the schools taken over. Both were co-ed. The Jesuits transferred girl-students from the schools to the Apostolic Carmel (AC) nuns, who have been active in the field of education in Goa, and who subsequently went on to form the St Mary's Convent, along the Altinho hilltop locality in Mapusa, where both institutions currently exist.

Initially, St Britto's functioned out of the site of the Bardez Gymkhana. Priests running the school, and boarders, rented houses atop the hill. It turned out to be an inconvenient arrangement, specially during Goa's traditionally torrential monsoons.

Cipriano da Cunha Gomes sold the current site of the school, whose large facade dominates the town of Mapusa from a distance too. Later, the building came up with a loan from the Goa Archdiocese.

Fr. Ubaldo de Sá, of Moira, is credited with the work of setting up the building.

Alumni

Prominent alumni include vice-president of the Goa-based CMM Group of Companies Eric Menezes, former Goa minister and member of the legislative assembly Francis D'Sousa, Bank of Goa manager Salvador Pinto, musician Alex Braganza, Paulo Holiday Makers (a local transport company) proprietor Mario Pereira, director of Resicom Builders Roy de Souza, Tourism and Travel Association of Goa chairman Ralph de Souza, De Souza Group director and musician Noel de Souza, among others.

Principals of St Britto

Following were the principals of the school:

* Fr Sylvester D'Souza SJ 1946-1949
* Fr Irineu Lobo SJ 1949-1950
* Fr Edward V D'Souza SJ 1950-1951
* Fr Peter Mendonça SJ 1951-1952
* Fr Edward V D'Souza 1952-1962
* Fr Lino D'Souza SJ 1962-1964
* Fr Mario C de Meyrelles SJ 1964-1973
* Fr Theotonio de Sales SJ 1973-1976
* Fr Vincent G Catao SJ 1976-1982
* Fr Anil Soares SJ 1982-1988
* Fr Joe Palliparambil SJ 1988-1990
* Fr Abraham Painumkal SJ 1990-1999
* Fr Apollo Cardozo SJ 1999-

External links

* [http://group.yahoo.com/group/brittos Mailing list of the Britto's alumni]
* [http://www.brittos-oba.com/ Britto's OBA Website]
* [http://brittos.pbwiki.com/ Britto alumni webpage]
* [http://www.goajesuits.in The Goa Jesuit Province of the Society of Jesus] - The Jesuits in Goa
* [http://www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg00071.html Memoirs of a Britto boy]
* [http://www.google.co.in/search?q=St+Britto+Mapusa&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial Britto links on Google.com]