St. Michael's High School, Patna

History

St. Michaels High School, Patna, was established in 1858 by the Congregation of Irish Christian Brothers. It is amongst the oldest missionary schools in Eastern India, situated on the banks of the river Ganges. In 1968 the control of the school passed on to the missionaries of the Society of Jesus of the American Chicago Province. The Jesuit Fathers had been running Patna's oldest Jesuit school, St. Xavier's, and both the schools functioned at their best under the guidance of late Fr. Gordon Edmund Murphy, S.J., who died in Patna in 1972. In 1988 St. Michaels changed from ICSE Board to CBSE Board.

Academics and sports

The school has a cricket ground, two basketball courts, three football fields, a badminton court, a volleyball court, many table tennis courts, six handball courts, a swimming pool, and a pond. It also has play arena for kids consisting of swings, ladders, seasaw etc. Various sports tournaments are conducted on the premises.

St. Michaels is a prestigious school that has graduated top rankers in premier engineering colleges of India, such as Indian Institute of Technology, National Institute of Technology, and BITS Pilani. Admission to its "plus 2" program (11th & 12th grades) is competitive and based completely on achievement.

There is a B.Ed college on the school campus. The management for the college is separate. The principal is Father Thomas Perumalil S.J.

Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu, S.J., SJ, or SI) is a male religious order within the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits and are sometimes called "God's Marines" and "The Company," these being references to founder St. Ignatius of Loyola's military background and the members' willingness to go anywhere in the world and live in extreme conditions. The society is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations on six continents. Its founding principles are contained in the document Formula of the Institute, written by Ignatius of Loyola. Jesuits are known for their work in education (founding schools, colleges, universities, and seminaries), intellectual research, and cultural pursuits, and for their missionary efforts. They also give retreats, minister in hospitals and parishes, and promote social justice and ecumenical dialogue.

Ignatius founded the society after being wounded in battle and experiencing a religious conversion. He composed the Spiritual Exercises to help others be true disciples of Jesus Christ. In 1534 Ignatius and six other young men, including St. Francis Xavier and Bl. Pierre Favre, professed vows of poverty, chastity, and later obedience, including a special vow of obedience to be sent on mission by the Pope. Ignatius' plan for the order's organization was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540 by the bull containing the Formula of the Institute. The opening lines of this founding document declared that the Society of Jesus was founded to "strive especially for the propagation and defense of the faith and progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine." The Society participated in the Counter-Reformation and later in the implementation of the Second Vatican Council in the Catholic Church.

The Society of Jesus is consecrated under the patronage of Madonna Della Strada, a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it is led by a Superior General, Adolfo Nicolás in the 2010s. The headquarters of the society, its General Curia, is in Rome. The historic curia of St Ignatius is now part of the Collegio del Gesù attached to the Church of the Gesù, the Jesuit Mother Church.

Jesuits have been active in the field of education throughout the world from the start. The Jesuits number over 16,000 and comprise the largest single religious order in the Catholic Church. Jesuit priests and brothers are engaged in ministries in 112 nations on six continents. Their work is focused on education and intellectual pursuits, mainly at the secondary and tertiary levels, as well as missionary work and ministry in human rights and social justice. These educational institutions engage roughly 1 lakh collaborators and educate approximately 18 lakh students.

In India the Jesuits are responsible for 153 high schools like St. Michael's and St. Xavier's in Patna, 38 colleges like St. Xavier's Kolkata, Ranchi, Patna, Mumbai, and 22 Technical Institutions. Besides, the Jesuits have 5 social institutes, 11 management institutes like XLRI Jamshedpur, XIM Bhubhaneshwar, XISS Ranchi, 6 centres of scientific research in disciplines like History, Botany, and Zoology, 5 dialogue centres to promote communal harmony and collaboration, and innumerable programmes of adult and non-formal education. In all these, and a variety of other fields of activity, over 3000 Jesuits and their 10,000 collaborators from all religions and ethnic backgrounds shape and mould the lives of over 3 lakh young people belonging to every social class, community, and linguistic group through the medium of English and several regional languages.

Jesuit education is inspired by a vision of the human person drawn from the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who has always been respected and admired by the people of India. It is also based on the principles of pedagogy elaborated by St. Ignatius of Loyola. This vision and these principles give Jesuit educational institutions a specific character and set before their staff and students high ideals of humanism and service towards which they should aspire.

Jesuit Patna Province

On 10 September 1919, Pope Benedict XV issued his apostolic letter Nova in Indiis to establish the Diocese of Patna and entrusted it to the Jesuits. Fr. Vladamir Ledochowski, the then Superior General of the Society of Jesus, assigned the Jesuits of the Missouri Province to this new mission. In 1921, Jesuit Frs. William Eline, Henry Milet, Edward Anderson, Patrick Troy, and Thomas Kelly, the first five Jesuits from Missouri Province, came to the Patna mission. In 1928, the Chicago Province was cut out from the Missouri Province and the Patna mission was handed over to Chicago. Then in 1956 the Chicago province was divided to create a new Detroit Province. Over 155 Jesuits from America, mainly from these two provinces, came as missionaries and served people of Bihar on the Patna mission.

The hard work and the generosity of Missouri, Chicago, and Detroit provinces raised Patna mission soon to a vice-province, and then in 1962 to an independent province. St. Michael's Patna is a Christian Minority Institution managed by the Patna Jesuits, a body registered under the societies Registration Act, 1860, having its office at Patna.

The best-known and largest works of the Patna Jesuits are: