St. Mary's College, Negombo is a provincial

Catholic school Catholic schools are Parochial school, parochial pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest parochial schools, religious, no ...

Negombo Negombo (, ), also known as Punchi Romaya (Little Rome), is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the west coast and at the mouth of the Negombo Lagoon, in the Western Province, Sri Lanka, Western Province, from Colombo via the E03 expressway ...

Gampaha District Gampaha District ( ''gampaha distrikkaya'', ''Kampakai Māvaṭṭam'') is one of the 25 Districts of Sri Lanka, districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. It is the second most populous district of Sri Lank ...

, Sri Lanka.

History

The school was founded in 1871 by Father Monsignor John Vistarini, priest of the Grand Street parish and a Catholic missionary in Sri Lanka, who dedicated the school to

Mary, mother of Jesus Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

. With the help of foreign missionaries who came to Sri Lanka, he gave English education to local children. Father F. L. Briton (1906–1914) was the first principal of the school. In 1917, the

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute of Religious brother, brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from Fr ...

arrived in Sri Lanka and chose St. Mary's College as their first educational institution. In 1923, Mary Christine de Cruz and Rosa Isabella de Cruz donated a piece of land at Coppara Junction to St. Mary's College. The Marist Brothers started a school as a branch of St. Mary's College. In 1924, they asked the General Manager of Catholic Schools to change the name "St. Mary's College" to " Maris Stella College". In 1960, the Sri Lankan government took over the schools, but the management had decided to make this college private and fee-free. During 1973-1981, the land belonging to St. Mary's Convent was taken over by the school, and the school's head built two-floor, three-floor and four-floor buildings for science, commerce and arts subjects. In 1984 St. Mary's College was named the centre of ten schools in West Negombo. In 1995 the school was returned to the Marist Brothers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:St. Mary's College, Negombo Schools in Gampaha District Provincial schools in Sri Lanka