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Home | Secondary School | Saint Marys College, Trinidad and Tobago
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The school is more popularly known as "CIC," which stands for 'College of the Immaculate Conception'. St.Mary's College is a seven-year school that prepares students for the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) ordinary level examinations known as 'O-Levels' at 5th Form and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) level examinations. The school offers education in a vast number of fields in the sciences, humanities, business studies and economics. St. Mary's College is known as one of the best schools in the country and students completing their A-Levels from St. Mary's consistently win the prestigious national scholarships offered by the government for academic excellence, including the President's Medal in 2005. In 1859, the Queen's College School was founded on Abercromby Street in Port of Spain by the Trinidad and Tobago Government which provided 5 teachers. In 1860, shortly after arriving in Trinidad, the Roman Catholic Archbishop Ferdinand English condemned the Protestant Collegiate school absolutely. For their secondary education, Catholics in Trinidad had either to disobey the Archbishop or attend St. George's College, which was moribund and had "never fulfilled the needs of the young". Louis de Verteuil, the leader of the Catholic party and Mayor of Port-of-Spain since 1859, proposed a solution to the Archbishop and was commissioned by him to go to Rome where he attempted to persuade the Jesuits or Oratorians to found a college in Trinidad. This attempt failed but at the suggestion of Mgr. Talbot, Private Chamberlain of The Holy Ghost Fathers, whom Louis had appointed, Archbishop English got in touch with the newly founded Congregation of the Holy Ghost and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On the 7th June 1862, he wrote their superior General, Rev. Father Schwindenhammer, the letter at the top of this document requesting assistance in setting up a new college in Trinidad. Archbishop English died three months later, but the Holy Ghost Fathers - Fathers Guilloux and Sundhauser - still came, arriving in Trinidad on the morning of July 7. By August 1 1863, St. Mary's College had opened on the site of the old St. George's College the Southernmost part of the present St. Joseph's Convent) with 14 pupils, of whom 8 were boarders and 6 day pupils. The school was advertised in the newspapers. The courses taught in the college at that time included Latin, Greek, English, French, Spanish, History and Geography ancient and modern, Science and Mathematics, and Music. English and French were the school's official languages at the time. Boarders were required to pay 192 dollars per year and day boys 6 dollars per month. The elaborate Sunday or dress uniform was black but the weekly Day uniform included gray pants and a straw hat. Archbishop Louis Joachim Gonin came into Trinidad in 1864 and remained as Archbishop until his death in 1887. During this time, St. Mary's College was under considerable pressure, financially and otherwise, for though the Archbishop was a very holy man he was also very demanding and hard to get along with. Three times - in 1874, 1877 and 1880 - decisions were taken by the Holy Ghost authorities to abandon the work in Trinidad, ostensibly because of shortage of personnel but largely because of personal difficulties between the superiors and the Archbishop. The insistence of the Catholics of Trinidad and of the Propaganda of the Faith in Rome, effectively prevented the priests from leaving. |
