Mysore/Mysuru: St. Philomena’s College, a prestigious autonomous College in Mysuru and the first private Degree Science College in the erstwhile Mysore State, completes seventy-five years today.

​Speaking to Star of Mysore, Rev. Fr. Leslie Moras, Episcopal Vicar for Education and Health Services in the Diocese of Mysore and former Principal of this College, said it was on this day, October 9, 1946, the then Maharaja of Mysore Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar inaugurated the College.

“It was history in the making in ways more than one as the College was an outcome of the philanthropic munificence of the Mysore royal family and the sacrifice of Rt. Rev. Dr. Rene Feuga, the first Bishop of Mysore who sacrificed the Bishop’s Mansion to make room for class rooms and moved to a two room accommodation at St. Philomena’s Church till the new Bishop’s House was built,” recalls Rev. Fr. Leslie Moras.

The College has had great stalwarts like Chevalier Varkey, an Education Minister in Rajagopalachari’s Government in Tamil Nadu, who was its second Principal and renowned faculty members like Prof. Gopalakrishna Adiga, the doyen of modern movement in Kannada poetry, renowned Space Scientist and former Chairman of ISRO U.R. Rao among many others, he noted. Over the years, the College has excelled in many ways with recognition from the University Grants Commission (UGC) as a College of Excellence and high ranking in assessment and accreditation by the NAAC.

During the last seven-and-a-half decades, the College has attracted students from all over India and more than 30 counties worldwide.

As the College gears up for the celebration of its Platinum Jubilee with its glorious past, it looks forward to greater achievements in future, the onus lying with the present regime of Management and Staff to sustain the excellence and take it forward, stated Rev. Fr. Leslie Moras.