Vintage Loyola School, Jamshedpur

The Creation of the Arches 

 

Do the students, the teachers and other visitors to Loyola School know that the gates they pass through to enter the school have a story to tell ?

The Chotanagpur Regiment Club's four tennis courts were sacrificed for the  construction a double storied, quadrangled building with a large courtyard.

 In 1954, Father Carroll I. Fasy SJ was completing the building of the main school. Fr. William Maloney SJ, Provincial from Maryland, USA, was planning to visit Jamshedpur that year. The construction of a suitable entrance for the main school was suggested.

Dinesh Singhal was a year or two away from appearing for the Senior Cambridge exam. Not only was he very proficient in science, but also of a creative and artistic bent of mind. Fr. Fasy recognised this quality in him and requested him to design the arches for the entrance gates of Loyola School. Dinesh captured the very essence of the Jesuit ethos and designed a structure that had everything. He also took advantage of erecting one arch closest to the Principal's office, just announcing "Loyola School" with IHS on top.

 

The other gate towards the CNR ground was more elaborate and contained the inscription "In Caritate et Justitia" - the school motto which translates to "In Charity and Justice". The Jesuit motto "Ad majórem Dei glóriam" abbreviated to AMDG appears on the top of the arch. Translated to "for the greater glory of God", this motto has, for long, been the guiding principle of the Jesuits.

The picture above shows one of the arches being admired by Fr. William Maloney SJ, Provincial, Maryland, who had especially flown down from the US in 1954 to inaugurate the newly constructed school building and to visit the Province of Jamshedpur.

 

Thank you, Dinesh. The arches that you and Fr. Fasy created are the key symbol of Loyola today.

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Ronald D'Costa
Loyola School, Jamshedpur, 1954
91-9431113097
ronald48@rediffmail.com