Stress Management

St. Thomas College was founded as an educational institution in 1889 by Rt. Rev. Adolphus Edwin Medlycott, the Vicar Apostolic of Thrissur.

The University of Madras gave formal affiliation to the institution in April 1919 with the institution becoming a Second Grade College, with Fr. John Palocaren as the first Principal.

The College rose to the status of a First Grade College in March 1925. With the formation of Universities in Kerala, the College was affiliated to the University of Kerala in 1957 and to the University of Calicut in 1968.

St. Thomas College (Autonomous), has a noteworthy history of imparting education to many generations and the institution thrives to greater excellence in teaching, training and research. Salient Features of St. Thomas College (Autonomous), Thrissur, are the following :

• College with Potential for Excellence (conferred by the UGC, India)
• NAAC Grade (3rd Cycle): ‘A’ Grade
• NIRF All India Ranking 2022 by MHRD, Govt of India: 63
• Ranked Performer in General (Non-Technical Section) in ARIIA ranking 2022
• Autonomous College Since 2014
• NAAC Mentor College (Under UGC Paramarsh Scheme)
• DBT (STAR COLLEGE Scheme) Funded
• RUSA (UGC Scheme) Funded
• 4 Stars for Innovation 2021 from IIC, MHRD, New Delhi
• SES REC Institution 2020
• FIST 2020 Research Project awarded

The College has 17 departments, 14 PG programmes 23 UG programmes and 10 research centres. 61 scholars have been awarded Ph.D from the research centres of the College.

Currently, 144 research scholars are pursuing Ph.D under 45 research guides. Alumni association, PTA and Management of the College are active in promoting the academic and administrative aspects of the College.

History

St. Thomas College (Autonomous), Thrissur, Kerala, was founded as an educational institution in 1889 by His Excellency Rt. Rev. Adolphus Medlycott, Ph.D, the Vicar Apostolic of Thrissur.

It is the oldest Catholic College in Kerala, and is the first College established by diocesan clergy in India, as old as the formal institution of the earliest of the Catholic Syrian Dioceses in India.

The institution was raised to the rank of a Second Grade College in 1919, was the earliest First Grade College in the princely state of Cochin in 1925. This institution is older than all the Universities in Kerala.

The establishment of this institution by the end of the 19 century shows the importance of education as an instrument of nation-building, was being realized by the Catholic Syrian community in India and the spirit of nationalism was getting deep-rooted in the minds of the Indians.

It was also a period of intensive horizontal growth within the Syrian Catholic community, coinciding with the foundation of new churches and schools.

Thus, St. Thomas College was founded in 1889 by the first Vicar Apostolic of Thrissur, Rt. Rev. Adolphus Edwin Medlycott, PhD, who was formerly the Professor of Rhetoric at the Propaganda College in Rome. 

And was the author of India and the Apostle Thomas  (London: David Nutt, 1905) which was a lasting monument of his scholarship and in the history of the Syrian Christian community which he lead in its formative years of institutionalization.

It was at first only a Lower Secondary School, primarily intended for resident ecclesiastical students. Subsequently, it became a High School in 1894 under the managership of Fr. Zambanelli, an Italian missionary.

The naming of the school as “College” by Dr. Medlycott at the very inception of the institution, and that too, after St. Thomas, the Apostle of India was, therefore, symbolic of the mission the school was to shoulder in the subsequent years.

Rt. Rev. Medlycott purchased the present site of the College, appointed Fr. Paul Alappatt, PhD as the Manager and Rector of the institution in 1895 and prepared plans to house the “College” in what he referred to as a “handsome structure”.

It was Rt. Rev. John Menacherry, the first Indian to become the Vicar Apostolic of the Vicariate of Trichur, in 1896, who constructed the first building for the institution at the present site and shifted the “College” to that site in 1901.

It was Fr. John Palocaren, M. A. (Edin.) – a member of the staff of the School and subsequently Headmaster of the School in August 1918.

Fr. John Palocaren planned and piloted the “College Scheme” along with Prof. Joseph Pettah, the Chief Professor of History & Economics at the Murray College, Sialkot in the Punjab  Bishop John Menacherry and Fr. Francis Vazhappilly who was the Manager of the School.

As part of an attempt at canvassing the College Scheme in the press, Prof. Joseph Pettah published articles in an English Weekly of Kerala, emphasizing the need and explaining the feasibility of a College in Thrissur.

Funds for the College project were collected initially by the floating of a grand raffle and subsequently by a Diocesan levy to which all the parish churches of the Vicariate of Trichur contributed their one-year’s income in six annual installments.

On the basis of the report of the Commission for local inquiry at the School – consisting of F. S. Davies Esq., Rev. Fr. Carty S. J., and His Highness Appan Thampuran – the University of Madras gave formal affiliation in Group III in April 1919.

When the institution was already 29 years old in its service to education, and thus St. Thomas High School formally became a Second Grade College with Fr. John Palocaren as the first Principal.

The Junior Intermediate class was opened on 8 June 1919 with 96 students and 5 teachers, and in August 1919 the inaugural ceremony of the St. Thomas Second Grade College was held under the presidency of His Highness Sir Sri Rama Varma, the Mahârâjâ of Cochin. 

The progress made by the College since its inception has been gradual but spectacular. The College rose to the status of a First Grade College in History Group in March 1925.

With the formation of Universities in Kerala, the College was affiliated to the University of Kerala in 1957 and to the University of Calicut in 1968.

St. Thomas College offered most of the modern academic disciplines for study at graduate and postgraduate levels for the first time in central Kerala.

The importance and stature commanded by St. Thomas College in the intellectual and cultural history of Kerala, in the context of the birth of modernity in Kerala, have been well recognized by most students of modern Kerala History.

The history of the College as an educational institution during the past one century has been inextricably interwoven with the history of the Catholic community and of central Kerala.

However, the infancy days of the College was of struggle and hardship, of successfully combating the distrust of the public and the step-motherly attitudes of the authorities.

It is worthwhile in this context to recollect the yeoman services rendered by those patrons and members of the St. Thomas College community who took painstaking labour in planning and implementing the affairs of the College.

It is a long list of far-sighted scholar-Bishops and scholar-priests, Professors and students, and laymen, whose memory has become almost epic in the minds of the people of the region.

This list includes the founder-Bishop Rt. Rev. Medlycott, PhD, Patron-Bishops Mar John Menacherry, Mar Francis Vazhappilly, Mar George Alappatt, PhD, Mar Joseph Kundukulam and Mar Jacob Thoomkuzhy.

Managers of the institution Rev. Frs. Zambanelli, Paul Alappatt, PhD, A. J. Ukken, Matthew Edakkolathur and Monseigneurs Antony Pudussery, Paul Chittilappilly, Iype Irimpen, John Maliekkal, Paul Chittilappilly and Ignatius Chalissery; Rt. Rev. Dr. Msgr. Bosco Puthur, Rt. Rev. Msgr. Joseph Kakkassery, Mar Andrews Thazhath, Mar Raphael Thattil; Principals of the College Msgr.

John Palocaren and Rev. Frs. Joseph Kallingal, Ittyera Mampilly, Thomas Moothedan, Nicholas Anthikad, Paul Alappatt, Dr. Antony Porathur, Dr. Devassy Panthallookkaran and Professors P. Sankaran Nambiar, Chev. Joseph Pettah, T. O. Mathew, A. M. Francis, Dr. P. O. Jenson, Dr. Ignatius Antony and Dr. Joy K. L.

The College has had a very strong scholastic tradition that spans over a century.  The meticulously rigorous standards prescribed by the College for its academic community and the stature of the College as one of the premier educational institutions of higher learning in Kerala.

It can count among its past staff and students eminent scientists, literary critics, educationists, jurists, spiritual leaders, administrators, statesmen and others whose contributions to the intellectual, cultural and political life of our nation will ever be remembered.

Scientists C. S. Venkatesvaran, R. S. Krishnan who was faculty at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Kerala, K. Gopalan who was the former Director of the N.C.E.R.T. and the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Cochin.

And Prof. E. D. Jemmis, a recipient of the coveted Santhi Swaroop Bhatnagar Award; literary critics Prof. M. P. Paul (who has been commemorated by the Sahitya Akademy, New Delhi, by publishing a monograph on him in English and several Indian languages in the series entitled Makers of Indian Literature in 1985).

Prof. Joseph Mundassery (former Minister for Education, Kerala and Vice Chancellor of the University of Cochin) and Prof. P. Sankaran Nambiar who had initiated and led the world of literary criticism in Malayalam.

Jurists Joseph Thaliath, the onetime Puisne Judge of the High Court of the princely state of Travancore, M. S. Menon, the former Chief Justice of the High Court of Kerala, M. P. Menon and G. Viswanatha Iyer of the High Court of Kerala.

Vision

• Transforming the Youth through Holistic Education towards an Enlightened Society.

Mission

• To Ensure Inclusion and Access of Quality Education.
• To Provide an Environment of Learning that enhances Dissemination of Knowledge.
• To Nurture Research and Innovation for the betterment of Life and Progress of the Nation.
• To Undertake Collaborative Partnerships for Facilitating Exposure and Sharing.
• To Impart Social and Environmental Sensitivity in Students through Extension and Outreach.
• To Equip Students with Life Skills in Facing Challenges and Responsibilities.
• To Help Students attain Moral, Spiritual and Emotional integrity.