The Jesuit Order rightly prides itself on having pioneered higher education in Malta.
In 1592, it founded its revolutionary Collegium Melitense, Valletta, which eventually, in 1769, morphed into a fully-fledged university, claimed to be the oldest in the British Empire outside Britain. The college navigated tempestuous seas, with riots, expulsions and turbulence marking its march through time.
A postcard showing the pupils and teachers of St Aloysius’ College in 1923, by photographer Richard Ellis.Later, in 1907, the Jesuits founded St Aloysius’ College, in Birkirkara, now housed in an edifice built by their Order in 1896.
Its student occupancy grew exponentially, today reaching over 1,500, its teachings immersed in the Jesuit Christian ethos.
A commemorative postcard showing all the teachers and pupils of St Aloysius’ College, issued in 1910.The devastation of the Maltese public education system by the absurd Agatha Barbara reforms of the 1970s condemned the formidable government Lyceum to death.
And St Aloysius then became a point of reference for solid education in the islands.
"Among the female ‘sixth form’ personalities, Daphne Caruana Galizia, Roberta Metsola and Ira Losco. In a class of his own, Joe Debono Grech"
A dedicated website lists ‘notable alumni’ of St Aloysius’ College. It reads like the Gotha of modern Maltese politics: six presidents of the republic, three prime ministers and innumerable ministers. In a class of his own, Joe Debono Grech.
Among the female sixth-form personalities, Daphne Caruana Galizia, Roberta Metsola and Ira Losco.
A gymnastics team from St Aloysius’ College pre-World War I
The St Aloysius’ College first football team of 1922
Different from other educational establishments in Malta, the college issued many promotional postcards over the pre-war years.
These covered the widest spectrum of activities – scholastic, gymnastics, religious, sports, and scouting.
The scouts group of St Aloysius’ College in 1916The printed – not photographic – ones, were all manufactured abroad.
Many boarders resorted to them to communicate with family and friends, their messages almost exclusively in Italian.
A composite postcard of St Aloysius’ College printed abroad c. 1910.The earliest postally-used cards date to 1910.
Some cram individual portraits of every boy attending but so reduced in size as to make them unrecognisable.
The boys’ chapel in the Birkirkara college in the early 1910s
A dormitory and ‘washing space’ for boarders at St Aloysius’ College, from a set of 1910s postcards
The ‘higher division’ dormitory in the Birkirkara Jesuit college, c. 1910
Leading local photographers, like Richard Ellis, signed some of them.
The ‘guest parlour’ of the college featured in a set of printed postcards used in the 1910s.All postcards are from the author's collection.
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