St Xavier's Institution

St Xavier's Institution (11 February 2013)


The St. Xavier's Institution (GPS: 5.42076, 100.33684), or Sekolah Menengah St Xavier is a secondary school for boys in George Town, Penang. The school is the oldest Roman Catholic mission school for boys in the country. A Catholic school, the precursor of St Xavier's Institution, was established way back in 1787 by the initial group of Eurasian Catholics led by French priest Father Arnold Garnault, who was invited by Francis Light himself to settle in Penang (the Catholics were facing religious persecution in Phuket. They had relocated to Kuala Kedah at the time when Light established Penang.) That early Catholic school was run by Catholic priests, and lessons were conducted in Malay.

The school in its present incarnation traces its roots to the De La Salle Brothers movement, an Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools which was founded by St Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1679 - 1719) for providing education to the working class and the poor. The La Salle Christian Brothers were to set up many schools in Malaya, many of which are today among the best education institutons in their respective towns, among them the St Michael's Institution in Ipoh, and St Joseph's Institution in Singapore (today's Singapore Art Museum).

St Xavier's Institution in 1857
Author: © Archive of St Xavier's Institution

The Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools took over the running of the Catholic school in 1852, when Father Dr J.B. Boucho extended an invitation to three De La Salle Christian Brothers. The school was renamed the St. Francis Xavier's Free School (as opposed to the Penang Free School started by the Anglican Reverend Hutchings). In 1857, the St Francis Xavier's Free School relocated to its present premises on Farquhar Street.

St Xavier's Institution in 1940
Author: © Archive of St Xavier's Institution

During World War II, the original St Xavier's school building was taken over by the Japanese troops as their naval base. This attracted Allied bombing in December 1941, totally destroying it and it was left unoccupied throughout the remainder of the Japanese Occupation.

The new St. Xavier's Institution building dates from 1954, a hundred and two years after the La Salle Christian Brothers took over its running. In August 2006, the teachers and students of St Xavier's Institution held a night heritage walk around the school neighbourhood, to collect funds for their school renovation. They were seeking to collect RM500,000 of which they hoped to raise RM200,000 from the heritage walk.

St Xavier's Institution, George Town, Penang, present building dating from 1954 (20 March 2004)

Branch Schools

In addition to St Xavier's Institution, the La Salle Christian Brothers also established two primary schools in Penang namely the St Xavier's Branch School (1907) and the La Salle School, which later became the St Xavier's Primary School (1962).

Jean-Baptiste de La Salle Memorial

On the grounds of St Xavier's Institution is the Jean-Baptiste de La Salle Memorial honouring St John Baptist, who was proclaimed Patron of Teachers in 1950. It through the institution he established that St Xavier's Institution was founded.

Bro. Charles Garden

Compound of the St Xavier's Institution which was named in honour of the late Brother Charles Levin. For more details, go to page on Brother Charles Garden.

St Jean-Baptiste de La Salle Memorial, St Xavier's Institution (20 March 2004)

The St Xavier's Institution is on the map of Farquhar Street

List of Schools in Penang and Schools in Malaysia

Private Guided Tours of Penang

If you are seeking private guided tours of Penang, message Penang Tour Guides at penangtourguides@gmail.com and enquire with them.

 Buy, rent or sell properties in Penang

Do you have a property for sale or to rent out? Are you looking to buy or rent a property? Get in touch with me. WhatsApp me (Timothy Tye) at 012 429 9844, and I will assign one of my property agents to serve you. I will choose the agent for you, according to your property needs. So when you message me, provide me some details of what you need, whether to sell, to buy, to rent or to rent out, and what type of property, is it condo, apartment, house, shop, office or land.

Adakah anda mempunyai hartanah untuk dijual atau disewakan? Adakah anda ingin membeli atau menyewa hartanah? Hubungi saya. WhatsApp saya (Timothy Tye) di 012 429 9844, dan saya akan menugaskan salah seorang ejen hartanah saya untuk berkhidmat kepada anda. Saya akan pilih ejen untuk anda, mengikut keperluan hartanah anda. Oleh itu, apabila anda menghantar mesej kepada saya, berikan saya beberapa butiran tentang apa yang anda perlukan, sama ada untuk menjual, untuk membeli, untuk disewakan atau untuk disewakan, dan jenis hartanah apakah itu kondo, pangsapuri, rumah, kedai, pejabat atau tanah.

您有待出售或出租的房产吗？ 您想购买或租赁房产吗？ 与我联系。 WhatsApp 我 (Timothy Tye) 012 429 9844，我将指派一名房地产经纪人为您服务。 我会根据您的房产需求，为您选择代理。 因此，当您给我发消息时，请向我提供一些您需要的详细信息，无论是出售、购买、出租还是出租，以及房产类型，是公寓、公寓、房屋、商店、办公室还是土地。

 New Properties in Penang

Looking to buy property in Penang? Get the e-brochures right here without having to visit or contact individual developers.

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

 Share your travels and/or ask a travel-related question

Join the Penang Travel Tips Facebook Group to share photos, tips and anything related to your travels, or ask travel-related questions.

Map of Roads in Penang

Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.

Discover with Timothy

Let me take you to explore and discover Penang through my series of walking tours on YouTube. You may use these videos as your virtual tour guide. At the beginning of each video, I provide the starting point coordinates which you may key into your GPS, Google Maps or Waze, to be navigated to where I start the walk, and use the video as your virtual tour guide.

Disclaimer

Please use the information on this page as guidance only. The author endeavours to update the information on this page from time to time, but regrets any inaccuracies if there be any.

Songs about Penang

About this website

Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.