“To provide balanced all round education to its students with a view of forming young men and women who will be intellectually able, high-minded and disciplined citizens of our country, and particularly, at helping Catholic youth to be committed followers of Christ.” Top

St. Xavier’s College, Mapusa is named after St. Francis Xavier, a world renowned Jesuit missionary from Spain, who was also an Educationist par excellence and whose 500th birth anniversary we are celebrating this year. Born in Spain in 1506, Francisco de Jaxu Y. Xavier, as he was named, was one among the outstanding students of the Sorbonne University, Paris. Awarded his Master’s Degree in Arts with distinction in 1530, he was appointed Professor of Aristotelian Philosophy in the College of Beauvais in Paris in the same year. It was against this brilliant academic background and his lofty ambition, that the seeds of missionary zeal were sown in him by Ignatius of Loyola – a fellow student of the same University, who placed before him the spiritually haunting biblical maxim: “What doth it profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul.” This influenced Francis Xavier to such a great extent, that his worldly ambition gave way to the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, when he was ordained to priesthood in 1537. In 1542, Francis Xavier set foot on Goan soil. In the following year, he was given charge of the College of Holy Faith (Santa Fe) at Velha Goa. Under the Jesuits, it gained fame as the College of St. Paul. Francis Xavier was one of the illustrious professors of this Institution, which eventually earned the reputation of a University, where scholars from as far as Japan came to pursue their studies. During his tenure as the head of the College, he encouraged learning by establishing many other educational institutions, modeled on the most advanced universities of Europe. St.Xavier’ College, Mapusa, has chosen as its goals Virtue (virtute) and knowledge (scientia) to truly reflect the inspiration it draws from the very maxim that turned around the life of its Patron, St.Francis Xavier.Top

Our College Emblem

The lion represents the courage we hope to instill in our students, the sailboats signify the spirit of adventure on their journey across the high seas of life, the cross and the book stand for the pursuit of virtue and knowledge and the shield and palm leaves portray the victory of good over ignorance and evil.Top

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