ORIGIN

Andhra Loyola College is a Jesuit College in Vijayawada,
the second biggest city in Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra Loyola College (Autonomous), Vijayawada, is a Catholic Christian Higher Educational Institution founded and being administered by the Society of Jesus, whose members are popularly known as the Jesuits all over the world.

Madras Presidency of the British India consisted of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam speaking areas. However, over the years the Telugu people felt the need to have their neglected interests met in their own land-Andhra - and got Andhra University established in 1926 with Sir Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy (Sir C R Reddy) as the founding Vice Chancellor. Subsequently, the Telugu people started agitating for a separate State called Andhra for themselves during the British era itself to preserve their own identity and have their needs adequately met. The genesis of the College dates back to this time.

Towards the end of October 1943 Sir C R Reddy, felicitating Bishop Ignatius Mummadi after his Episcopal Consecration as the new and second Catholic Bishop of Guntur, suggested to him to strive for the establishment of a Jesuit College in the centrally located Vijayawada area, like Loyola College, Madras (Chennai), as if to make amends for his decision to shift the establishment of Andhra University from the originally intended location of Vijayawada area to Visakhapatnam (as a single piece of required vast area of land for a University could not be acquired in the fertile Vijayawada area within the stipulated time).

Sir C R Reddy made this suggestion to Bishop Ignatius because until then the Telugu Students had been going to the Jesuit Colleges in the Tamil speaking area of the Madras State for quality education.

Ever since Bishop Mummadi pursued his relentless efforts for almost ten long years, along with the other Catholic Bishops of Andhra, in general, and Bishops Domenico Grassi and his successor Ambrose De Battista of Vijayawada, in particular, for a Jesuit College in Vijayawada area.

Bishop Ignatius Mummadi since then started his relentless ef- forts for the same writing to the Jesuit Vice Provincial Superior in Madurai, but to no avail. Hence, he made it a point to meet the very Rev Fr John Baptist Janssens, SJ, the then Superior General of the Society of Jesus in Rome during his “Ad Limina” visit in 1948. The Bishop introduced him self as a descendent of the Jesuit Carnatic Mission and pleaded with the Jesuit Superior General convincingly for starting a Jesuit College in Vijayawada area of the then Madras State in Independent India. Hence, the Jesuit General mandated the Jesuit Vice Provincial Superior of Madurai to oblige the sincere request of the Bishop in course of time, but at the earliest possible.

Accordingly, Rev Fr K Devaiah, SJ, a Telugu Jesuit from Guntur area, who was working as the Headmaster of St Mary’s High School, Dindigul, Tamilnadu, was tasked in April 1952 to select a suitable site for a Jesuit College in Vijayawada area. Fr. Devaiah reached Guntur on 1st August 1952 and met Bishop Ignatius. Both of them and many local leaders applied themselves to the task of selecting a suitable area and acquiring sufficient land for the needs of a Jesuit College.

There were many requests and delegations from the people of Bapatla,Vetapalam, Nambur, Muktyala, Gannavaram, Vijayawada etc., to start the College in their respective places offering the required land and money.

After considering various proposals for the College site, Rev Fr Humbert Pinto, SJ, the then Jesuit Vice Provincial of Tamil Nadu, favored setting up the College in Vijayawada and communicated the same to Fr. Devaiah on 2nd January 1953. Accordingly, the process for acquiring 100 acres of land in Vijayawada began immediately with the help of local leaders, who formed themselves into the Vijayawada Loyola College Sahaya Sangham.

The Loyola College Society, Guntur Vijayawada, was registered in Guntur on 30th June 1953 and the purchased 100 acres of land was registered in its name in course of time.

Sri C M Trivedi, the First Governor of Andhra State, which was newly formed on 1st October 1953, as the first ever linguistic state in independent India, after the supreme self-sacrifice of Amarajeevi Potti Sriramulu, laid the Foundation stone for the College on 9th December 1953 at 5.00 pm in the presence of Archbishops Mark Gopu of Hyderabad, Thomas Pothacamury of Bangalore, Bishop lgnatius of Guntur, Bishop Ambrose De Battista of Vijayawada, the Office Bearers and Members of Vijayawada Loyola College Society, and over 6000 enthusiastic well wishers and people in a festive atmosphere.

At the request of the local leaders, who had been working shoul- der to shoulder with the Jesuit pioneers for the realization of this Jesuit College Rev Fr Douglas Gordon, SJ, the new Jesuit Provincial Superior, (and the second Principal of the College) had agreed to name the College as Andhra Loyola College, in the jubilant context of creation of a separate Andhra State for the Telugu people of Coastal and Rayalaseema Regions.

Thus, Andhra Loyola College was literally the long cherished dream of so many Telugu people coming true.

The building work began in January 1954 under the supervision of the Italian Missionary Architect Brother Giani David, PIME. The first Academic session of the College began on 22nd July 1954, after two postponements due to heavy monsoon rains, with 394 in Intermediate students two Maths - Physics - Chemistry sections and 154 in two History groups - with 24 Teaching Staff Members including four Jesuits Fathers.

The College was admitted to Grant- in- Aid on 18.11.1955. (Gleaned from the first issue of the College Magazine published in March 1956).