FIRST SRI LANKAN RECTOR OF ST JOSEPH'S COLLEGE - 1940 to 1961 - Rev. Fr. Dr. Peter A Pillai OMI - Apostle of Social Justice - by Stanley E. Abeynayake Archives

FIRST SRI LANKAN RECTOR OF ST JOSEPH’S COLLEGE – 1940 to 1961 – Rev. Fr. Dr. Peter A Pillai OMI – Apostle of Social Justice by Stanley E. Abeynayake Peter Alcantara Pillai was born on 19th October, 1904 at Wennappuwa. His parents Jacob and Anna Pillai, school teachers hailed from Kayts, Jaffna. His schooling began in his mother tongue Tamil in the school where his parents were teachers. Later he joined St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena, Colombo at the age of nine years. In 1918 he passed the Cambridge Junior with eight distinctions. He was then only 14 years. He passed the Cambridge Senior at the age of 16 years in 1920 also with eight distinctions becoming the first in the whole of the British Empire. Subsequently he became an undergraduate of the then University College of Colombo and obtained the BSc degree with a first class in 1923. In the ...

Peter Alcantara Pillai was born on 19th October, 1904 at Wennappuwa. His parents Jacob and Anna Pillai, school teachers hailed from Kayts, Jaffna. His schooling began in his mother tongue Tamil in the school where his parents were teachers. Later he joined St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena, Colombo at the age of nine years. In 1918 he passed the Cambridge Junior with eight distinctions. He was then only 14 years. He passed the Cambridge Senior at the age of 16 years in 1920 also with eight distinctions becoming the first in the whole of the British Empire. Subsequently he became an undergraduate of the then University College of Colombo and obtained the BSc degree with a first class in 1923. In the next year, 1924, he also got through the BSc Hons Mathematics in the first division. Peter Pillai was most deservingly fortunate to win the annual government scholarship in science ...