The last French Missionary Remembering Rev. Fr. Alphonse Margesz

For Sergeant Major, the Rev. Fr. Alphonse Margesz,  OMI. Vice Rector of St. Joseph’s College, Colombo, 1948-1965, on his 110th birth anniversary giving due honour and respect to the humble & valuable services rendered to St. Joseph’s college & our great nation, Sri Lanka. Sept. 28th 1907 to Sept. 28th 2017.

Once the sound of the bell is heard one could see Fr. Margesz or better known as our dear Vice Rector, moving long from corridor to corridor and from class to class of St Joseph’s College with a box of chalk in one hand and a black board duster in the other. The classes are quiet when there are teachers in them and noisy when there aren’t any. One such day our class was noisy so Fr. Margesz walked in and asks who is supposed to be the teacher here today? Why is he not here ? The third question would normally be what is the subject to be taught in this period today?

Whether we say Physics, Chemistry, Algebra, Geometry, Arithmetic, Statics Dynamics, Trigonometry, Botany or Zoology. Fr. Margesz would ask where you boys stopped at the last class you had . Fr. Margesz would then get to the black board keep his box of chalk on the desk and continues from where we had stopped at the last class whatever the subject would be.

This is to show the closeness of the altar boy and the priest. It is a new development coming from the Vatican II Council in session now in Rome. Fr. Margesz was always up to date in everything...

Fr. Margesz was so keen in our educational programmes that he took every step to teach any of the subjects to get the class going. Not everybody could change from subject to subject like one could change from channel to channel on a television set just as he had it all well programmed not only in his head but also in his heart. We believe that this was Fr. Vice Rector’s God guaranteed talent and a dedicated service both well mastered. As a result of this today we see that every student who had learnt in his classes is doing yeoman service in society in the fields of Engineering, Medicine, Law, Armed Forces, Politics, Church Ministry or Social Media.

During his time the Lab-boy in the bio-lab who worked under Fr. Margesz was Mr. Laus. 

He told me of this incident. You have been an altar server faithfully serving the Rector’s or the Vice Rector’s mass, (pujahver) every Sunday at 6 O’Clock hours without fail for many years. You may not be aware that I clearly remember that on one such Sunday this mass which starts sharp at 6 O’ Clock started at about 6.05. Later when I was seated having breakfast in the refectory with the Sacristan, Mr. Marcelline, I asked him “Why did the mass, the  Pujahver, start a little late today about 5 minutes, after 6? 

He replied “Fr. Margesz, did not start the mass because the student of the college, who comes to serve the Rectors Mass every Sunday was a little late. The Swami waited till the boy came and got dressed up in his red cassock and it was only after all that did the Swami start the Sunday Service. I responded “I never heard of a priest ever waiting till the altar boy arrives to start a mass. Are the altar boys so important ?

On Monday, the next day, when Fr. Margesz came to the bio lab Mr. Laus asked the Swami why he had to wait till the Altar Boy came. Fr. Margesz, the Vice Rector whom the College Minor staff refer to as Praanser Swami responded in good Sinhala with a French accent. “This is to show the closeness of the altar boy and the priest. It is a new development coming from the Vatican II Council in session now in Rome. Fr. Margesz was always up to date in everything. When he was in class teaching Geometry the Triangles, circles or cyclic quadrilaterals drawn on the on the black board and his Sinhala letters on the black board written for certain explanations were like computer printed stuff because Fr. Margesz was an excellent artist.

Many students of St Joseph’s College both the young & the old who learnt under, knew or came to know of Fr. Margesz and experience the depth of his great Services, always remember this missionary priest as one who has helped us greatly to fit right into the path of KNOWLEGDE & VIRTUE, in scientia et virtute.

Written with the help of the clerics and altar boys of my University Entrance class of 1964/65 under Fr. Margesz our Vice Rector. They are Fr. Leo Perera, Fr. Clement Waidyasekera, Fr. Nihal Nanayakkara, Fr. Joe Anthonypillai, S.J. Fr. Mervyn Perera, PC Romesh de Silva, GM Suresh Britto.

By Chap. R. R. W. F. Pereira, OBU SJC Former Chaplain to the British Royal Navy Port of Colombo.

Fr. Margesz: A philosopher and a conscientious scientist

Sergeant Major. Fr. Alphonse Gerard Lucien Margesz, OMI, was born on September, 28th 1907 in the little industrial town of Lille, in Northern France. During the First World War he served his portion of compulsory military service for the French Army and rose to the rank of Sergeant Major.

He commenced his primary theological studies in the seminary in Liege Belgium and completed his higher studies at the Gregorian University in Rome obtaining a doctorate in Philosophy. He was ordained minister on June 26th 1932 and came to Sri Lanka on January 30th 1933. He chose Sri Lanka for his missionary work due to the influence of Very Rev. Fr. Peter Pillai OMI, the first Sri Lankan Rector of the French Missionary College, St. Joseph’s. Very Rev. Fr Peter Pillai OMI was able to see the profound sterling value of Fr. Margesz OMI, his contemporary when they were at the Gregorian University in Rome.

In 1948 he was sent to the Catholic University of Washington, USA where he obtained a MSc. Degree in biology. On returning to Sri Lanka he took duties as Professor of Biology at St. Joseph’s College, Colombo, and served as Vice Rector for 15 long years. Besides being a philosopher he was also a conscientious scientist, a Mathematician of repute and a talented Musician who trained and conducted the choir. He had a botanical garden at St. Joseph’s College where he was able to make a single rose tree bear Red, Yellow, White and Pink roses. He was a beautiful singer who sang with a rich baritone voice and last but not least he was a gifted artist.

It was during his time of service at St. Joseph’s College that he was awarded the Distinction “Chavalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Academique” by the French Government for the services he had rendered in the field of Education.

Fr. Margesz was sent to Rome to do a course in the Judicial Process of the Matrimonial Court and practised this ministry at Borella. While he worked here I used to visit Fr. Margesz in his room and often I had to walk back very silently in order not to disturb our dear Vice Rector lying in bed in his white cassock. He used to do this due to fatigue in his mid seventies.

On Monday the 7th 1985, a car at the Archbishop’s house was to take Fr. Margesz to the doctor. But Fr. Margesz did not come down to the car. He was in his bed in his white cassock. He had breathed his last that day, a feast day of his Congregation.

-By his students Fr. Clement Waidyasekera. OMI, OBU SJC & Chap. R. R. W. F. Pereira UK. Dip. Tech, OBU SJC.