brated there on the following day . lthappened that the year 1912marked the sixtieth anniversary of the foundation of the school by Father Beurel . The Director dedded to combine the Annual Prize Giving , the Diamond Jubilee and the opening of the new Hall in one great and glorious celebration spread over three days : On Saturday 21 September , the day began with a Mass at 7 am and ended with a solemn Benediction at 5.30pm . There was a Pontifical High Mass on the Sunday and a Breakfast for all the local clergy at 11.30 am . In the evening there was a Pontifical Benediction at 5 pm . On the Monday the day started with a Requiem Mass for all deceased teachers and pupils , and at 4 pm there was a Prize Giving . In the same year Sir John Anderson had handed over his office to the new Governor , Sir Arthur Young , and on this occasion Lady Young gave away the prizes . That night the school was illuminated with thousands of lanterns .
In the following year the statue of St John Baptist de La Salle was placed in the central archway over the entrance to the school . The statue was given by a collateral descendant of the Founder , a Mr La Salle of Singapore , whose two-year-old son , Vivian , pulled the string which unveiled the statue . The French Consul is said to have held the child up to reach for the string . When he was older this child came to study at SJI . Then he went to England where he studied at the Brothers ' school at Blackheath and subsequently became an architect . Ultimately he became himself a Brother of the Christian Schools .
The sculptor of our statue was Cesare Aureli , who was born in Rome in 1843and died in the same city in 1923 . His original statue of de La Salle is twice the size of ours , standing 4.5 metres high in the central nave of St Peter ' s , Rome . It is on the right-hand side as you face the High Altar .
It would appear that the copy of the statue , of which we have an example , is either a casting made from the artist ' s original design which he subsequen t- ly enlarged to suit the enormous scale of St Peter ' s , or that it is a scaled-down version of the much larger original in the Basilica . In any case it is likely that several copies would have been made for other clients .
The biography of the sculptor tells us that he was noted for his sculptures of the founders of several religious Orders . Two of these , St Anthony Maria Zacharia ( Founder of the Barnabites ) and St Bonifiglio dei Servi di Maria are also to be found in the Basilicaof St Peter ' s , Rome .
The sculpted group of the saint and two children is known to the locals as ' the Three Dolls ' in Chinese . The Headmaster of St Andrew ' s School , Canon Adams , used to joke that the saint was telling the boys : ' We havedoneall wecanforyou here . Nowyou willhaveto head off to St Andrews School .' For that famous establishment was then situated at the far end of the playing field on the site of the present National Library , in the direction in whichthesaintispointing !
Brother Michael , however , had still not finished all he intended to do . In 1913he had a chapel built for the use of the Brothers atTelok Kurau and a bungalow for the use of the Boarders . The fund-raising needed for the completion of these two buildings may have been the reason why Brother Michael postponed the holiday he had hoped to take in 1913 . The additional work broke his health completely and in March 1914he left Stjoseph ' s Institution , notantidpating that he would everretum .
The Straits Times of 26 March 1914recorded his departure in the following words :
' AtlO . 30a . m . all the standards assembled in the new and commodious Hall attached to the school . A beautiful address , printed on satin , was here presented him by one of the Cambridge boys . To this address a long list of signatures was attached . Accompanying this was a souvenir in the form of a beautiful silver watch . Brother Michael thanked the boys for their kind words and good wishes . He exhorted them to be industrious , honest and faithful to duty . Three hearty cheers for the departing brought the function to a close . The Brothers - who naturally feel his departure greatest - afterwards read him a similar address . Brother Michael was very visibly affected when responding to the latter .
' At 4 p . m . quite a crowd of friends and wellwishers , including his Lordship Bishop Barillon and the local Rev . Clergy assembled at Tanjong Pagar to witness the departure . The whole school practically turned out once more . Both Brothers and pupils waved their fond farewells until the respected Rev . Brother was lost to view .' Among the few Old Boys who have recollections of Brother Michael ' s time is Ioseph Cecil de Souza , who was born on 21June 1900 . In June 1985 he gave these recollections to Mrs [ oan Fong :
' I went to school at the age of six , in 1906 . Since my father was well-to-do , I went to school in a horse-drawn carriage from my home in Norfolk Road . The carriage was the covered kind which could seat four people and was pulled by a single horse guided by a Malay syce . We had a shed and stable to house the carriage and horse . Later , we bought a Citroen , and 1 was brought to school in that .
' I was one of a class of forty-two boys . There must have been a total enrolment of something close to a thousand pupils in those days . They came to school in various ways . Some walked , others came by tram or rickshaw each of which cost three cents per ride . Some came by bullock cart . There were many sheep and cows too on the roads in those days - and the pollution was dreadful !
' We attended school for nine years , firstly going to Primary One and Two , and then from Standard One to Seven . 1remember doing well in school and never had trouble passing exams . In all my years in school , 1cannot remember a single quarrel or misdeed among the batch of boys 1was with . We always got along very well with one another and with our teachers .
14 Memories ofSJI