History
The beginning of the St. Servatius' college goes back on well in the course of 100 years. The bishop of Galle, Joseph Van Reeth wishing to develop education in his newly erected diocese called on the Belgian Jesuits to come to his help. Father Augustus Standaert and a few others arrived in Galle in 1896, and the 2 November 1897, opened an English medium school on a small block of the land at the bank of River Nilwala in Pallimulla, Matara. The school opened with 5 students... By 1898 the students were already 54.
In August 1898 a new structure was erected for the school. As the construction funds came from the St Servatius Jesuit school of Liège (Belgium) the Matara new school adopted the same patron saint and was named after St. Servatius. Saint Servatius was a 4th century missionary in Belgium and one of the first bishops of the area Tongeren-Maastricht-Liège. A popular figure, much devotion to his memory and veneration to his name developed after his death.
After some years the school was exchanged to the present position where the school stands in Kotuwegoda, Matara. In 1961 with taking over from private schools to the government this college was taken over by the education department and until 1965 administer by Catholic Fathers
The original St. Servatius has been built by Servatius in to the Nilwala river much closer position. It has been laid later by the present meeting place under the clientele the Jesuit missionaries who cleared the way for English medium education in Ceylon, then (Sri Lanka)
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