St Xavier’s College on Sunday celebrated the birth anniversary of an alumnus who did not complete his formal education but went on to become a literary giant and one of India’s greatest icons.

In the late 19th century, Rabindranath Tagore had studied briefly at St Xavier’s Collegiate School.

“Rabindranath Tagore’s birth anniversary is celebrated everywhere in the world. But the humble elebration in St Xavier’s, Kolkata, on Sunday, even during the pandemic situation this year, has a different dimension. Tagore did not only study here, he was the vice-president of the institution’s alumni association for some time, presided over a fund-raising programme in the college for the flood victims in 1931, presented a rare statue of Jesus Christ to the college from his personal collection,” said a member of the association of former students of the college, which had organised the celebrations on Sunday.

Floral tributes were paid to the portrait of Tagore on the campus on the occasion of his 160th birth anniversary.

Playing in the background were some of his songs, which Jesuit fathers said were “especially relevant when the entire world is going through such a trying time”.

The principal of the college, Father Dominic Savio, said: “We have decided to remember him on his birthday not only for paying tribute to a true Xaverian, who preached universal humanism but also to get inspiration from his writings, preaching and philosophy, particularly at this trying time”.

“This is the campus of St Xavier’s, Calcutta, where Tagore used come as a student with his brother and nephew from their ancestral home at Jorasanko in north Kolkata. The poet mentioned particularly about Father Peneranda, his class teacher, that the young Rabindranath was touched by his love, care and affection and was highly inspired by the personality of Father Peneranda and some other Jesuit Fathers of St Xavier’s,” he said.

“We rejoice having him here as a Xaverian and try to propagate his philosophy of universal humanism among the present students, as his preaching is highly relevant in the contemporary world,” Father Savio said.