The Background
In Nov. 1895, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Joseph Van Reeth S. J. from Belgium arrived in Galle to take up duties as the Roman Catholic Bishop of Galle with 3 other Fathers & 1 Brother, who was a Jesuit Architect/Builder. One of his first endeavours was to set up a School & in due course it became St. Aloysius College , Galle.

Bishop Van Reeth's sister, Rev. Mother Mary Bernadette, was, at this time, the Mother Superior of the St. Joseph's Hospital for women, run by the Sisters of Charity of Jesus & Mary (SCJM), in Ghent, Belgium. (Many years later she herself was elected Superior General of the SCJM.) At the same time, Rt. Revd. Joseph Janssens S. J. the Belgian Provincial Superior of the Jesuits too had a sister in the SCJM.