Bro. Casimir L'Angelier (1900-1975), St. George's, St. John's & St. Paul's

Penang	Scholasticate	1918
St. Michael’s Institution, Ipoh	Teaching	1924-1928
St. George’s Institution, Taiping	Teaching	1929-1930
St. Francis’ Institution, Malacca	Teaching	1931-1933
St. George’s Institution, Taiping	Sub Director	1933-1935
St. Xavier’s Institution, Penang	Sub Director	1936-1939
St. Joseph’s Institution, Singapore	Sub Director	1940
St. Paul’s Institution, Seremban	Sub Director	1941-1943
St. George’s Institution, Taiping	Director	1943-1945
St. George’s Institution, Taiping	Sub Director	1945-1946
St. George’s Institution, Taiping	Director	1947-1952
St. Charles, Bordighera, Italy	Second Novitiate	1953
St. Paul’s Institution, Seremban	Director	1953-1959
St. John’s Institution, Kuala Lumpur	Principal	1960
St. Andrew’s School, Muar	Headmaster	1960-1962
St. George’s School, Penang	Headmaster	1963-1969
La Salle College, Kowloon, Hong Kong	Teaching	1970-1971
St. Teresa’s Hospital Hong Kong	Hospitalized	1971-1975

Alexander Casimir L’Angellier was born in Singapore on May 5th 1900. He belonged to a highly-respected, long-standing Catholic family. After receiving his early education in St Joseph’s Institution, Singapore, he was among the first aspirants to join the De La Salle Brothers at the newly opened Juniorate and Novitiate in Kuala Lumpur, in 1916.

He took the Brother’s habit in 1918 taking the name Casimir and then continued with his religious formation and studies in Penang.

 After his religious and pedagogical training, he taught with success in Singapore and Malaysia. In due course he was made school Principal, a post he held for more than 20 years.

St. Paul's Institution, Seremban, Malaysia

He was Principal of St George’s School, Taiping, Malaysia, from 1947 to 1952 and of St Paul’s, Seremban, Malaysia, from 1954 to 1959. In St Paul’s he presided over the celebrations for the school’s Golden Jubilee in 1949. The school had reached its full capacity and was bursting at the seams. The Brothers decided that it was time to split the school into two campuses. This involved the building of a new secondary school on a site called Mont La Salle. Brother Casimir was the man for the job and he had the joy of witnessing the opening of the new school on the 27th June 1959. It was also during this period that he was awarded with the Pingat Jasa Kebangsaan (PJK), in recognition of his contribution to education. In both St George’s and St Paul’s, Brother Casimir was admired and well-liked by all the school community.

St. George's Institution, Taiping, Malaysia

 Brother Casimir was a sound religious and a kind-hearted and understanding Principal. He was also a scholarly man. He could teach almost every subject with remarkable success. He wrote extensively. He wrote plays and operettas for the younger students as well as articles and features for religious magazines. He also wrote a series of textbooks on Scripture which were widely used in schools and are still in circulation today. His Scripture, Geography and History Notes sold like hot cakes, best sellers in the school textbook circles.

In the twilight of his career, he was posted to Hong Kong, arriving at La Salle College on the 14th December 1969. Initially he was sent to help Brother Paul Sun in the recently opened St Joseph’s Anglo-Chinese School. His health was not robust and he gradually moved to helping Brother Henry Pang at La Salle Primary School.

On the occasion of the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Brother Casimir, his friend Brother Anthony McNamara had this to say:

“A teacher's life is not always an inspiring one. A teacher, and especially an old teacher, is often referred to as Mr. Chips, and for those of us who have read the book, or seen the film, we know that James Hilton's hero was endearing as a character, but a failure as schoolmaster. The teacher spends his life goading others to a success that he himself does not attain, and to which perhaps he does not aspire. He seldom exhibits the infallibility he is supposed to possess. The smarter pupils for whom he prophesies a brilliant future often disappoint him, and the lazier and more backward ones for whom he foretells a future of misery sometimes end up as millionaires. When a boy is successful in the exam he claims all the glory, but if he fails it is the teacher who reaps the blame. Teachers never get decorated. Headmasters do, and if a teacher does get signaled out for commendation it is not for teaching. With age he is expected to suffer from pedagogical rust and academic dry-rot. A colleague who was celebrating his 40th anniversary in the profession was asked what he considered was his greatest achievement in those forty years. He replied that without a doubt it was the fact that he had survived.

This is a very depressing picture, but it changes, and changes completely the minute a teacher survives fifty years. Then he becomes a hero, he is feted, toasted, wined and dined, is congratulated by colleagues, pupils and friends, and on this occasion he gets honourable mention in the press. That is what has happened to Bro. Casimir, and that is why we are gathered here to-day. Not only has he survived fifty years in a teaching Institute, he is still going strong.

I first met Brother Casimir in 1925, in Taiping, Malaysia, then a very peaceful town
as it had the largest jail, and with all the law-breakers inside, the rest of us lived in peace outside. Since then I have been associated with him. Sometimes we were teaching in the same school, and if we were not, we had many opportunities of meeting, and even outside of Malaya we cannot keep out of each other's way. This good man is ubiquitous. At the opening of a teachers' training college at Manchester, the clerical looking gentleman that helped me to get a cup of tea turned out to be Brother Casimir. I also met him cycling along a snowy road in England coming from the remote village of Coton, and on another occasion we met in Rome. I once went to Kai Tak airport (Hong Kong) to see the landing of the much advertised Lufthansa aircraft, and although 1 was impressed by the aircraft I was still more surprised to see Brother Casimir disembarking with the other passengers. If ever I take the polar route to Europe and crash-land on the North Pole, I am certain that the first Eskimo to come to my assistance will be Brother Casimir.

Bro. Casimir in St. George's Taiping

As I said, I first met Brother Casimir in Taiping. That was in the days of heavy rickshaw traffic and no electricity, when school uniforms did not exist, and boys could come to school in sarongs, and barefooted if that were more convenient. Age limits had not been imposed, and with a wide age range in each class it was possible to have in class pupils as old as the teacher, and even married pupils, although no student ever admitted that he had a spouse. In his long years of service as a teacher Brother Casimir has witnessed an evolution in our education system.

He was a teacher of no ordinary calibre. He was not just good and competent, he was a master of method and dedicated. He comes from an intellectually brilliant family. His brother and a nephew were both holders of the highly competitive and much coveted Queen's scholarship.
His pupils realised that they were taught by a teacher sound in knowledge, and with the ability to impart whatever he taught. From the time he began teaching he has always been in the Cambridge classes.
His surname is L'Angellier which he claims means 'Angel-maker', a name he has lived up to, to make his boys good, morally and intellectually. He was able to get the best from his students and the academic achievements in his class were always of a high standard. The many boys that he has taught all over the country from Singapore to Penang know him to be an adept in teaching many branches and not limited to specialisation in one branch of knowledge.
His students are to be found in all walks of life, in the ranks of the clergy, in the various professions, and serving their country as law-abiding citizens.

In the various offices where he has business to contract, his former students see to it that in the case of their former teacher the rule is 'last come first served', and from his former students who make inquiries about him we know that he was a good and kind teacher.

While celebrating the Golden Jubilee of his being a Brother it is also 25 years since he became the head of a school, and in the capacity of Principal he has been responsible for the direction of St. George's, Taiping, St. Paul’s, Seremban, St.Andrew's, Muar, La Salle, Brickfields and is at present Principal of St. George's, Balik Pulau.

St. George's Institution, Taiping

No school has been second rate with him as head. He sees to it that there is a harmonious balance between what is academic and what is extra-mural, sacrificing neither one to the other and insisting on success at the highest level in studies and in achievement on the playing field.
He has the title of P.J.K., the Medal of Merit, conferred for his excellent contribution to education in the state of Negri Sembilan.

Most heads of schools like to show off their show-pieces, such as playing fields, laboratories, school hall and lecture theatre, and other amenities. Brother Casimir has all that at Balek Pulau, and at present is the only Brother Principal who can boast of having a domestic science unit in his school. If any of you are invited to a function in his school I advise that you accept it. His domestic science unit will make it worthwhile.

 He was responsible for raising the funds, and making the plans for the primary school at Taiping, for acquiring the land and building the industrial arts centre at Muar, and the well-selected site and beautiful setting of St. Paul's, Seremban, will always stand as a tribute to one who always gave the boys the best he could. It does not matter where he taught, or where he was Principal; he made certain that his school could compare with the best, and results obtained were always gratifying.

At present he is Principal of St. George's Balik Pulau, an area which may be considered the "ulu", out in the wilds, but last year 82% of his pupils were successful in the Cambridge School Certificate examination, and from that school there has been a steady flow of students to the sixth forms, and pupils of St. George's have had their share of Colombo Plan, and Federal Scholarships.
Before the war he organised a very good museum in St Xavier’s Institution which would be an asset at the present time if it had not been destroyed by enemy action.
As headmaster he believes that a united, and contented staff, is essential for good results, and judging by the number, and quality of his staff dinners, and get-togethers, he has been a great success in keeping everybody happy in his work.”

Brother Casimir ‘retired’ to Hong Kong in January of 1970, at the age of 70. For a year he was actively involved with Brother Paul Sun’s St Joseph’s Anglo-Chinese School as well as in La Salle Primary School, Kowloon. In La Salle Primary, he got particularly caught up in the development of the Story-telling Room. It was right in the middle of planning the painting of the Solar System for the Story-telling Room, all done in blue, that he suffered a stroke on the way to the Brothers’ dining room. This was in January of 1971.

He was rushed to the nearby St Teresa’s Hospital, run by the Sisters of St Paul de Chartres, who took loving care of him. The Brothers spared no pains to get Brother Casimir back on his feet but, despite expert medical care and physiotherapy, he never recovered his speech or the use of his right limbs. The Brothers would visit him regularly and take him back to the Community on Feast days and special occasions for a get-together. He would then be taken for a drive before returning to the hospital.

This went on for four years. Brother Casimir became the darling of the hospital. The Sisters, the nurses, the support staff and the patients came to know and love this simple, holy Brother. The staff would settle him in front of the TV and bring him for long visits to the Chapel where he attended daily Mass and prayed with the Sisters.
There was a set-back on the 14th December 1975 and Brother Casimir began to fail. He drifted into a state of semi-consciousness and ran a high temperature. He died on the morning of the 18th. The wake and funeral Mass took place in the hospital on the 19th followed by burial in St Michael’s Cemetery, Happy Valley.
And so passed a fine scholar, a brilliant teacher, a devoted religious, an amiable companion and an understanding head of school.

Blogger's Note : Today there is a House in St. George's Taiping - Casimir House (Rumah Casimir) and the annual sports event between the Old boys Associations and students is called the Casimir Shield or the Casimir Challenge Trophy.

Source : Gateway Issue 44