On 6 January 1892, a pastoral letter was sent to all the priests espousing the desirability of building a Catholic College In April 1892, a meeting with St Benedict’s College Colombo 13 was held and it was decided to function as a Branch of St Benedict’s until it was Ready to open independently as St Joseph’s College, it took 4 years until 1896 for this to happen.(Please see the pastoral Letter of Archbishop Bonjean dated 6th January 1892 for clarification of this fact). St Joseph’s must be eternally grateful to St Benedict’s for this selfless act which resulted in the progress of Catholic education in Sri Lanka.