Brother Dominic Rosso FSC

Angelo Micallef writes:

The name Brother Dominic Rosso FSC conjures in my mind many memories of my days at De La Salle College. For three years, while I was at the secondary school of De La Salle College, Bro. Dominic was headmaster of the secondary, or as we called it, senior school. Yet, he was so much more than an ordinary headmaster.

Bro. Dominic was hitting 80 when he became headmaster and perhaps some might have thought that such a man would be clung to the traditions of the past. Yet, Bro. Dominic was a visionary. When terms such as school democracy were still frowned at, Bro. Dominic sought to have them implemented. When laptops were still far less common, he was already dreaming of a school that made much wider use of them than we do even today.

With Bro. Dominic, the teacher-student relationship was one based on respect towards the authorities but at the same time a mutual respect between teacher and student. I cannot forget a particular incident that occurred during his term as headmaster. As a form we had been collectively punished and I remember I had marched over to his office and asked him to review the teacher’s decision. Most headmasters would have thrown me out or even punished me for attempting such a feat but not Bro. Dominic! Just as is the case in real life, he accepted that I had every right to challenge authority as long as I did so in a respectful and proper manner.

Alas, Bro. Dominic is no lon-ger among us and I will never again have the fine opportunity of listening to his words of wisdom and one of his many experiences in his many years as a Lasallian brother. Yet, his im-print on the many students that had the opportunity to know Bro. Dominic will live on.

May God grant him eternal peace close to the saint he dedicated so many years of his life to: St John Baptist De La Salle.