| Petit Séminaire Collège Saint-Martial | |
| Motto: | A force, a tradition, a family |
| Location: | Port-au-Prince, Haiti |
| Type: | Private |
| Established: | 1865 |
| Grades: | 1 to 12 |
| Gender: | Boys |
| Lower Age: | 5 |
| Upper Age: | 18/19 |
| Website: | saintmartial.edu.ht |
| Language: | French |
| Colors: | Yellow/green |
Petit Séminaire Collège Saint-Martial (founded in 1865)[1] is an all-boys Catholic school located in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. The school is under the control of the Holy Ghost Fathers.[2]
The Concordat signed by Haiti and the Vatican in 1860 led to the school being established in 1865.[1] Monsigneur Testard du Cosquer, of the Spiritans, acquired rights and devoted it as part of his ministry as an academic and religious school: a young institution in a young country.According to Spencer St. John, the British consul in Haiti, Saint-Martial was the best school in the country.
Just four years after the first cinematograph was patented by the Lumière brothers, the Martial held the first motion picture projection in Haiti on 19 December 1899.
Father Daniel Weick, formed the first fire brigade in the country, and the first weather station was set up together with a National Museum, which opened in 1904.
On 15 August 1969 the Brothers of the Holy Ghost were accused by the government of Francois Duvalier of conniving with illegal political parties. They were expelled from Petit Séminaire College Saint-Martial and exiled. The Spiritans had no more direction over the school until 1995.
Secondary education at PSCSMS is well equipped with archives and libraries, applied-science laboratories, and cleric-scientific staff to help pupils use their conventional knowledge to develop more practical applications, like technology and inventions.[3]
On 12 January 2010, a large earthquake hit Haiti. The school was totally destroyed by it. The three buildings (kindergarten, primary, and secondary school), as well as the learning center for young seminarians and the chapel library and administrative office, were all either damaged beyond repair or completely knocked down.[4] The school resumed operation in April 2010.
As part of the rebuilding effort, the first building of the Junior High section was inaugurated in September 2015.
During a gang-led attack on the neighboring National Palace which tied up the police on 1 April, fires were set in the school's administrative building. Four cars in the courtyard were completely destroyed by fire, while others were vandalised. Computers, refrigerators, mattresses, inverters, batteries, water purifiers, and solar panels were among the property stolen during the six-hour attack. Those present at the school were eventually able to escape unscathed, and there was no damage to the library (a national heritage site).[5]