To mould young men and women as leaders in all walks of life so that they may serve the people especially the poor and the oppressed of our nation in truth, justice and love.

• To achieve a synthesis of academic excellence and formation of character
• To ensure social justice through equity and access
• To include the excluded for empowerment
• To equip students with global competencies
• To engage in relevent research activities
• To promote Lab to Land through Outreach Programme (STAND)

Fr. Albert Lebeau, S.J., was born in Belgium. He was a man of tremendous energy and he was endowed with many social virtues. Refined, graceful and genial, he was humorous too. A high sense of beauty was another outstanding trait in Fr. Lebeau and this manifested itself in his passion for music. He possessed the profound instinct of forgiveness and generosity and his spiritual ministry was abundantly fruitful. With the help and cooperation of Fr. Causannel, S.J., Fr. Dhanasamy, S.J., and Fr. A. Gnanapragasam, S.J., also played a leading role in the founding and the early development of the College. Fr. Lebeau was appointed as the first Principal and he successfully led the college from 1923-1926. On 30th September, 1940, Fr. Lebeau left the world for eternal peace.

The three branches of palm leaves on the right side of the emblem signify that our institution is situated in Tirunelveli District. The ear of rice corn arched on the left side of the emblem represents Maruthanilam. The local symbols connected by a cross highlights the fact that ours is a Christian institution. At the top of the cross, the College motto, Veritate Lumen et Vita (Life and Light through Truth) is inscribed. The shield at the front of the cross, has two divisions. On the right IHS., the Jesuit motto is inscribed. The squares on the left indicate the spiritual, moral, emotional, and intellectual development that education fosters in a person. The emblem thus means that St.Xavier's College is a Jesuit institution of higher learning established in Tirunelveli District for the all round development of its pupils.

The Jesuit College aims at the training of young men of quality to be leaders in all walks of life so that they may serve the people of our nation in truth, justice and love. Accordingly, this College is to be an agent of social change, instilling in the youth an awareness of the great need in our country of social justice based on brotherhood and dignity of the human person. Thus, it aims at making its own contribution towards a transformation of the present social condition, so that justice, equality and the moral values enshrined in the Constitution of India may prevail in the daily life of every citizen. The aim of St.Xavier's is the sound formation (religious, intellectual, social and physical) of the young based on Christian principles. Every student is required, therefore to attend Religion (for Catholics) or Ethics (for others) classes, and classes on social analysis and personality development. They are also expected to take part in the extension service programmes organised by the College.

In recognition of its service and to increase its efficiency still further, autonomy has been conferred on St.Xavier's College with effect from June 1987. In the autonomous system, this College is free to design the course pattern, frame its own syllabi for the various courses and adopt suitable methods of teaching and evaluation. the College is an affiliatied First Grade College of the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University which will award degrees with the name of St. Xavier’s College mentioned on the certificate. UGC Autonomous Extension is given to St. Xavier’s College from 2024-2025 to 2033-2034.

NATIONAL ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION COUNCIL (NAAC) assessed and accredited the college in 2000 and awarded FIVE STAR GRADE in the first cycle. NAAC assessed the college in the second cycle and awarded “A” Grade in 2006. NAAC accredited the college in the third cycle at “A” Grade with a CGPA of 3.50 in 2012. Based on the accreditation in the first three cycles MHRD classified the institutions into high performing institutions and extended the validity of Accreditation period from 5 years to 7 years in respect of high performing institutions. The college was one among the few institutions which enjoyed the privilege of getting the extension of the validity period of NAAC accreditation from five years to seven years for third cycle. NAAC assessed and accredited the college under the Revised Accreditation Framework (RAF) at “A++” Grade with a CGPA of 3.66 out of 4 in 2019 in the fourth cycle with the validity period of 7 years. It was a proud moment to note that the college received the highest score among the Arts and Science Institutions category in September 2019 under the new RAF introduced by NAAC in July 2017.

UGC conferred on our College the status of "College with Potential for Excellence" in 2004 and for the second cycle in 2010. UGC extended the status of College with Potential for Excellence (CPE) for the third phase in 2014.

The Department of Bio-technology, Government of India, selected our college under DBT Star College Scheme in 2014 and for the second time in 2017.

The Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, granted fund to establish state of the art facilities for teaching and research in the science departments under DST-FIST (Level 0) scheme from 2018.