Irish script on the gates of the Pontifical Irish College (Coláisde na nGaedheal), Rome, ItalyFlaithrí Ó Maolchonaire, founder of an Irish College in MadridThe Pontifical Irish College, Rome, ItalyColleges at University of DouaiEntrance to the Irish College, Leuven, Belgium. The inscription reads Dochum Glóire Dé agus Ónóra na hÉireann ('For the Glory of God and the Honour of Ireland').
Irish Colleges is the collective name used for approximately 34 centres of education for Irish Catholic clergy and lay people opened on continental Europe in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
More Colleges were established in Rome (1625), Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes, Lille, Antwerp and then Prague (1631).[3] Some of the Colleges fell out of use in the late 18th century as the Penal Laws against Roman Catholics in Ireland were relaxed.
Irish colleges were important centres for the writing of Irish history and the preservation of Ireland's rich cultural traditions. Mícheál Ó Cléirigh was sent from an Irish college to Ireland to compile the Annals of the Four Masters, an important chronicle of Irish history. Within the colleges, printing press in the Irish language were established and a collection of the lives of Irish saints was produced.
Irish colleges were also helpful for the Irish resistance during the Nine Years' War in Ireland and later exile on the European continent.
In 1951 The Salamanca Archive, documents relating to the Irish Colleges in Spain were given to the Irish Church and deposited in St. Patrick's College, Maynooth.[4]
In the last decade, the Irish Government has financed the renovation of the premises of the Irish College in Paris which now serves as an Irish Cultural Centre and a residence for Irish students, writers and artists. The Pontifical Irish College in Rome continues to be used for the education and training of Roman Catholic clergy. In 1983 the Irish College in Leuven was made available by the Irish Franciscans for development as a secular resource. The Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe is now located on the premises.
List of Irish Colleges
Italy
Sant’Isidoro a Capo le Case – was established in 1624 as the training center for Franciscan friars from Ireland, it is also the Irish National Church in Rome.
Franciscan novitiate in Capranica near Sutri, established in 1656
Irish Augustinian College of San Mateo, Rome, (1656–1661) and from (1739–1798)
San Clemente in Rome, housed the Irish Dominican College entrusted to them in 1677.[5]
Bordeaux – established in 1603, set up under the leadership of Rev. Dermot McCarthy,[6] Pope Paul V, recognised it with a papal bull in April 1617. Alumni and staff were buried in the Irish Church, St. Eutrope, Bordeaux, which was given to the Irish. Students studied in the Jesuit College. Rector Rev. Dr. Thadee O Mahony developed the college, and recognised the support of Anne of Austra, they renamed the chapel Saint-Anne-la-Royal. Following the French revolution students were sent home, the last rector of the college, Rev. Martin Glynn, was executed by guillotine during the reign of terror on 19 July 1794. The college closed with its remaining property transferred to the Irish College in Paris.
Toulouse (le séminaire royal de Sainte Anne') – first established in 1618, the college received royal approval in 1659, followed its sister college in Bordeaux, until it got its own statues in 1752, the college was suppressed in 1793.
Nantes – established in 1680, last superior Rev. Dr. Patrick Byrne, served as President of Maynooth College (1807–1810).
Lille – established in 1610 by Dr. Francis Lavalin Nugent and Fr. Cusack (First rector), it was controlled by the capuchins, but also trained secular clergy, it was confiscated in the French Revolution and sold in 1793. Other rectors include Rev. Patrick Dempsey and Rev. Peter Furlong.
Poitiers – Jesuit Institution established in 1674 (letters patent granted by Louis XIV), fee paying school, which had burses for trainee clerics, it closed 1762 (following the suppression of the Jesuits). Even before the official establishment of an Irish House in 1674, Irish clerical students would have studied at the University of Poitiers.
Sedan - The Irish Franciscans had a convent at Bar-su-Aube, Sedan.
Boulay - was established by the Irish Franciscans in 1700, under the patronage of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine.
Charleville - established by the Capuchins in 1620.
Rouen - established in c1612 by Gelasius O'Lorcan.
La Rochelle - established by the Carmelites in 1665.
Aix-la-Chapelle - established by the Carmelites in 1677.[7]
Lille and Douai were part of the Spanish Netherlands when they were established.
Belgium (Spanish and Austrian Netherlands)
St. Anthony College, Louvain (Franciscan) – in 1607, now the Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe.
Pastoral College, Louvain, in 1623 by Rev. Dr Eugene Matthews (MacMahon), who had been archbishop of Dublin, closed in 1795 following French occupation.[8]
Holy Cross College, Louvain (Dominicans), in 1626. Originally named after St. John the Baptist, then St. Margarets, in 1659, it became Holy Cross; it was suppressed in 1797 following the French Revolution.[9]
Irish College, Antwerp, opened circa 1600,[1] redeveloped in 1629 by Lawrence Sedgrave, closed in 1795.[8] Sedgraves nephew Rev. James Talbot succeeded him as Rector/President, other Rectors/Presidents include Nicholas Eustace (1642–1677), James Cleer (1677-), John Egan, Martin Caddan, Peter Hennessy, Michael Hennessy (1704–1730), John Kent (1731–1732), Daniel O'Reilly(1732–1747), Hugh MacMahon (1747-1772 & 1774–1787), James MacMahon (1772–1774), and Hugh O'Reilly (1787–1795).
College of Tournai, founded circa 1616 by Christopher Cusack, closed in 1795. Like the Irish College in Antwerp, it was a satellite college of the Irish College, Douai.
^The Irish College of Madrid by Micheline Kerney Walsh. Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society, vol. 15, no. 2, 1993, pp. 39–50.
