Following my article last week on vocational education in Athy I was contacted by the parent of a young Athy student who recently finished his primary schooling in the town, but found himself unable to get a place in Árdscoil na Tríonóide. That school with the new Community College make up the town’s post primary educational facilities and Árdscoil na Tríonóide came into being on the amalgamation of Scoil Eoin, the former Christian Brothers school and Scoil Mhuire which was operated by the Sisters of Mercy.
I attended the local primary school and secondary school in Athy at a time when they were operating as part of the extensive network of Christian Brothers Schools in Ireland. In common with my classmates and many thousands who passed through the Christian Brothers School system I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my teachers who taught in the old schools in St. John’s Lane.
As someone living in Athy my parents in common with every other parents of school going children at that time assumed, and rightly so, that their children would be automatically accepted as pupils in the local secondary school. It is an expectation which I gather can no longer be made given a recent decision of the Board of Management of Árdscoil na Tríonóide which has resulted in secondary school places for some Athy youngsters being the subject of a lottery.
I find it quite extraordinary that youngsters graduating from the local primary schools cannot be guaranteed a place in the local secondary school. If not successful in gaining entry to Árdscoil na Tríonóide their options are Athy Community College or a secondary school outside the town.
It was on 8th August 1861 that the first Christian Brothers arrived in Athy in response to a request from the Archbishop of Dublin, Ballitore-born Paul Cullen to set up a school in the town. Brother Stanislaus O’Flanagan, Luke Hyland and lay brother Patrick Sheely arrived by train at the local railway station which had been opened just a few years previously. The local townspeople had prepared Greenhills House in St. John’s Lane, the former residence of Judge Hellen, as the Christian Brothers Monastery and had built a two room school house nearby.
Eleven days after the arrival of the Christian Brothers the school opened and 120 local boys presented themselves as pupils. Before long the numbers on the roll had increased so much that a third teacher was required. A former pupil of those early years was later to write:- ‘Our school was divided into two sections, one being known as the Greeks and the other as the Romans. The boys who raised the greatest number of merit marks were awarded the keeping of the school banner at the end of the week.’
Educating the young men of Athy was the mission undertaken by the Christian Brothers in 1861 and they applied themselves unselfishly to that task for almost 150 years. In a tribute I wrote for my former teacher Brother Brett in 1993 I said, ‘For over 160 years the order founded by Edmund Rice has provided the bedrock upon which the future of young Irishmen has been secured. Their work commenced in times of poverty and ultimately famine but throughout good times and bad the Christian Brothers gave of themselves and their resources to help Irishmen to achieve their full potential..... their work is not yet done but it is to other men and women unburdened by clerical vows that their responsibility must now pass.’ I am disappointed and saddened that local parents may now find themselves troubled by the failure of their children to gain a place in Árdscoil na Tríonóide, a school whose history is grounded on the pioneering work in Athy of the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Mercy.
It is manifestly unfair. Why should young citizens of this town not have the right to enter on his or her secondary school education in a secondary school of their choice in their own town? A local school should give priority to young people from the town and parish of Athy and where there is difficulty in that regard due either to staff numbers or space restrictions, appropriate remedial action should be speedily taken to rectify the situation. If this problem is not tackled immediately it’s quite likely that education will become, like our Health Services, an embarrassing disservice.
Shortly before Christmas John Neavyn passed away in his 93rd year. John during his time in Athy was intrinsically linked with the Order of St. Dominic and his proud boast was that at 92 years of age he was the oldest mass server in Ireland. A charming and courteous gentleman John came to Athy in 1951 to work in the offices of Minch Nortons from where he retired as office manager long before that once great family firm became part of the Greencore Group. His involvement with the Dominican Friary went back many decades and included such diverse rolls as Mass server, choir master, as well as Church organist. The Dominican Pennybank which was set up in the late 1970s on the suggestion of Donal Murphy was in its early years organized by Donal, the late Ivan Bergin and John Neavyn and John’s involvement with the Bank continued over several decades. His Christian outlook found further expression in his membership of the local St. Vincent de Paul Society and he was President of the local Conference for many years. As well as being organist in the local Dominican Church he fulfilled the same role in Moone Parish Church where he accompanied that fine singer Tony Prendergast of Grangecon, a brother of the late Charlie Prendergast of Prussellstown who was himself a singer of renown.
He was predeceased by his wife Martha who died in 1982 and both are buried in St. Michael’s cemetery. Ar dhéis Dé go raibh a anam.
Do you remember McHugh’s Foundry in Janeville Lane at the back of Offaly Street? Now long gone, as are the men who worked there, I came across a photograph this week which will bring back memories for many of you. It shows Tom McHugh, Robbie Lynch and Tommy McHugh posing outside the foundry sometime in the 1950s.
Showing posts with label Christian Brothers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian Brothers. Show all posts
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Thursday, May 10, 2007
A brief history of schooling in Athy
This week I return to the amalgamation of the Christian Brothers Secondary School and Scoil Mhuire, both 19th century institutions which since their foundation have been an integral part of the educational life of Athy.
Indeed, by dint of their influence, both schools have been in their time an integral part of the social life of this area. I was privileged to receive my early education, both primary and secondary, in the local Christian Brothers School and so am more than an interested onlooker as the date of the amalgamation of my old school with Scoil Mhuire draws near.
Until the 1790s, the children of Athy town received no formal education.
The Church of England did not have a parish school at that time and no Catholic was licensed to teach his co-religionists. Only the children of well-to-do families could afford to attend the fee-paying private schools, of which there were a number in Athy at the end of the 18th century. In 1870, the local Church of England rector set up a parish school, which for a time at least was located in the town hall, but later moved to the three-storey house currently standing at the corner of Meeting Lane and Emily Square.
In 1811, the Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor of Ireland, commonly called the ‘Kildare Place Society’, was founded.
Its stated purpose was to afford the same facilities for education to all classes of professing Christians without any attempt to interfere with their religious beliefs. It is from the records of that society that we first learned of the existence of a Catholic free school in Athy. Known also as the ‘Athy Poor School’, it had as a teacher John Goold, who in January 1823 received a payment of £11.4.4- from the Kildare Place Society.
Rev Charles Bristow, the Church of England curate, received a grant of £3.1.9 that same year for running a school in Athy Gaol, which was located on the Carlow Road.
The building of the Athy Poor School premises was attributed to Colonel Fitzgerald of Geraldine House and it was described in the 1824 Parochial Returns as “a substantial building of stone and lime”.
Located at the North East corner of the present St Michael’s Church, it was funded by local subscriptions under the management of the parish priest and a committee of 12 local men.
Patrick O’Rourke and Ann Doogan were teachers in the school in 1824 and on the school rolls were 232 boys and 96 girls, with an average attendance each day of 140 boys and 35 girls.
By 1835, the Athy Poor School was known as the National Day School and the teachers there were George and Elizabeth Carmichael, who had 168 boys and 76 girls on the school rolls. The average attendance in those days, when compulsory school attendance was still a long way off, was 86 boys and 42 girls.
Sometime after 1827, but before 1835, a new schoolhouse was built at the corner of Stanhope Street and Stanhope Place. It would seem, although I cannot be certain, that the original school building continued to operate as a girls’ school, while the new building housed the boys’ school.
Despite the progress made in providing education for the children of Athy, the local Catholic clergy were anxious to desecularise education and bring it more under the control and influence of the Catholic Church. A meeting of the local parishioners was held in the National Day School in the spring of 1843 to further the idea of establishing a convent in Athy for a teaching order of nuns.
The prime movers in this were Anna Goold, who subsequently gifted her house in Stanhope Place to the local parish priest, Rev W Gaffney, a curate of St Michael’s, the Fitzgerald family of Geraldine House and Patrick Maher of Kilrush. That meeting resulted in the building of a convent and a new school in the grounds of St Michael’s Parish Church which the Sisters of Mercy took possession of on 10 October 1852.
The first of the two Catholic educational institutions that are now about to amalgamate had arrived in Athy. The Sisters of Mercy in their early years in the town concentrated on teaching primary school children, but after some time they opened a private secondary school, which later became a public school, known today as Scoil Mhuire.
In the meantime, the Christian Brothers were invited by Archbishop Cullen to open a school for boys in Athy and they were facilitated in doing so by the gifting of Greenhills House by the Sisters of Mercy, which was to become the Christian Brothers Monastery.
Again, like the Sisters of Mercy, the educational facilities provided by the Christian Brothers when their school opened on 19 August 1862 was for primary school pupils and it was some time before more senior boys were catered for.
To complete the educational framework in Athy, mention must be made of the Model School opened in 1852 and the Vocational School, as it was then called, which commenced in November 1900. The District Model School was built by the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland on a five-acre site which was donated by the Duke of Leinster in 1848.
The building of the school commenced two years later and it was opened on 12 August 1852. It catered for infants, as well as boys and girls, and combined the teaching of children with the preliminary training of teachers, known as candidate teachers.
The school was non-denominational and the first two school principals, John Walsh, who had previously taught in Dublin, and Elizabeth Reilly, who had been a teacher in Ballinvally National School, were Catholics.
The success of the Model School is shown by the numbers enrolling in the school. On its first day 13 boys, one girl and one infant were enrolled and by the following February the school had 207 on it’s books and 281 by September 1853.
In each succeeding year up to 1856, when 567 children were enrolled, the Model School attracted more and more of the local children to its non-denominational classes. It achieved its highest enrolment in 1858, when 582 children were listed on the school register.
It was the success of the District Model School which prompted Archbishop Cullen to invite the Christian Brothers to Athy. The Irish Hierarchy’s disapproval of the Model schools was set out in a letter to the Commissioners of the National School, which described the schools as “intrinsically anti-Catholic”.
The fragmentation on religious grounds of the educational system in Athy dates from that period.
The vocational schooling system first came into being following the passing of the Technical Instructions Act in 1899, which, when adopted by Athy Urban District Council, was followed by the setting up of a technical instruction committee.
A technical school was opened in part of the old national school at the corner of Stanhope Street and Stanhope Place and there it remained until a new technical school was opened on the Carlow Road on 5 December 1940.
The amalgamation of Scoil Eoin and Scoil Mhuire brings together two institutions with a shared history extending over 301 years and marks the final chapter in the history of the Sisters of Mercy and the Christian Brothers in the town of Athy.
The celebrations marking this important occasion commence with the opening of an exhibition in the Heritage Centre this Wednesday and the launching of a book of memoirs compiled by transition students of Scoil Eoin.
Other events take place during the week, and on Saturday 12 May a celebratory dinner will be held in the Clanard Court Hotel at which past pupils of Scoil Eoin and the old secondary school in St John’s Lane will attend.
The closing of Scoil Mhuire and Scoil Eoin and their coming together as Ardscoil Na Trionoide, catering for boys and girls, is a huge advance in our local education story which started over 200 years ago with the Athy Poor School.
Indeed, by dint of their influence, both schools have been in their time an integral part of the social life of this area. I was privileged to receive my early education, both primary and secondary, in the local Christian Brothers School and so am more than an interested onlooker as the date of the amalgamation of my old school with Scoil Mhuire draws near.
Until the 1790s, the children of Athy town received no formal education.
The Church of England did not have a parish school at that time and no Catholic was licensed to teach his co-religionists. Only the children of well-to-do families could afford to attend the fee-paying private schools, of which there were a number in Athy at the end of the 18th century. In 1870, the local Church of England rector set up a parish school, which for a time at least was located in the town hall, but later moved to the three-storey house currently standing at the corner of Meeting Lane and Emily Square.
In 1811, the Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor of Ireland, commonly called the ‘Kildare Place Society’, was founded.
Its stated purpose was to afford the same facilities for education to all classes of professing Christians without any attempt to interfere with their religious beliefs. It is from the records of that society that we first learned of the existence of a Catholic free school in Athy. Known also as the ‘Athy Poor School’, it had as a teacher John Goold, who in January 1823 received a payment of £11.4.4- from the Kildare Place Society.
Rev Charles Bristow, the Church of England curate, received a grant of £3.1.9 that same year for running a school in Athy Gaol, which was located on the Carlow Road.
The building of the Athy Poor School premises was attributed to Colonel Fitzgerald of Geraldine House and it was described in the 1824 Parochial Returns as “a substantial building of stone and lime”.
Located at the North East corner of the present St Michael’s Church, it was funded by local subscriptions under the management of the parish priest and a committee of 12 local men.
Patrick O’Rourke and Ann Doogan were teachers in the school in 1824 and on the school rolls were 232 boys and 96 girls, with an average attendance each day of 140 boys and 35 girls.
By 1835, the Athy Poor School was known as the National Day School and the teachers there were George and Elizabeth Carmichael, who had 168 boys and 76 girls on the school rolls. The average attendance in those days, when compulsory school attendance was still a long way off, was 86 boys and 42 girls.
Sometime after 1827, but before 1835, a new schoolhouse was built at the corner of Stanhope Street and Stanhope Place. It would seem, although I cannot be certain, that the original school building continued to operate as a girls’ school, while the new building housed the boys’ school.
Despite the progress made in providing education for the children of Athy, the local Catholic clergy were anxious to desecularise education and bring it more under the control and influence of the Catholic Church. A meeting of the local parishioners was held in the National Day School in the spring of 1843 to further the idea of establishing a convent in Athy for a teaching order of nuns.
The prime movers in this were Anna Goold, who subsequently gifted her house in Stanhope Place to the local parish priest, Rev W Gaffney, a curate of St Michael’s, the Fitzgerald family of Geraldine House and Patrick Maher of Kilrush. That meeting resulted in the building of a convent and a new school in the grounds of St Michael’s Parish Church which the Sisters of Mercy took possession of on 10 October 1852.
The first of the two Catholic educational institutions that are now about to amalgamate had arrived in Athy. The Sisters of Mercy in their early years in the town concentrated on teaching primary school children, but after some time they opened a private secondary school, which later became a public school, known today as Scoil Mhuire.
In the meantime, the Christian Brothers were invited by Archbishop Cullen to open a school for boys in Athy and they were facilitated in doing so by the gifting of Greenhills House by the Sisters of Mercy, which was to become the Christian Brothers Monastery.
Again, like the Sisters of Mercy, the educational facilities provided by the Christian Brothers when their school opened on 19 August 1862 was for primary school pupils and it was some time before more senior boys were catered for.
To complete the educational framework in Athy, mention must be made of the Model School opened in 1852 and the Vocational School, as it was then called, which commenced in November 1900. The District Model School was built by the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland on a five-acre site which was donated by the Duke of Leinster in 1848.
The building of the school commenced two years later and it was opened on 12 August 1852. It catered for infants, as well as boys and girls, and combined the teaching of children with the preliminary training of teachers, known as candidate teachers.
The school was non-denominational and the first two school principals, John Walsh, who had previously taught in Dublin, and Elizabeth Reilly, who had been a teacher in Ballinvally National School, were Catholics.
The success of the Model School is shown by the numbers enrolling in the school. On its first day 13 boys, one girl and one infant were enrolled and by the following February the school had 207 on it’s books and 281 by September 1853.
In each succeeding year up to 1856, when 567 children were enrolled, the Model School attracted more and more of the local children to its non-denominational classes. It achieved its highest enrolment in 1858, when 582 children were listed on the school register.
It was the success of the District Model School which prompted Archbishop Cullen to invite the Christian Brothers to Athy. The Irish Hierarchy’s disapproval of the Model schools was set out in a letter to the Commissioners of the National School, which described the schools as “intrinsically anti-Catholic”.
The fragmentation on religious grounds of the educational system in Athy dates from that period.
The vocational schooling system first came into being following the passing of the Technical Instructions Act in 1899, which, when adopted by Athy Urban District Council, was followed by the setting up of a technical instruction committee.
A technical school was opened in part of the old national school at the corner of Stanhope Street and Stanhope Place and there it remained until a new technical school was opened on the Carlow Road on 5 December 1940.
The amalgamation of Scoil Eoin and Scoil Mhuire brings together two institutions with a shared history extending over 301 years and marks the final chapter in the history of the Sisters of Mercy and the Christian Brothers in the town of Athy.
The celebrations marking this important occasion commence with the opening of an exhibition in the Heritage Centre this Wednesday and the launching of a book of memoirs compiled by transition students of Scoil Eoin.
Other events take place during the week, and on Saturday 12 May a celebratory dinner will be held in the Clanard Court Hotel at which past pupils of Scoil Eoin and the old secondary school in St John’s Lane will attend.
The closing of Scoil Mhuire and Scoil Eoin and their coming together as Ardscoil Na Trionoide, catering for boys and girls, is a huge advance in our local education story which started over 200 years ago with the Athy Poor School.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Here’s to the Doyen of Emily Square
Sunday 22 April was the 85th birthday of the evergreen Frank O’Brien.
The doyen of Emily Square, Frank is one of Athy’s greatest ambassadors.
O’Brien’s of The Square has been a landmark in the centre of Athy for over a century and it retains the charm of an earlier age when grocery and public house stood cheek by jowl catering for the male and female of the household. Nowadays the supermarkets have reduced the once busy grocery to that of convenience store status, but still it remains as it has for decades, a welcome change from the drab sameness which pervades the commercial world today.
Frank O’Brien personifies in so many ways the Gaelic heart of this ancient town of ours. He glories in its successes, his window displays always bearing testimony to his own Irishness, his support for the Gaelic language and his love of Gaelic sport.
He is a repository of local knowledge stretching back beyond his own time, enhanced by what he learnt from his own father and his father before him. It’s no wonder O’Brien’s is the first port of call for many visitors to Athy, especially those with links to this area. For there they can expect to hear of the past, of the people now long forgotten, who once were as familiar on the streets of Athy as we are today.
In wishing Frank O’Brien a happy 85th birthday I do so in the knowledge that I would have liked to devote this entire article to him, but modest as ever, he asked me not to do so. Perhaps another day.
Another birthday being celebrated around this time is that of Aidan Higgins, Celbridge-born writer whose 80th birthday is being celebrated with an Aidan Higgins Literary Festival in his native town this May Bank Holiday weekend.
Since the publication of Langrishe, Go Down! in 1966, his has been a unique voice in Irish writing. His first novel won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize as well as an Irish Academy of Letters Award, and was filmed for BBC television in an adaptation by Harold Pinter. Set in the hinterlands of Kildare where its author grew up, it slyly reinvents the familiar traits of the ‘Big House’ in Irish fiction.
This was an audacious beginning for any writer, but throughout his career Higgins has continued to innovate – blending styles and genres, working within European as well as Irish traditions – most provocatively in his experimental novel, Balcony of Europe, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1972. He is now an author of novels, short stories, memoirs, travel writing, and radio dramas; he is an honorary doctor of letters, a Saoi of Aosdána and most of all this weekend, a celebrated Kildare man.
John Banville, Derek Mahon, Shane Connaughton, Annie Proulx, John MacKenna, Fintan O’Toole and Dermot Healy are among the writers who this Bank Holiday weekend will gather to pay tribute to a prolific and inventive prose stylist. Full details of lectures and events during this two-day festival can be found here.
The Churchtown Castlemitchell Community Development Association have organised a meeting for Castlemitchell Hall on 10th May at 8.00 p.m. to plan celebrations surrounding the 50th anniversary of the local community hall and the 150th anniversary of Churchtown National School.
Both events, I believe, are to be celebrated next August. The Association is anxious to hear from anyone with past links with either the school or the hall and would welcome to their meeting on 10th May anyone willing to help out with the celebrations.
Writing on celebrations prompts me to remind you that the Christian Brothers Secondary School will be hosting a variety of events next week, ending with a dinner on 12th May in the Clanard Court Hotel to mark the amalgamation of the boys secondary and the girls secondary schools – Scoil Eoin and Scoil Mhuire. I gather a substantial amount of photographs and other memorabilia have been collected for an exhibition in the Heritage Centre during the week.
In addition transition year students in Scoil Eoin have been busy completing a booklet to mark the event and this will soon be on sale.
The last celebrations in Athy which were centred around the Christian Brothers Schools took place on 23rd and 24th September 1994 to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of Edmund Rice, Founder of the Christian Brothers.
The occasion coincided with the planned departure of the last Christian Brothers from Athy and soon thereafter Brothers Murphy and Quinn left the Christian Brothers Monastery in the town for the last time. The centenary of the Christian Brother in Athy was celebrated in 1961 and the photograph shows a parade of school boys coming over the Crom a Boo bridge and heading towards the old school in St. John’s Lane.
My late brother Seamus is one of the boys holding the banner. I wonder how many of the other boys captured in the photograph can be identified today.
The doyen of Emily Square, Frank is one of Athy’s greatest ambassadors.
O’Brien’s of The Square has been a landmark in the centre of Athy for over a century and it retains the charm of an earlier age when grocery and public house stood cheek by jowl catering for the male and female of the household. Nowadays the supermarkets have reduced the once busy grocery to that of convenience store status, but still it remains as it has for decades, a welcome change from the drab sameness which pervades the commercial world today.
Frank O’Brien personifies in so many ways the Gaelic heart of this ancient town of ours. He glories in its successes, his window displays always bearing testimony to his own Irishness, his support for the Gaelic language and his love of Gaelic sport.
He is a repository of local knowledge stretching back beyond his own time, enhanced by what he learnt from his own father and his father before him. It’s no wonder O’Brien’s is the first port of call for many visitors to Athy, especially those with links to this area. For there they can expect to hear of the past, of the people now long forgotten, who once were as familiar on the streets of Athy as we are today.
In wishing Frank O’Brien a happy 85th birthday I do so in the knowledge that I would have liked to devote this entire article to him, but modest as ever, he asked me not to do so. Perhaps another day.
Another birthday being celebrated around this time is that of Aidan Higgins, Celbridge-born writer whose 80th birthday is being celebrated with an Aidan Higgins Literary Festival in his native town this May Bank Holiday weekend.
Since the publication of Langrishe, Go Down! in 1966, his has been a unique voice in Irish writing. His first novel won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize as well as an Irish Academy of Letters Award, and was filmed for BBC television in an adaptation by Harold Pinter. Set in the hinterlands of Kildare where its author grew up, it slyly reinvents the familiar traits of the ‘Big House’ in Irish fiction.
This was an audacious beginning for any writer, but throughout his career Higgins has continued to innovate – blending styles and genres, working within European as well as Irish traditions – most provocatively in his experimental novel, Balcony of Europe, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1972. He is now an author of novels, short stories, memoirs, travel writing, and radio dramas; he is an honorary doctor of letters, a Saoi of Aosdána and most of all this weekend, a celebrated Kildare man.
John Banville, Derek Mahon, Shane Connaughton, Annie Proulx, John MacKenna, Fintan O’Toole and Dermot Healy are among the writers who this Bank Holiday weekend will gather to pay tribute to a prolific and inventive prose stylist. Full details of lectures and events during this two-day festival can be found here.
The Churchtown Castlemitchell Community Development Association have organised a meeting for Castlemitchell Hall on 10th May at 8.00 p.m. to plan celebrations surrounding the 50th anniversary of the local community hall and the 150th anniversary of Churchtown National School.
Both events, I believe, are to be celebrated next August. The Association is anxious to hear from anyone with past links with either the school or the hall and would welcome to their meeting on 10th May anyone willing to help out with the celebrations.
Writing on celebrations prompts me to remind you that the Christian Brothers Secondary School will be hosting a variety of events next week, ending with a dinner on 12th May in the Clanard Court Hotel to mark the amalgamation of the boys secondary and the girls secondary schools – Scoil Eoin and Scoil Mhuire. I gather a substantial amount of photographs and other memorabilia have been collected for an exhibition in the Heritage Centre during the week.
In addition transition year students in Scoil Eoin have been busy completing a booklet to mark the event and this will soon be on sale.
The last celebrations in Athy which were centred around the Christian Brothers Schools took place on 23rd and 24th September 1994 to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of Edmund Rice, Founder of the Christian Brothers.
The occasion coincided with the planned departure of the last Christian Brothers from Athy and soon thereafter Brothers Murphy and Quinn left the Christian Brothers Monastery in the town for the last time. The centenary of the Christian Brother in Athy was celebrated in 1961 and the photograph shows a parade of school boys coming over the Crom a Boo bridge and heading towards the old school in St. John’s Lane.
My late brother Seamus is one of the boys holding the banner. I wonder how many of the other boys captured in the photograph can be identified today.
Friday, September 30, 1994
Brother John Murphy Athy CBS
Brother John Murphy, a member of the Congregation of the Christian Brothers and based in Athy since 1960 holds the distinction of being the longest serving Christian Brother in the town in the 133 year history of the Athy Community. On the 23rd of September he celebrated the 70th anniversary of his entry into the Christian Brothers. That day coincided with the townspeoples celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the death of Venerable Edmund Rice, founder of the Christian Brothers.
Brother Murphy was born in Rineen, near Milltown, Co. Clare from where he entered the Christian Brothers Juniorate in Baldoyle, Dublin at seventeen and a half years of age. Ten years later his younger brother Frank followed him into the Christian Brothers and he celebrated his Diamond Jubilee last April. Between the two Clare brothers there is a remarkable 130 years as members of the Christian Brothers in Ireland.
Brother John Murphy after completing his Junior Year in Baldoyle later attended the Teacher Training College. He took final vows in 1932 after spending a short stint as a Novice Brother in North Monastery, Cork. In 1933 he transferred to Gorey where the young Christian Brother took on the responsibilities of Superior of the Christian Brother Monastery and Principal of the Primary School. He was to spend 12 years there before transferring to Greystones where he remained until 1948 when he went to Drogheda as Principal of the Primary School. Four years later he arrived in Dolphins Barn, Dublin, again assuming the dual role of Superior and Principal before coming to Athy as Principal of the Primary School in 1960.
The 1960's witnessed many changes in Irish education. The Donagh O'Malley years, mythologised by many and eulogised by that fine journalist, the late John Healy, was part of the changing pattern of an Irish society then growing to maturity. The State, which up to then had relied on the Christian Brothers and other religious societies to make Secondary education available to all and sundry without charge now began to take on more of the responsibilities it had neglected in the past.
The changing education scene led to an expansion in Secondary School numbers. New schools were needed in Athy and the prospect of a new Secondary School was in 1971 to galvanise the local people into considering the future of second level education in the town. The possibility of amalgamating the three existing local Secondary Schools which was favoured by the Department of Education was the subject of local debate where passions ruled and the future was not accurately anticipated. As a result a Community School for Athy was rejected by the townspeople over twenty years ago.
It was to fall to men like Brother Murphy in the forefront of the education process for many years to continue to meet the educational needs of a young growing population. Before he retired as School Principal in 1974 Brother Murphy had overseen the transformation which gave us the first Parents School Council and a new Primary School in Athy to replace the first school building erected in 1861.
Now twenty years later he celebrates 70 years as a follower of Edmund Rice. Since his arrival in Athy in 1960 he has endeared himself to students and parents alike. After 34 years in Athy the unassuming, courteous man from Clare is the longest serving member of the Christian Brothers in the 133 years of the Institutes association with the town. His unique achievement of service to Athy will never be surpassed, now that we have learnt of the imminent departure of the Christian Brothers from Athy.
The cultural bedrock of education in Athy is firmly in place thanks to the work of the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Mercy whose future involvement in local Schools is now very uncertain. Maybe the time has come for the townspeople to re-assess the future of our presently fragmented Secondary School system in Athy.
Brother Murphy was born in Rineen, near Milltown, Co. Clare from where he entered the Christian Brothers Juniorate in Baldoyle, Dublin at seventeen and a half years of age. Ten years later his younger brother Frank followed him into the Christian Brothers and he celebrated his Diamond Jubilee last April. Between the two Clare brothers there is a remarkable 130 years as members of the Christian Brothers in Ireland.
Brother John Murphy after completing his Junior Year in Baldoyle later attended the Teacher Training College. He took final vows in 1932 after spending a short stint as a Novice Brother in North Monastery, Cork. In 1933 he transferred to Gorey where the young Christian Brother took on the responsibilities of Superior of the Christian Brother Monastery and Principal of the Primary School. He was to spend 12 years there before transferring to Greystones where he remained until 1948 when he went to Drogheda as Principal of the Primary School. Four years later he arrived in Dolphins Barn, Dublin, again assuming the dual role of Superior and Principal before coming to Athy as Principal of the Primary School in 1960.
The 1960's witnessed many changes in Irish education. The Donagh O'Malley years, mythologised by many and eulogised by that fine journalist, the late John Healy, was part of the changing pattern of an Irish society then growing to maturity. The State, which up to then had relied on the Christian Brothers and other religious societies to make Secondary education available to all and sundry without charge now began to take on more of the responsibilities it had neglected in the past.
The changing education scene led to an expansion in Secondary School numbers. New schools were needed in Athy and the prospect of a new Secondary School was in 1971 to galvanise the local people into considering the future of second level education in the town. The possibility of amalgamating the three existing local Secondary Schools which was favoured by the Department of Education was the subject of local debate where passions ruled and the future was not accurately anticipated. As a result a Community School for Athy was rejected by the townspeople over twenty years ago.
It was to fall to men like Brother Murphy in the forefront of the education process for many years to continue to meet the educational needs of a young growing population. Before he retired as School Principal in 1974 Brother Murphy had overseen the transformation which gave us the first Parents School Council and a new Primary School in Athy to replace the first school building erected in 1861.
Now twenty years later he celebrates 70 years as a follower of Edmund Rice. Since his arrival in Athy in 1960 he has endeared himself to students and parents alike. After 34 years in Athy the unassuming, courteous man from Clare is the longest serving member of the Christian Brothers in the 133 years of the Institutes association with the town. His unique achievement of service to Athy will never be surpassed, now that we have learnt of the imminent departure of the Christian Brothers from Athy.
The cultural bedrock of education in Athy is firmly in place thanks to the work of the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Mercy whose future involvement in local Schools is now very uncertain. Maybe the time has come for the townspeople to re-assess the future of our presently fragmented Secondary School system in Athy.
Friday, September 23, 1994
Christian Brothers in Athy
On the weekend of the 23rd of September the people of Athy will come together to pay tribute to the Christian Brothers who will soon be leaving the town after 133 years of service as educators to successive generations of boys from the area.
The first Christian Brothers arrived in Athy on the 8th of August, 1861. Brothers Stanislaus O'Flanagan and Brother Luke Holland with lay Brother Patrick Sheehy occupied Greenhills House which was to remain the Christian Brothers Monastery until 1992. A local Committee with shopkeeper Mark Bealin as Secretary had earlier collected funds to fund the construction of a single storey three roomed schoolhouse alongside the Monastery. It was first opened as a school on the 19th of August, 1861 when 120 boys enrolled.
The success of the Christian Brothers in providing educational opportunities for young boys in those days of non-compulsory school attendance saw enrolment numbers increasing over the following years. A third teaching brother was soon employed with the generous financial help of Patrick Maher of Kilrush. He guaranteed a sum sufficient to provide for the new Brothers’ maintenance for two years. Patrick Maher was also a generous benefactor to the Sisters of Mercy whom he had helped on the establishment of the local Convent in 1852. His contribution to the Brothers was particularly important having regard to the impoverished state of the people of Athy who through their Parish Priest Monsignor Quinn had undertaken to maintain the recently arrived Christian Brothers. Two collections were taken up each year in the Parish Church to meet this commitment but in 1867 the Parish Priest stopped the practice pleading inability to further maintain the Christian Brothers. A public meeting was subsequently held in the town as a result of which the Christian Brothers undertook with the co-operation of the local people to take up the collections themselves.
The single-storey school house was modified somewhat in 1873 to cater for the increasing pupil numbers but no additions were made to the original structure until almost 30 years later. In September 1894 the first lay teacher was employed in the school and in the terminology of the day he was referred to as "Professor" John McNamee who for his labours received a salary of £1 per week. Around the same time the Brothers Monastery was refurbished and part of the work included the removal of the clay floor in the community room and its replacement with timber floorboards. It is difficult for us to imagine nowadays that less than 100 years ago in the Christian Brothers Monastery, one of the principal buildings of the town, such primitive conditions were to be found.
It was not until 1898 that attendance at school was made compulsory for Irish children. However the Act provided an exemption from school attendance for children of not less than 11 years of age who obtained a Certificate from the local School Principal showing "such proficiency in reading, writing and elementary arithmetic as is now presented for fourth class." Three years later with the introduction of technical instruction into the school curriculum the Christian Brothers felt obliged to extend the school building by adding an extra floor to the original structure. It was then that the famous metal stairway was installed.
With the introduction of woodwork in 1931 an extra building had to be provided. Officially called the Sacred Heart Hall but known by pupils and townspeople as the Manual School it gave much needed additional space for pupils and teachers alike. As part of the fundraising activity at the time an annual bazaar was held on behalf of the Christian Brother’s school. The highlight of the October 1931 venture was an aeroplane hired for the day from Iona National Airways to give joyrides over the town of Athy. This must surely have been the first aeroplane seen by many of the locals of the town.
The first Christian Brothers arrived in Athy on the 8th of August, 1861. Brothers Stanislaus O'Flanagan and Brother Luke Holland with lay Brother Patrick Sheehy occupied Greenhills House which was to remain the Christian Brothers Monastery until 1992. A local Committee with shopkeeper Mark Bealin as Secretary had earlier collected funds to fund the construction of a single storey three roomed schoolhouse alongside the Monastery. It was first opened as a school on the 19th of August, 1861 when 120 boys enrolled.
The success of the Christian Brothers in providing educational opportunities for young boys in those days of non-compulsory school attendance saw enrolment numbers increasing over the following years. A third teaching brother was soon employed with the generous financial help of Patrick Maher of Kilrush. He guaranteed a sum sufficient to provide for the new Brothers’ maintenance for two years. Patrick Maher was also a generous benefactor to the Sisters of Mercy whom he had helped on the establishment of the local Convent in 1852. His contribution to the Brothers was particularly important having regard to the impoverished state of the people of Athy who through their Parish Priest Monsignor Quinn had undertaken to maintain the recently arrived Christian Brothers. Two collections were taken up each year in the Parish Church to meet this commitment but in 1867 the Parish Priest stopped the practice pleading inability to further maintain the Christian Brothers. A public meeting was subsequently held in the town as a result of which the Christian Brothers undertook with the co-operation of the local people to take up the collections themselves.
The single-storey school house was modified somewhat in 1873 to cater for the increasing pupil numbers but no additions were made to the original structure until almost 30 years later. In September 1894 the first lay teacher was employed in the school and in the terminology of the day he was referred to as "Professor" John McNamee who for his labours received a salary of £1 per week. Around the same time the Brothers Monastery was refurbished and part of the work included the removal of the clay floor in the community room and its replacement with timber floorboards. It is difficult for us to imagine nowadays that less than 100 years ago in the Christian Brothers Monastery, one of the principal buildings of the town, such primitive conditions were to be found.
It was not until 1898 that attendance at school was made compulsory for Irish children. However the Act provided an exemption from school attendance for children of not less than 11 years of age who obtained a Certificate from the local School Principal showing "such proficiency in reading, writing and elementary arithmetic as is now presented for fourth class." Three years later with the introduction of technical instruction into the school curriculum the Christian Brothers felt obliged to extend the school building by adding an extra floor to the original structure. It was then that the famous metal stairway was installed.
With the introduction of woodwork in 1931 an extra building had to be provided. Officially called the Sacred Heart Hall but known by pupils and townspeople as the Manual School it gave much needed additional space for pupils and teachers alike. As part of the fundraising activity at the time an annual bazaar was held on behalf of the Christian Brother’s school. The highlight of the October 1931 venture was an aeroplane hired for the day from Iona National Airways to give joyrides over the town of Athy. This must surely have been the first aeroplane seen by many of the locals of the town.
Friday, March 4, 1994
Macra na Feirme - Brother Joe Quinn
Last weekend I attended two celebrations of service to our community. One was the well publicised corporate celebrations of Macra na Feirme's Golden Jubilee. Amongst those honoured was Paddy Keogh of Kilcoo whose involvement in Athy's first farmers club and the national organisation which developed from it was acknowledged and commemorated by the presentation to him of a replica of the sundial earlier unveiled in Emily Square by President Mary Robinson.
Macra's celebrations acknowledged the organisations debt to the foresight of the local men who founded Athy's club. Foremost amongst them was Stephen Cullinan, a young Galway born agricultural instructor then teaching in the local Technical School. The more one reads and hears about Stephen Cullinan the more one appreciates what an extraordinary man he was. His tragic early death in 1951 undoubtedly deprived Macra and Irish farming generally of a talent which was difficulty to replace.
The second celebration was that of Brother Joe Quinn's Diamond Jubilee as a member of the Irish Christian Brothers. His life, like that of his brothers in religion was spent out of the glare of press and publicity but yet his achievements as an educator and a fosterer of Irish sporting traditions was recognised by many persons who came from all corners of Ireland to pay tribute to the 76 year old Christian Brother.
Brother Quinn entered the Christian Brothers novitiate on the 10th of January 1934 and in September 1939 as the war clouds were descending over Europe he travelled to take up duty in Tuam, Co. Galway. The milestones in his life are measured in terms of hurling and football finals and like a drunk who will direct a lost traveller using public houses as points of reference, Brother Quinn uses the September activities in Croke Park as his personal yard stick. But on Final days in Croke Park the young Joe Quinn was required to follow his Superiors bidding of walking alone "into the countryside", the only acceptable recreation available to Christian Brothers. For a young man reared on a daily diet of Gaelic football such deprivations were part of the personal sacrifices expected of a Christian Brother. However in 1945 he succeeded in obtaining a coveted ticket for the All Ireland football final. Fate dealt him another hand however and his commitment and resolve was tested when he received instructions to transfer to Doneraile, Co. Cork on the Saturday before the Final.
One can picture his dismay and disappointment as he embarked on the train journey out of Kingsbridge Station as the excited football followers streamed into Dublin. It was with a heavy heart that he let his prized stand ticket flow on the breeze as he threw it out of the train approaching Doneraile. He was later to attend his first All Ireland Final in 1947 and I doubt if he has missed one since.
However it is not as a follower of football that we remember Brother Quinn. It is as a man representative of that great band of men - the Irish Christian Brothers - who have given of their all for the youth of this country. Brother Joe Quinn's involvement in basketball in Athy is well known. Sine he came to Athy in 1978 he has encouraged the development of the game to the point where it is now an important sporting activity in the South Kildare area.
On the Friday before President Mary Robinson came to Athy for the Macra celebrations the colleagues and friends of Brother Quinn joined him in his celebration of life and service to communities throughout Ireland. A service which in the best traditions of the Christian Brothers saw him make many personal sacrifices for the education and welfare of the young people in his charge.
The weekend celebrations of Macra na Feirme and Brother Joe Quinn were a public recognition of service to our community and to the jubilairians, Golden and Diamond, Macra and Brother Joe, we extend good wishes for the future and gratitude for the past.
Macra's celebrations acknowledged the organisations debt to the foresight of the local men who founded Athy's club. Foremost amongst them was Stephen Cullinan, a young Galway born agricultural instructor then teaching in the local Technical School. The more one reads and hears about Stephen Cullinan the more one appreciates what an extraordinary man he was. His tragic early death in 1951 undoubtedly deprived Macra and Irish farming generally of a talent which was difficulty to replace.
The second celebration was that of Brother Joe Quinn's Diamond Jubilee as a member of the Irish Christian Brothers. His life, like that of his brothers in religion was spent out of the glare of press and publicity but yet his achievements as an educator and a fosterer of Irish sporting traditions was recognised by many persons who came from all corners of Ireland to pay tribute to the 76 year old Christian Brother.
Brother Quinn entered the Christian Brothers novitiate on the 10th of January 1934 and in September 1939 as the war clouds were descending over Europe he travelled to take up duty in Tuam, Co. Galway. The milestones in his life are measured in terms of hurling and football finals and like a drunk who will direct a lost traveller using public houses as points of reference, Brother Quinn uses the September activities in Croke Park as his personal yard stick. But on Final days in Croke Park the young Joe Quinn was required to follow his Superiors bidding of walking alone "into the countryside", the only acceptable recreation available to Christian Brothers. For a young man reared on a daily diet of Gaelic football such deprivations were part of the personal sacrifices expected of a Christian Brother. However in 1945 he succeeded in obtaining a coveted ticket for the All Ireland football final. Fate dealt him another hand however and his commitment and resolve was tested when he received instructions to transfer to Doneraile, Co. Cork on the Saturday before the Final.
One can picture his dismay and disappointment as he embarked on the train journey out of Kingsbridge Station as the excited football followers streamed into Dublin. It was with a heavy heart that he let his prized stand ticket flow on the breeze as he threw it out of the train approaching Doneraile. He was later to attend his first All Ireland Final in 1947 and I doubt if he has missed one since.
However it is not as a follower of football that we remember Brother Quinn. It is as a man representative of that great band of men - the Irish Christian Brothers - who have given of their all for the youth of this country. Brother Joe Quinn's involvement in basketball in Athy is well known. Sine he came to Athy in 1978 he has encouraged the development of the game to the point where it is now an important sporting activity in the South Kildare area.
On the Friday before President Mary Robinson came to Athy for the Macra celebrations the colleagues and friends of Brother Quinn joined him in his celebration of life and service to communities throughout Ireland. A service which in the best traditions of the Christian Brothers saw him make many personal sacrifices for the education and welfare of the young people in his charge.
The weekend celebrations of Macra na Feirme and Brother Joe Quinn were a public recognition of service to our community and to the jubilairians, Golden and Diamond, Macra and Brother Joe, we extend good wishes for the future and gratitude for the past.
Friday, November 5, 1993
Brother Joseph Brett
Late on Monday afternoon with two old school friends I set out for Thurles to attend the funeral of Brother Brett, Superior of the Christian Brothers in Athy from 1955 to 1961. His time in Athy coincided with our entry into and subsequent departure from the Secondary School then housed in the upper floors of the old school premises in St. John's Lane. As we travelled along the road we reminisced about our schooldays and the part Brother Brett had played in our lives.
He was a giant of a man. A gentle giant whom we never remember raising his voice in anger or his hand to hurt. His fresh face complexion was a clear indication of his relative youth but to young 16 or 17 year olds he seemed well entrenched in the grey eminence of adulthood which to us then seemed so far distant. Now as we look back from the quickening years of middle age we are astonished to find that Brother Brett arrived in Athy as a young 39 year old.
He died last weekend aged 78 years after several years of illness which had seen his fine strong features change beyond recognition. As the funeral prayers were said for Brother Joseph we realised for the very first time that we had not previously known his christian name. To us he was Brother Brett or simply "The Boss", a name which was his alone, long before Bruce Springsteen arrived on the scene.
Hurrying through the Tipperary countryside, 33 years after we had taken our leave of the Christian Brothers, we recalled the generosity of spirit which was the hallmark of Brother Brett and his colleagues. As Christian Brothers they dedicated their lives to others. They had forsaken the joys and comfort of family life to live in communities of men bound by vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
The personal sacrifices made by men such as Brother Brett are not always appreciated. As we stood around his coffin it seemed to us so sad that a once young man from Balla in County Mayo should die almost forgotten and unacknowledged in a strange town mourned only by his own immediate family and the members of the Christian Brothers. His Brothers in congregation were all old men whose faces bore testimony to lives dedicated to prayer and service. They had come to mourn one of their own and in his passing they recognised the drawing of the curtain which could shortly signal the end of the Irish Christian Brothers.
For over 160 years the Order founded by Ignatius Rice has provided the bedrock upon which the future of young Irishmen has been secured. Their work commenced in times of poverty and ultimately famine but throughout good times and bad the Christian Brothers gave of themselves and their resources to help Irish men to achieve their full potential.
Nowadays it is fashionable to belittle the part played by religious orders in Irish education and even to focus solely on the unacceptable behaviour of the few misguided individuals who were found wanting. We can so easily overlook the good work which was done by the Christian Brothers. We must resist the temptation to do so. After all we owe so much to those men who helped to shape our young lives and gave us the confidence to face into the future.
Our old school in St. John's Lane is now closed. The new school in Rathstewart no longer has a Christian Brother on its staff. The Monastery on the Carlow Road is home to two retired Brothers whose presence helps to continue Athy's link with the past. Many Christian Brothers have come and gone since the Orders arrival in Athy in August 1862. Their work is not yet done but it is to other men and women unburdened by clerical vows that the responsibility must now pass.
The memory of the Christian Brothers will I hope always find a response in the hearts and minds of the people of Athy. We owe them so much. The passing of Brother Brett last weekend marked the end of an era for one group of middle aged men who as 13 year old youngsters bounded up the metal stairway of the old Christian Brothers School under the watchful eye of the newly arrived Superior. "The Boss" is now dead. His memory remains. Thank you for making that memory one to be cherished.
He was a giant of a man. A gentle giant whom we never remember raising his voice in anger or his hand to hurt. His fresh face complexion was a clear indication of his relative youth but to young 16 or 17 year olds he seemed well entrenched in the grey eminence of adulthood which to us then seemed so far distant. Now as we look back from the quickening years of middle age we are astonished to find that Brother Brett arrived in Athy as a young 39 year old.
He died last weekend aged 78 years after several years of illness which had seen his fine strong features change beyond recognition. As the funeral prayers were said for Brother Joseph we realised for the very first time that we had not previously known his christian name. To us he was Brother Brett or simply "The Boss", a name which was his alone, long before Bruce Springsteen arrived on the scene.
Hurrying through the Tipperary countryside, 33 years after we had taken our leave of the Christian Brothers, we recalled the generosity of spirit which was the hallmark of Brother Brett and his colleagues. As Christian Brothers they dedicated their lives to others. They had forsaken the joys and comfort of family life to live in communities of men bound by vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
The personal sacrifices made by men such as Brother Brett are not always appreciated. As we stood around his coffin it seemed to us so sad that a once young man from Balla in County Mayo should die almost forgotten and unacknowledged in a strange town mourned only by his own immediate family and the members of the Christian Brothers. His Brothers in congregation were all old men whose faces bore testimony to lives dedicated to prayer and service. They had come to mourn one of their own and in his passing they recognised the drawing of the curtain which could shortly signal the end of the Irish Christian Brothers.
For over 160 years the Order founded by Ignatius Rice has provided the bedrock upon which the future of young Irishmen has been secured. Their work commenced in times of poverty and ultimately famine but throughout good times and bad the Christian Brothers gave of themselves and their resources to help Irish men to achieve their full potential.
Nowadays it is fashionable to belittle the part played by religious orders in Irish education and even to focus solely on the unacceptable behaviour of the few misguided individuals who were found wanting. We can so easily overlook the good work which was done by the Christian Brothers. We must resist the temptation to do so. After all we owe so much to those men who helped to shape our young lives and gave us the confidence to face into the future.
Our old school in St. John's Lane is now closed. The new school in Rathstewart no longer has a Christian Brother on its staff. The Monastery on the Carlow Road is home to two retired Brothers whose presence helps to continue Athy's link with the past. Many Christian Brothers have come and gone since the Orders arrival in Athy in August 1862. Their work is not yet done but it is to other men and women unburdened by clerical vows that the responsibility must now pass.
The memory of the Christian Brothers will I hope always find a response in the hearts and minds of the people of Athy. We owe them so much. The passing of Brother Brett last weekend marked the end of an era for one group of middle aged men who as 13 year old youngsters bounded up the metal stairway of the old Christian Brothers School under the watchful eye of the newly arrived Superior. "The Boss" is now dead. His memory remains. Thank you for making that memory one to be cherished.
Friday, February 26, 1993
Christian Brothers Athy
The recent announcement that the Christian Brothers were to appoint a lay Principal for their Secondary School in Athy brings to a close an era stretching back 132 years. It was on Thursday the 8th of August 1861 that the Christian Brothers first arrived in Athy. Brother Stanislaus O'Flanagan, the first Principal, was accompanied by Brother Luke Holland and a lay Brother - Brother Patrick Sheehy.
They were accommodated in Greenhills House, St. John's Lane, the former residence of the Weldon family and from 1820 to 1850 that of the Misses Hellen, daughters of Lord Justice Hellen. After 1850 Greenhills House was owned by John Beard through his wife Hannah, daughter of George Mansergh of Riversdale House. Greenhills was later acquired by the Parish Priest, Rev. A Quinn, whether by gift or purchase it is not known. The Annals of the Convent of Mercy disclose that in 1859 the Parish Priest not being able to pay the rent gave the house and ten and a half acres to the Sisters of Mercy. The Sisters later donated the house and some of the lands for the use of the Christian Brothers. The first one storey school building was built on a site adjoining Greenhills House. Patrick Maher of Kilrush, who was a generous benefactor of the local Sisters of Mercy, donated £400 towards the building costs which amounted to £1,000.00.
On Sunday August 11th Archbishop Cullen, a native of Ballitore who had taken a special interest in bringing the Christian Brothers to Athy, preached in the Parish Church and introduced the newly arrived Christian Brothers to the townspeople. The next morning he said Mass in Greenhills House and blessed the new classrooms.
On August 19th the School opened it's doors for the first time and 120 boys were enroled. As the numbers increased a third teaching brother was required. Brother Francis Clarke joined the community with the ever generous Patrick Maher of Kilrush agreeing to pay £30 annually towards his maintenance. In the early years of the School's existence the salaries of the other Brothers were met from Parish funds. For this purpose two annual collections were taken up in the Parish Church.
In 1867 the Parish Priest pleaded inability to further guarantee the financial support of the Christian Brothers. Following a public meeting in the town the Christian Brothers took upon themselves the task of collecting funds for their own maintenance and support. In this they were supported by the local people and a number of general gifts and bequests were made to them by Michael Lawlor, Miss Goold, J. Delaney, Miss Ferris and others.
A second storey was added to the school building in 1901. The extra space was required for teaching experimental science and other subjects under the aegis of the new Department of Agricultural and Technical Instructions. On the townspeoples security £300 was borrowed from a local Bank and the work was completed at a cost of almost £900 in October 1901. For seven weeks after the summer holidays of that year the Christian Brothers held classes in the Old Schoolhouse in Stanhope Place which had been vacated by the Sisters of Mercy in 1893.
The full story of the Christian Brothers in Athy and their labour in the cause of Christian education will be told another day. Some years ago while browsing in an Antiquarian Bookshop in Dublin I came across a leather bound volume with the words "Deceased Brothers" on the cover. The inside cover was marked in ink as volume 2 and a perusal of it's contents showed it to be a necrology of the Christian Brothers.
By a strange coincidence the first entry recorded the death of Brother Luke Holland on the 8th of January 1900 in Marino. He it was who had travelled to Athy in August 1861 with his two companions to open the first Christian Brothers Monastery and School. The same volume also recorded the deaths of his companions - Brother Patrick Sheehy on the 2nd March 1902 and Brother Stanislaus O'Flanagan on the 5th March 1906. How strange to find that the three young religious Brothers who had been brought together in August 1861 to travel to Athy were to have their names reunited in print 45 years later with the death of the first Superior of Athy Christian Brothers School Brother Stanislaus O'Flanagan.
They were accommodated in Greenhills House, St. John's Lane, the former residence of the Weldon family and from 1820 to 1850 that of the Misses Hellen, daughters of Lord Justice Hellen. After 1850 Greenhills House was owned by John Beard through his wife Hannah, daughter of George Mansergh of Riversdale House. Greenhills was later acquired by the Parish Priest, Rev. A Quinn, whether by gift or purchase it is not known. The Annals of the Convent of Mercy disclose that in 1859 the Parish Priest not being able to pay the rent gave the house and ten and a half acres to the Sisters of Mercy. The Sisters later donated the house and some of the lands for the use of the Christian Brothers. The first one storey school building was built on a site adjoining Greenhills House. Patrick Maher of Kilrush, who was a generous benefactor of the local Sisters of Mercy, donated £400 towards the building costs which amounted to £1,000.00.
On Sunday August 11th Archbishop Cullen, a native of Ballitore who had taken a special interest in bringing the Christian Brothers to Athy, preached in the Parish Church and introduced the newly arrived Christian Brothers to the townspeople. The next morning he said Mass in Greenhills House and blessed the new classrooms.
On August 19th the School opened it's doors for the first time and 120 boys were enroled. As the numbers increased a third teaching brother was required. Brother Francis Clarke joined the community with the ever generous Patrick Maher of Kilrush agreeing to pay £30 annually towards his maintenance. In the early years of the School's existence the salaries of the other Brothers were met from Parish funds. For this purpose two annual collections were taken up in the Parish Church.
In 1867 the Parish Priest pleaded inability to further guarantee the financial support of the Christian Brothers. Following a public meeting in the town the Christian Brothers took upon themselves the task of collecting funds for their own maintenance and support. In this they were supported by the local people and a number of general gifts and bequests were made to them by Michael Lawlor, Miss Goold, J. Delaney, Miss Ferris and others.
A second storey was added to the school building in 1901. The extra space was required for teaching experimental science and other subjects under the aegis of the new Department of Agricultural and Technical Instructions. On the townspeoples security £300 was borrowed from a local Bank and the work was completed at a cost of almost £900 in October 1901. For seven weeks after the summer holidays of that year the Christian Brothers held classes in the Old Schoolhouse in Stanhope Place which had been vacated by the Sisters of Mercy in 1893.
The full story of the Christian Brothers in Athy and their labour in the cause of Christian education will be told another day. Some years ago while browsing in an Antiquarian Bookshop in Dublin I came across a leather bound volume with the words "Deceased Brothers" on the cover. The inside cover was marked in ink as volume 2 and a perusal of it's contents showed it to be a necrology of the Christian Brothers.
By a strange coincidence the first entry recorded the death of Brother Luke Holland on the 8th of January 1900 in Marino. He it was who had travelled to Athy in August 1861 with his two companions to open the first Christian Brothers Monastery and School. The same volume also recorded the deaths of his companions - Brother Patrick Sheehy on the 2nd March 1902 and Brother Stanislaus O'Flanagan on the 5th March 1906. How strange to find that the three young religious Brothers who had been brought together in August 1861 to travel to Athy were to have their names reunited in print 45 years later with the death of the first Superior of Athy Christian Brothers School Brother Stanislaus O'Flanagan.
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