Laurence F. Renehan
Encyclopedia
St Patrick's College, Maynooth
St Patrick's College, Maynooth is the "National Seminary for Ireland" , and a Pontifical University, located in the village of Maynooth, 15 miles from Dublin, Ireland. The college and seminary are often referred to as Maynooth College. The college was officially established as the Royal College...
in County Kildare, Ireland, from 1845 through 1857. (St. Patrick's College is now formally the Pontifical University and National Seminary of Ireland, but is better known simply as Maynooth College. As such, it shares a campus and works in close cooperation with the National University of Ireland, Maynooth
National University of Ireland, Maynooth
The National University of Ireland, Maynooth , was founded by the Universities Act, 1997 as a constituent university of the National University of Ireland. It is Ireland's second oldest university, having been formed from St Patrick's College, Maynooth, itself founded in 1795.The university is...
.)
Biography
He was born in 1797 at Longford Pass in the parish of Gurtnahoe, TipperaryTipperary
Tipperary is a town and a civil parish in South Tipperary in Ireland. Its population was 4,415 at the 2006 census. It is also an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, and is in the historical barony of Clanwilliam....
. He was educated first at Freshfield, and afterwards at Kilkenny
Kilkenny
Kilkenny is a city and is the county town of the eponymous County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, in the south-east of Ireland...
. In September 1819 he entered Maynooth College to study logic, and in 1825 was elected a Dunboyne student. On 15 September of the same year he was appointed junior dean, and a few weeks later was ordained priest. On 27 July 1827 he was elected professor of scripture, and he held this chair till June 1834, when he reluctantly accepted the post of vice-president. From 4 June 1841 to 24 June 1843 he also filled the office of bursar, and succeeded in extricating the college from financial difficulties. In 1845, on the resignation of the Very Rev. Michael Montague, Renehan became president of Maynooth, retaining the position until his death on 27 July 1857. Renehan was succeeded at St. Patrick's by Charles William Russell
Charles William Russell
Charles William Russell was an Irish Roman Catholic clergyman and scholar.-Early life:He was born at Killough, County Down, Ireland, a descendant of the Russells who held the Barony of Killough of Quoniamstown and Ballystrew.He received his early education at Drogheda grammar school and at...
.
Legacy
Renehan commissioned the architect Augustus PuginAugustus Pugin
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin was an English architect, designer, and theorist of design, now best remembered for his work in the Gothic Revival style, particularly churches and the Palace of Westminster. Pugin was the father of E. W...
, a friend, to build the elaborate and beautiful buildings ("St. Mary's Square") that still dominate the South Campus at Maynooth. A large meeting-room at Maynooth is named in Renehan's honor. He lies buried in a small cemetery on the campus.
Works
Renehan was closely associated with the Irish historian and antiquarian John O'DonovanJohn O'Donovan (scholar)
John O'Donovan , from Atateemore, in the parish of Kilcolumb, County Kilkenny, and educated at Hunt's Academy, Waterford, was an Irish language scholar from Ireland.-Life:...
(1803-1861). A massive volume upon which Renehan had labored for years, Collections on Irish Church History, Vol. 1: Irish Archbishops, received editing after his death by his colleague Daniel McCarthy and was published 1861 by C.M. Warren and Thomas Richardson, Dublin. This book remains a much-cited reference.
Renehan was also a historian of the development of Catholicism in Ireland. Renehan's extensive private collection of early Irish Church manuscripts constitutes 79 volumes of material currently housed in Maynooth's Russell Library.
He was the author of Requiem Office and a Choir Manual of Sacred Music, in addition to a short History of Music. (see external links)