Pontifical Irish College
Encyclopedia
Foundation and early history
Towards the close of the sixteenth century, Pope Gregory XIIIPope Gregory XIII
Pope Gregory XIII , born Ugo Boncompagni, was Pope from 1572 to 1585. He is best known for commissioning and being the namesake for the Gregorian calendar, which remains the internationally-accepted civil calendar to this date.-Youth:He was born the son of Cristoforo Boncompagni and wife Angela...
had sanctioned the foundation of an Irish college
Irish College
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. The Colleges were set up to educate Roman Catholics from Ireland in their own religion following the...
in Rome, and had assigned a large sum of money as the nucleus of an endowment. But the pressing needs of the Irish chieftains made him think that, under the circumstances, the money might as well be used for religion by supplying the Irish Catholics with the sinews of war in Ireland as by founding a college for them at Rome.
The project was revived in 1625 by the Irish bishops, in an address to Pope Urban VIII
Pope Urban VIII
Pope Urban VIII , born Maffeo Barberini, was pope from 1623 to 1644. He was the last pope to expand the papal territory by force of arms, and was a prominent patron of the arts and reformer of Church missions...
. Cardinal Ludovisi, who was Cardinal Protector of Ireland, resolved to realize at his own expense the desire expressed to the pope by the Irish bishops. A house was rented opposite Sant' Isodoro and six students went into residence 1 January, 1628. Eugene Callanan, archdeacon of Cashel
Archbishop of Cashel
The Archbishop of Cashel is an archiepiscopal title which takes its name after the town of Cashel, County Tipperary in Ireland. The title is still in use in the Roman Catholic Church, but in the Church of Ireland it was downgraded to a bishopric in 1838....
, was the first rector, Father Luke Wadding
Luke Wadding
Luke Wadding was an Irish Franciscan friar and historian.-Life:Wadding was born in 16 October 1588 at Waterford to Walter Wadding of Waterford, a wealthy merchant, and his wife, Anastasia Lombard . Educated at the school of Mrs...
being a sort of supervisor. Cardinal Ludovisi died in 1632; he was of a princely family with a large patrimony, and he made provision in his will for the college; it was to have an income of one thousand crowns a year; a house was to be purchased for it; and he left a vineyard as Castel Gandolfo
Castel Gandolfo
Castel Gandolfo is a small Italian town or comune in Lazio that occupies a height overlooking Lake Albano about 15 miles south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills. It is best known as the summer residence of the Pope. It is an Italian town with the population of 8834...
where the students might pass their villeggiatura. The cardinal's will directed that the college should be placed under the charge of the Jesuits. Both the heirs and Wadding suspected that provision and disputed it; a protracted lawsuit was finally decided in 1635 in favour of the Jesuits.
Under the Jesuits
On 8 February, 1635, the Jesuits took charge of the college, and governed it until 1772. A permanent residence was secured, which became the home of the Irish students until 1798, and is still the property of the college; it has given its name to the street in which it stands. The Jesuits found eight students before them; one of these, Philip Cleary, after a brilliant academic course, left for the mission in Ireland in 1640, and suffered death for his faith ten years later. The first Jesuit rector became general of the Society; he was succeeded by Father James Forde who was succeeded in 1637 by Father William Malone, a combatant in controversy with Archbishop Usher.In 1650 Monsignor Scarampo of the Oratory, on return from his embassy to the Kilkenny Confederation, brought with him two students to the Irish College; one was Peter Walsh, who became an Oratorian; the other was Oliver Plunkett
Oliver Plunkett
Saint Oliver Plunkett was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland....
, who was kept in Rome as professor at Propaganda until his appointment to the see of Armagh in 1670. John Brennan, one of Plunkett's contemporaries, also became a professor at Propaganda; whence he was appointed Bishop of Waterford
Bishop of Waterford
The Bishop of Waterford was a medieval prelate, governing the Diocese of Waterford from its creation in the 11th century until it was absorbed into the new Roman Catholic Diocese of Waterford and Lismore in the 14th century...
, and then Archbishop of Cashel. Soon after came several remarkable students — Ronin Maginn; James Kusack, Bishop of Meath
Bishop of Meath
The Bishop of Meath is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient Kingdom of Meath. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with another bishopric.-History:...
; Peter Creagh, successively Bishop of Cork and Cloyne
Bishop of Cork and Cloyne
The Bishop of Cork and Cloyne was an episcopal title which took its name after the city of Cork and the town of Cloyne in southern Ireland.-History:The see was formed by the union of the bishoprics of Cork and Cloyne in 1429...
, and Archbishop of Dublin
Archbishop of Dublin (Roman Catholic)
The Archbishop of Dublin is the title of the senior cleric who presides over the Archdiocese of Dublin. The Church of Ireland has a similar role, heading the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough. In both cases, the Archbishop is also Primate of Ireland...
.
In the earliest part of the eighteenth century, one of the students, Roch MacMahon, made his name in Irish history as Bishop of Clogher
Bishop of Clogher
The Bishop of Clogher is an episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Clogher in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Following the Reformation, there are now parallel apostolic successions: one of the Church of Ireland and the other of the Roman Catholic Church.-History:Clogher is one...
; another, Hugh MacMahon
Hugh MacMahon
Hugh MacMahon was Bishop of Clogher 1707–1715 and Archbishop of Armagh 1715–1737.Born in 1660 in the townland of Cavany, Scotshouse, County Monaghan, Ireland, the son of Colla Dubh Mac Mahon of the Dartry branch of the clan and Eibhlin O'Reilly, the daughter of Colonel Philip O'Reilly,...
, Archbishop of Armagh
Archbishop of Armagh
The Archbishop of Armagh is the title of the presiding ecclesiastical figure of each of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland in the region around Armagh in Northern Ireland...
, asserted the precedence of that see to Dublin in a work of great learning, "Jus Primatiale Armacanum". Richard Reynolds at the end of his course was kept in Rome at tutor to the children of the Pretender; James Gallagher
James Gallagher
James Gallagher may refer to:* James Gallagher , Presbyterian Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives in 1852* James Gallagher , New Jersey Freeholder since 1997...
became Bishop of Kildare
Bishop of Kildare
The Bishop of Kildare was an episcopal title which took its name after the town of Kildare in County Kildare, Ireland. The title is no longer in use by any of the main Christian churches having been united with other bishoprics. In the Roman Catholic Church, the title has been merged with that of...
. The college had never more than eight students at a time, and had often so few as five.
In other ways, however, the college had its trials and changes. It came into financial difficulties. The villa at Castel Gandolfo was sold to the Jesuit novitiate in 1667, and yet the difficulties did not disappear. It was thought, moreover, that too large a proportion of the able students found a vocation in the Society of Jesus, in spite of the purpose of the college, which trained them for the mission in Ireland. Complaints as to administration were also made, and a Pontifical Commission was deputed to make an official inquiry. It report was not favourable to the Jesuits, and in September, 1772, the college was withdrawn from their control.
The college now passed from the care of the Jesuits, and an Italian priest, Abbate Luigi Cuccagni, was made rector. He was a man of acknowledged ability. Hurter says that he was the ablest of the controversialists who wrote against the form of Jansenism
Jansenism
Jansenism was a Christian theological movement, primarily in France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. The movement originated from the posthumously published work of the Dutch theologian Cornelius Otto Jansen, who died in 1638...
which was patronized by Emperor Joseph II, supported by the synod of Pistoia
Synod of Pistoia
The Synod of Pistoia was a diocesan synod held in 1786 under the presidency of Scipione de' Ricci , bishop of Pistoia, and the patronage of Leopold, grand-duke of Tuscany, with a view to preparing the ground for a national council and a reform of the Tuscan Church.-Circular letter:On January 26 the...
, and had its citadel in the University of Pavia
University of Pavia
The University of Pavia is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. It was founded in 1361 and is organized in 9 Faculties.-History:...
. He is the author of several works which were in high repute in those days; and from the Irish College he edited the "Giornale Ecclesiastico di Roma", then the leading Catholic periodical in Rome. The first prefect of studies appointed under his rectorate was Pietro Tamburini, who afterwards became the leader of Jansenism at Pavia. During his prefectship he delivered his lectures on the Fathers which were afterwards published at Pavia. He had to leave the college after four years.
The rectorate of Cuccagni came to an end in 1798, when the college was closed by order of Napoleon; and thus we come to the close of another period in its history. During those twenty-six years it quite equalled its previous prestige. For, although its number of students was sometimes as low as three, it sent forth John Lanigan
John Lanigan
About him...
the historian, who promoted directly from being a student of the Irish college to the chair of Scripture at Pavia; Dr. Charles O'Connor
Charles O'Connor
Charles O'Connor was an American lawyer and politician in two midwestern states. He was born on a farm in Missouri but later moved to Colorado. He was the first Assistant Attorney General of Colorado, from 1911 to 1913...
, author of "Scriptores Rerum Hibernicarum" and several others works; James R. Clerigh, who never became a priest, but was a well-known Catholic leader in Ireland a century ago; Dr. Ryan, Bishop of Ferns
Bishop of Ferns
The Bishop of Ferns is an episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Ferns in County Wexford, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other bishoprics.-History:...
; Dr. McCarthy, Coadjutor Bishop of Cork; Dr. Blake, Bishop of Dromore
Bishop of Dromore
The Bishop of Dromore is an episcopal title which takes its name after the market town of Dromore in County Down, Northern Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church the title still continues as a separate bishopric, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other bishoprics.-History:The...
.
From 1826
Dr. Blake, who was the last student to leave the college at its dissolution in 1798, returned a quarter of a century later to arrange for its revival, which was effected by a brief of Pope Leo XIIPope Leo XII
Pope Leo XII , born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiore Girolamo Nicola Sermattei della Genga, was Pope from 1823 to 1829.-Life:...
, dated 18 Feb., 1826. He became the first rector of the restored college, and among the first students who sought admission was Francis Mahoney of Cork, known to the literary world as Father Prout. Having set the college well to work, Dr. Blake returned to Ireland, and was succeeded by Dr. Boylan, of Maynooth, who soon resigned and died in 1830. He was succeeded by a young priest,later Cardinal Cullen. Within two years of his rectorate he had forty students in the college; and to provide proper accommodations for the increasing numbers who sought admission, the present building with the Church of Sant'Agata dei Goti
Sant'Agata dei Goti
Sant'Agata dei Goti is a church in Rome, Italy, dedicated to the martyr Saint Agatha. It is currently the titular church assigned to Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, currently Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.-History:...
was given to the college in 1835 by Gregory XVI. Two years later Dr. Cullen purchased a fine country villa as a summer home, amid the olive groves which cover the slopes of the Sabine hills near Trivolli. Amongst the distinguished students who passed through the college during Dr. Cullen's rectorate were: Rev. C. P. Meehan; Dr. Edmund O'Reilly, S.J.; Bishop Croke; Cardinal Moran; Archbishop Dunne of Brisbane.
The heart of Daniel O'Connell is currently interred in a wall mounted memorial on the south aula or portico in keeping with his wishes that his heart belonged to Rome. The altar of the main chapel, which recently underwent major refurbishment, contains relics of a number of Irish Saints.
The College today
The Pontifical Irish College is located in Via dei Santi Quattro, #1. It serves as a residence for clerical students from all over the world. Every year over 250 Irish couples choose the college chapel as a means to marry in Rome. It organises events for the Irish and wider international community who are currently residing in Rome and has over the years become an unofficial centre for Irish and English speaking visitors to Rome seeking advice and information.The Rector of the Irish College, , is Mon. Liam Bergin, of the diocese of Ossory. The Vice-Rector is Fr. Albert McDonnell of Killaloe Diocese. Every Sunday morning there are Sacramental classes for local English speaking children preparing for their First Holy Communion and Confirmation which are conducted in English and Italian by the students of the college.
Important contemporary visitors to the college include Pope John Paul II, British Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, and Irish President Mary McAleese
Mary McAleese
Mary Patricia McAleese served as the eighth President of Ireland from 1997 to 2011. She was the second female president and was first elected in 1997 succeeding Mary Robinson, making McAleese the world's first woman to succeed another as president. She was re-elected unopposed for a second term in...
. The latter addressed the college on 6 November 2003, the 375th anniversary of the founding of the college.
The college produces an annual report, The Coelian.