The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-06-15
C''0ll.l]'IEGB N A YN00TH
:0entsaniat qoI the ersat Coolest animal
lnstttuttsa Occurs rh1s n 5i b
Month.

RI 4 f32 B. Month. 75s
FAIoUs IRISH ALMA MATER
An Interesting skston Of lis Endow
msnt, It's Beauties ana ~
It's 0lories. i *s.5,.$
. More than one American prelate and
priest Will take part III the celebration
which is to be held this month at the
famous Irish seminary of Maynooth, in
| commmemoration-o of the completion Of
the first century of Its existence. For in
to be found a number of prelates, and
! in those of the American priesthood a
far larger number Of clergymen who
made their theological studies at May
| nooth, and Of those ecclesiastics those
who can, though they will be compare
lively few, will cross the ocean to re-
joice with their alma mater in her CEN
tennial celebration, while the others will
be there in spirit on the June days that
witness the completion of the first nun
dred years Of her age. :
The royal college Of Maynooth; was
founded in 1895 at the request Of Catho-
lie prelates of Ireland, who had, the year
previously, through Archbishop Troy,
then the incumbent of the ses Of Dublin,
petitioned the govenrnet for the estab-
lishment Of a school wherein the eecle-
siastical students Of Ireland mightsecure
theological instruction and cease to be
compelled, as they were then, to go to
Europe for their divinity studies. In
this petition the Irish hierarchy asked
the lord lieutenant of Ireland, who was
then the Earl of Westmoreland, to con-
slider, among other things. that the
Catholic clergy of Ireland, who instruct
the people in moral duties, and minister
to them religious rites, have never been
reproached with disaffection or with ir-
regular conduct, but have been praised
for teaching obedience to the laws and to
deserve well Of the,State. That the
means the bishops hitherto had for :edu-
eating their clergy were the continental
colleges, particularly in France, in which
they constantly maintained about 400
students. Through the anarchy prevail
ing there at present these colleges are
necessarily destroyed. Even ii lawful
authority were to be soon restored the
loss is irreparable, for the revenues could
not be easily recovered. Besides, the
bishops would not expose their youth
to the contagion of sedition and infidel-
ity, nor their country to the danger of
introducing the pernicious maxinls of a
licensious philosophy @s.....,>s,5 III
& These arguments should have pre-
vailed at once with the British authori-
ties. but it is doubtful If they would
have secured the establishment. of May
nooth had others not been added to them.
Probably the man who; did the most to-
ward making Maynooth an established
fact, and in wrestling a grant for it from
the government, was the ecclesiastic
who was chosen the first president of the
college. He was Meath man, Rev. DR..
Thomas Hussey, who, in 1896, succeeded
Bishop Egan in the united sees of Wat
erford and Licnore, which he held up
to the time of his death in 1903. The bill
for the founding and endowment Of May
noOth was introduced into Parliament
and read TO the first time April "a, 1795,
the official report of that days proceed.
ings declaring that "Mr. Secretary Pei
ham presented "a bill for the better ed
ucation of persons protesting the Popish
or Roman Catholic religion, which was
read for the first time" The second
reading took place four days later, on
May 6, the bill had its third reading, and
passed the house, and a week afterwards
it went through the lords, and, in due
season, secured the royal assent. = BY
the provisions of the bill the trustees
the college were to consist Of the lord
chancellor, with three chief; Judges, six
Catholic peers, ten bishops and the pres
ident. A board of visitors was also pro-
vided, not altogether Catholic; but the
Catholic doctrine of discipline was
The first. meeting of::the trustees took
place In the cLancellor's chambers; the
house of lords, June 4, 1876, and the; fol-
lowing Irish diylnes took part in its de-
alterations: Most Rev. Drs Troy, O'Reil-
", Bray and Egan, the archbishops of
Dublin, Armagh, Tuana and Cashel;
Bishops Moylan, Plunkett, McDeyitt, De-
laney, Egan and French, and Rev. DR..
Hussey, who was to become the first
president of the college. The question
Of selecting site for the new institution
was the first to demand attention, and
according to the writer In the Irish Ec-
Record Of IL years ago,
.'Howth, Wicklow, and great many
other places were proposed as appropri-
ate localities. but finally the proposal OF
the duke Of Leinster, conveyed in q let
ter to DIR. Troy, was accepted. This
offer rendered to the trustees the resi-
dence of gentleman which stood ada
cent to the Geraldine Keep that the an
cient College Of St. Mary's, that had been
over two centuries before,
together with 81 acres of land: and the
terms proposed were very reasonable |
ones. ], The college may be said to: date
from June rs, 1896, when DR.. Hussey
was chosen its frstsrector and voted "a
salary OF 100 glineas a year. Two days
later DR.. Francis Power, of the Cloyne
diocese. was elected vice president, at a
salary Of f70 annually i. and the same
sum was awarded to the following pre-
ressors: DR.. Maurice Ahearne, dogmatie.
theology; DR.. Clancy, sacred scriptures;