The Irish standard., 1907-04-13
The Training Ground of the Irish Priests
Throughout the Darkest Period Of
the Penal Days.
1t Was Erected in the Year 1776, Though
Its Origin is Said to Date From
the Sixteenth Century.

! commodation. DR.. Laurence Kelly,
; then Prefect of Studies. purchased a
house and garden, Rue de Cheval
Vert, subsequently Rue des Irlandais,
and built a college, since known as
the College des Irlandais. The stu
dents were collected into this college,
DR.. Kelly died in 1777, it is said un-
der the strain of the work of founding
and erecting the college, and was
buried in the chapel under the altar.
The institution founded by DR.. Kel-
ly flourished up to the stormy days of
the French Revolution. In 1890. when
all ecclesiastical property was con-
f1scated, DR.. Walsh, Administrator of
the Lombard College. presented to the
French Government a document signed
BY the. superiors Of the English, Irish
and Scotch colleges. protesting
against the law, aid: claiming an ex-
emption, as their property was not
French, but British; and purchased
with the property of British subjects.
A committee was appointed to inves-
tigate the matter. and fnscqnsequence
of a report presented to tie National
Assembly a decree was passed on Oc-
tober %, 1890, exempting these es-
tablishments from the operation of
the law. This decision is of the ut
most Importance in the light of pres
ent events.
The Reign of Terror" followed, and
it seems probable that the majority Of
the inmates Of the Irish and Lombard
Colleges sought safety in fight from
France. The College was visited by
the mob, and there is a tradition that
three students were killed. DR.. Kear-
ney, Superior of the Irish College, and
DR.. Walsh, remained in Paris to pro-
tect and preserve the property Of
Irish Catholics. DR.. Walsh gave ref
uge to a number of hunted ecclesias-
tics during the time of persecution.
The Irish College had narrow es-
cape from confiscation in 1893. when
a law was passed ordering the sale
of all property belonging to the sub
jects of nations at war with France.
The Irish establishments at Toulouse,
Douay, Lilly and Ivry, and the Church
: of St. Eutrope. Bordeaux, were sold
under this law, but for some unex-
planned reason the Colleges at Paris,
Nantes and Bordeaux were spared.
A few years later the College was
reopened under the control of the
Able McDermott, as an educational
academy, with nothing religious in its
! curriculum. In 1901 DR.. Walsh OBJ
tanned a decree from Napoleon, then
First Consul. re-establishing the Irish
and Scotch Colleges and at the same
time a bureau Of surveillance to take
charge of all foreign establishments.
In 1903 the English and Scotch Col
leges were united with the College
des Irlandais by this bureau. and Dr.
Walsh appointed Administrator. I'm
der his charge the College speedily at
tanned a high and respected position.
The war prevented the coming Of
Irish ecclesiastical students, but as an
educational establishment the College
hourished. After the fall of Napoleon
most of the burses, according to the
intention Of the founders. were re-
stored to the clerical students.
In 1918 a Royal ordinance was
passed abolishing the Irish Seminary
on the ground that the funds were in
adequate to the support of the insti-
tuition. In consequence of the strong
representations of Dr.. Walsh, this or
dinance was never put into force.
Subsequently to the Napoleonic
wars the various institutions which
were recognized by the French Gov
ernment as British property, claimed
in the usual way indemnity for losses
sustained during the ETeuch Rsvolu-