Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-23
COLLEGE OF MAYNOOTH
Main Theological School, OF
Roman Catholics in ireland.
STUDENT EXPENSES LIGHT
Over $500 Priests and Prelates Have
Been Educated There.
DIR. HUSSEY FIRST PRESIDENT
Foundation One Of the Results of the
French Revolutionists' Persecu-
ton of the Church.
DR.. HUsSEY FIRST PRESIDENT
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.

Snerial COrrespondence of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
MAYNOOTH. Ireland. July Is. 1905
Two-thirds and perhaps as many as
three-fourths of the Roman Catholic
priests in Ireland were educated at the
College of Maynooth. which turns out
one hundred and fifty or more earnest.
Jealous. able young clergymen every year
and is the most conspicuous and inf1uen-
tial educational institution in Ireland.
Comparatively few of the graduates go to
the United States. DR.. Hogan. professor of
modern languages and literature, to whom
we had a letter of introduction and who
showed us about. explained that nearly
all of the Irish priests who emgrated to
America were educated at the Missionary
College of "All Hallows," near Dublin,
for the United States is still counted as
a mission field by the holy see and is un-
der the Jurisdiction of the project of the
propaganda of the holy faith at Rome.
There are. however. quite a number of
Maynooth graduates in America. and
during the recent visit of Cardinal Logue
they gave a dinner in his honor in New
York.
DR.. Hogan is a man of imposing ap-
pearance and great learning. and withal
a genial companion. He took us through
the buildings, which are spacious and sur
rOun0 TWO large QudOTdnSleS. 1Hey are
built of stone. four stories In height, are
entirely modern and fitted up with all
the convenences and accessories that be-
long to an up-to-date institution of learn
ing The chapel is also modern, built
within the present generation and en-
tirely conventional. 1t is not large
enough to accommodate all of the stu
dents and the underclassmen attend mass
elsewhere.
Beyond the second quadrangle is
campus of seventy acres of lawn and
garden and grove where five hundred
young men We're engaged in taking their
daily supply of fresh air and exercise
when we passed through the archway.
Almost every kind of game was gong on,
from croquet to foot ball. There were
several cricket contests in progress; 9TH
ers were playing at hockey and basket
ball; others were on the track, running.
and the lazy ones were lying stretched
out on the velvet grass.
There are now 562 students. nearly all
of them theologs. and 100 graduated this
summer. They come chiefly from Ireland,
a few from Irish families in England a
few more from Australia, but at present
there is no representative of the United
States. When l asked a group of young
men how they got along without any
Americans. one of them illustrated the
quick wit of his race by replying,
promptly:
I'VE hope never to have them here, sir:
they are altogether too smart for us. If
world"
But the Irish are running America"
suggested.
Student Expenses Light.
It costs very little to get an education
at Maynooth. The fees are smal-S2O
for matriculation, S25 for tuition. $50 a
year for board and other small fees for
electric light, rent of furniture, etc,
which brings the total up to about S2ej
year. There are 21O scholarships. which
have been founded by friends Of the in
stitution and societies in the different
parishes, and pay an average of $50
year.
There is fine library with 10000 vol
umes and gymnasium and everything
else that is needed.
The ancient Castle of Maynooth. built
by the Earl of Kildare in 1927, stands at
the gateway of the college and occupies
the site of the original stronghold of the
family built in 11t6 by the first Maurice
Fitzgerald, who came over with Strong
bow at the time of the conquest. 1t Is in
ruins now. 1t has been in ruins since
1647 and a beautiful ruin it is-one of
the largest and most picturesque in the
kingdom.
Until 1895. when the centenary OF May
nooth College was celebrated, 5000 priests
and prelates of Irish birth had been edu-
Gated within the walls of that mother of
love and OF fear and of knowledge and
of holy hope, as her alumni call her
And now the number exceeds 800 Most
OF them have been. and those now living
are still. doing pastoral work in Ireland
and nearly two thousand of the alumni
have gone abroad into the United States.
England. Scotland, Australia. South Afri-
ca and other English-speaking countries.
During the first three quarters of the
eighteenth century, and for several hum
dred years before. Catholic education was
prohibited in Ireland. but 1t was not pos
sible for the British authorities to prevent
young men from crossing the sea. and
during the sixteenth and seventeenth CEN
turtles a number OF Irish colleges were
founded in the peninsula in France and
in Flanders. and there most of the Irish
priests of that long period received their
education. 1t has been often asserted
that the Catholic faith might have disap-
peared in Ireland but for the ardent piety
and ambition of these young students
who found the preparation they needed
for parish work from the Irish faculties
of divinity schools on the continent In
1875. at the time Maynooth College was
founded, about four hundred young Irish
men were attending such institutions and
in 1903 a printed report names twelve
colleges. with AS Irish students.
Foundation of the College.
Most of these institutions were in
France and they were closed and desc
Grated by the French revolution. which
eXpeIleQ tnelr inmates, prOldneQ their al
tars and confiscated their possessions
The Irish bishops, in consequence. found
themselves confronted with an alarming
situation. The foreign supply of priests
was entirely cut off and the laws of par
Lament prohibited their education at
home. In this extremity they applied TO
the government asking permission to
found seminaries for educating young
men to discharge the duties of Roman
Catholic clergymen in the kingdom. VIII
liam Pitt, then prime minister. per-
suaded that II safer for England to
grant this request than 10 permit the
young Aiests to imbibe the hatred of
England and the democratic and revolu-
tionary principles that pervaded society
on the continent. Edmund Burke and
Earl Fitzwilliam acted in behalf of the
bishops. and the latter were instructed by
til. prime minister to supervise the estab-
Nshment of the new institution.
DR. HuSSey. the confidential agent of
the English government in Dublin was
appointed the first president. He is de-
sCribad a scholar. statesman dipIo-
matist and orator: he had a checkered
and eventful career: he undertook many
things and excelled in them ALL He was
a fellow of the Royal Society a preacher
of remarkable power and the intimate
friend OF such statesmen as Edmund
Burke He had the confidence OF VIII
liam Pitt and was the trusted agent of
prime IS and statesmen. He was a native
OF County Meath, was educated at the an
Gent university OF Salamanca Of Spain
and originally entered the Trappist mon