Search Results for 'Society of Jesus'

The possible use of the former secondary school, St Aloysius College, as a hub for Ukraine nationals arriving into Athlone has been mooted by Deputy Mayor, Cllr Aengus O’Rourke.

St Ignatius College’ on Sea Road opened its doors for the first time in 1862. The Jesuits built a residence and a church at the same time and the move proved to be a success for them. Attendances at Mass and ceremonies grew rapidly. The college, however, was more of a challenge. The boys ranged in age from nine to 13 and the subjects taught included mathematics, Latin, Greek, and elocution. The numbers at first were as expected. They grew steadily to 90 in 1865 and reached 110 by 1874, but they began to fall thereafter and were inconsistent from year to year. The number recorded for 1899 was 49. 

The annual Mass in memory of deceased members of the Jes school community will take place this Sunday, November 29.

The Jesuits have been working in Galway since the early 1600s. Even before then, men from the west of Ireland had been joining the order. It was the policy of the order at the time that only priests with a fluency in the Irish language would be sent to work in their native areas.

On this day, July 31, in 1863, “The new Church of St Ignatius on the Sea Road in the vicinity of the city was dedicated by the Most Rev Dr McEvilly, Lord Bishop of Galway. Sea Road is one of the most fashionable and frequented thoroughfares in the suburbs of our city. The Church, which was commenced in 1861, is now complete with the exception of the organ, altar and some minor internal decorations; and we have no doubt the zeal of the faithful will only require such a desirable opportunity of enabling the Jesuit Fathers, whose excellent judgement in these matters is fully acknowledged, to complete the required improvements, and that nothing shall be wanted which the good taste of the architect can suggest to make everything perfect. The Church is built of hammered limestone ashlar work in courses. The south gable, or principal front, the spire and the quoins, dressings etc, being finely punched and the depths of the jambs and arches of the principal doors and windows, which are richly moulded, adds greatly to its appearance. The Church, which is Gothic in style, is in the form of a Latin Cross, 115 feet in extreme length, 36 feet wide and 70 feet across the transepts, 56 to the ridge and 110 to the top of the spire”.

In 1962, the Jesuit community in Sea Road celebrated the centenary of their school, and the following year they celebrated the centenary of the Church of St Ignatius. Eamon de Valera, who was president of Ireland at the time, attended the church celebrations, and our photograph today shows some of the students of the bunscoil applauding his arrival.

Ms Avril Forrest took her first religion class in the Jes when the school chaplain Fr Derek Cassidy was on sick leave. Famine in Africa, and how the West should respond, was the issue of the day. The class unanimously insisted that the Vatican should sell all its assets, and give the money to relieve world hunger.

There is historical evidence to show that there were Jesuits working in Galway in the early 1600s. Even before that, men from the west of Ireland were entering the Jesuits which indicates that their reputation had arrived here very shortly after the Order was founded. They had a chequered history here (as they had in the rest of the country) in that they were banished several times, but they kept coming back.

Eamon Gilmore, Labour Party leader, on behalf of The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, has this week launched a new online education initiative designed to engage young people in some of the critical social issues facing Ireland today, such as human rights, poverty, inequality, homelessness and crime.

THE POEMS Gerard Manley Hopkins left us when he died in 1889, have a stylish gloom which makes him strangely representative of the more thoughtful type of Roman Catholic.