Canon Patrick Rogers MRIA, D.Litt., was an Irish

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

priest of the

Diocese of Down and Connor The Diocese of Down and Connor, ( ga, Deoise an Dúin agus Chonaire) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Northern Ireland. It is one of eight suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of the me ...

, an ecclesiastical historian, author and educationalist. He spent much of his professional life as Principal of St. Joseph's College of Education, a male only teacher training college in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

which merged in 1985 to become St. Mary's University College, Belfast.

Professional life

Rogers was born in Rawalpindi, India and educated at St Malachy's College, studying for the priesthood in

St. Patrick's College Maynooth St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth ( ga, Coláiste Naoimh Phádraig, Maigh Nuad), is a pontifical Catholic university in the town of Maynooth near Dublin, Ireland. The college and national seminary on its grounds are often referred t ...

and was ordained there in 1929. Having excelled at history he was sent for post graduate study and in 1934 his thesis was published as ''The Irish Volunteers and Catholic Emancipation 1778 - 1793'' with an introduction by Eoin MacNeill He was appointed to the staff of St. Malachy's College in Belfast and taught history there his appointment as the first principal of St. Joseph's College of Education at Trench House in 1947. Among the students who passed through the College while Rogers was on the staff, or later still Principal were,

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Brian Friel Brian Patrick Friel (c. 9 January 1929 – 2 October 2015) was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. (subscription req ...

, Seamus Mallon,

Mickey Harte Mickey Harte (born 1952) is an Irish Gaelic football Manager (Gaelic games), manager and former player. He has been manager of the Louth county football team, Louth county team since 2020. Harte managed the Tyrone county football team, Tyrone ...

and the former Chief Executive of Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Brian Ferran. A flavour of the College in the 1960s, under Rogers, was given in a Canadian account of Heaney teaching there; "it doubled as a cross between a medium secure prison and a Trappist monastery." Another former student recalled him as am "austere man....with a dry sense of humour underneath his uncompromising, strict and forbidding appearance." Rogers, always a heavy smoker, died in October 1969 and was interred in ''Priest's Row'' in Milltown Cemetery.

Works

*''The Irish Volunteers and Catholic Emancipation 1778 - 1793'' 1934 *''Old St. Mary's'' 1941 *''Father Theobald Mathew: Apostle of Temperance '' 1945 *'' War Diaries'' - unpublished and retained at St. Malachy's Collegehttps://www.olavertylibrary.org/collections

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Patrick 20th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests 1969 deaths Year of birth missing People associated with Queen's University Belfast People from Rawalpindi Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth Heads of schools in Northern Ireland 20th-century Irish historians 20th-century Irish male writers