St Stanislaus College (often called Tullabeg College) was a Jesuit boys boarding school, novitiate and philosophy school, in Tullabeg,

Rahan, County Offaly Rahan () is a parish and village in County Offaly, Ireland. It is associated with Mochuda (also known as St. Carthage). The village is located on the banks of the river Clodagh approximately 8 km from Tullamore. The parish of Rahan exten ...

. St Carthage founded a monastery of 800 monks there in 595 before founding his monastery in Lismore. The

Presentation Sisters The Presentation Sisters, officially the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, are a religious institute of Roman Catholic women founded in Cork, Ireland, by the Venerable Honora "Nano" Nagle in 1775. The Sisters of the congre ...

also have a convent in Rahan, Killina, which was founded at the same time (circa 1818) as the Jesuits founded St Stanislaus College.

Jesuits in Tullabeg

St Stanislaus College was founded as a boarding school for boys under the age of thirteen in 1818. It was endowed by the O'Briens, a local gentry family (Killina - also donated lands for presentation convent and school in Killina), and was intended to cater for upper middle class Catholics, as was the sister college at

Clongowes Wood College Clongowes Wood College SJ is a voluntary boarding school for boys near Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, founded by the Jesuits in 1814, which features prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Yo ...

where most of its pupils would graduate to. The lands were leased to Charles Aylmer from Maria O'Brien permanently. In the 1850s, the school was enlarged to take older boys.

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

was played at the school, the first pitch being laid under Delaney's rectorship and the facilities developed by Karl Wisthoff (1845-1937), a German Jesuit, were highly regarded; he also had the Grand Canal widened to allow rowing.Senia Pašeta ''Before the Revolution: Nationalism, Social Change and Ireland's Catholic Elite, 1879-1922''. Cork University Press, 1999.

University Preparation

While William Delany was rector 1876, similar to Carlow College and

St. Patrick's College, Thurles Mary Immaculate College, (MIC) Thurles is a third level college of education in Thurles, County Tipperary. Formerly a seminary, the college specialises in humanities courses in accounting, business studies, Irish and religious studies. History M ...

, students were able to be matriculated and examined by the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

for BA degrees. Following the establishment of the

Royal University of Ireland The Royal University of Ireland was founded in accordance with the ''University Education (Ireland) Act 1879'' as an examining and degree-awarding university based on the model of the University of London. A Royal Charter was issued on 27 Apri ...

in 1882 pupils would progress to the Jesuit UCD, students from Tullabeg, it was noted, achieved high marks in examinations for the Royal University.

Closure of the School

In 1886, the school was closed and the boys were transferred to Clongowes. This may have been because of a shortage of priests, as the Jesuit House in Dromore,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

closed the same year and

Mungret College Mungret College was a Jesuit apostolic school and a lay secondary school near Limerick, Ireland. Located on the western outskirts of the modern-day suburban town of Raheen, it was operational from 1882 until 1974 when it closed as a school f ...

in Limerick had just been established.

Jesuits Novitate

St. Stanislaus College was sometimes titled ''Domus Probationis et Studiorum Tulliolana'' (The House of Formation and Studies at Tullamore) by the Jesuits. In 1918, Tullabeg became a formation house for Jesuits novices, where it became affectionately known as "the Bog". Some Jesuits would serve their

Tertianship Tertianship is the final period of formation for members of the Society of Jesus. Upon invitation of the Provincial, it usually begins three to five years after completion of graduate studies. It is a time when the candidate for final vows steps ba ...

in Tullabeg, among its rectors, William Henry. In 1930 some 52 novices were transferred to the Jesuits in

Emo Court Emo Court, located near the village of Emo in County Laois, Ireland, is a large neo-classical mansion. Architectural features of the building include sash-style windows, pavilions, a balustrade, a hipped roof, and large dome. It was designe ...

, and Tullabeg catered for training Jesuits who had completed their university studies. In 1962 the philosophy school was transferred to Jesuit School of Philosophy in Milltown. It was subsequently a retreat house until shortly after Easter 1991, Brendan Murray was the last rector.

Rectors

* Robert St Ledger (1818-1831), first rector/superior came to tullabeg with the aim to open a novitiate and a school. * John Curtis (1834-1843), rector/superior * Patrick Bracken (1843-1850) * John Ffrench (1850-1855) * Joseph Dalton (1861-1865) - a former student, teacher and rector of Tullabeg * William Delany (1870-1880) - served as president of Catholic University of Ireland * Aloysius Sturzo (1880-1883) * George Kelly (1883-1886) * John Colgan (1888-1890) - master of novices, novitiate established * William Sutton (1890-1895) - became Rector of Milltown Park * James Murphy * Martin Maher * William Henry (1919-1927) * John C. Joy - Rector of the House of Philosophical Studies, Tullamore * Hugh Kelly (19??-1940) * Donal O'Sullivan (1940-1947) - rector of the philosophate at Tullabeg * Michael Connolly (1947-1953) * Brendan Lawlor (1953-1959), Professor of Cosmology and Biology (1940–1941 and 1953–1962) * Joseph O’Mara (13 October 1959 - 9 August 1962) * Kieran Hanley (1965-1972) - Superior of Tullabeg and Assistant in Parish. * Brendan Murray (1986-1991) – last rector, ministered in parish.

After the Jesuits

The public church was always well attended by congregations right up until it closed. The Novena to St Francis Xavier each Autumn and the Novena to The Sacred Heart in June drew very large crowds. Confessions were held every Saturday all day until the day it closed due to shortage of priests. The building and grounds remained closed for a while before being bought by a local builder and used as a nursing home and a 9-hole golf course. Since then, due to problems with an external investor, the nursing home was closed, and, for a while, the golf course remained, but it too closed a while after. During the time the premises was under administration, it was placed under the care of a British security company who failed to secure the property properly. As a result, it was plundered and vandalised with lead taken off the roof, et cetera. It was bought since by two people from the Midlands. The building is now boarded up but the 9-hole golf course did reopen but has since closed with a new club house and a coffee shop built. There was a restaurant and a bar named The College Bar with the bar and driving range remaining open as of March 2012. Kevin A Laheen has written a detailed history of the college called the Jesuits in Tullabeg, either 3 or 4 volumes. The college, as it was known locally, was the spiritual heart of the area. Fr Hyde was a priest who lived in the college in the early to mid 1900s. He is said to have successfully prayed for the cure of several people and people still pray to him today. The chapel at Tullabeg with its seven

Evie Hone Eva Sydney Hone RHA (22 April 1894 – 13 March 1955), usually known as Evie, was an Irish painter and stained glass artist.Nicola Gordon Bowe (May 2009)Hone, Eva Sydney (1894–1955) ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', online editio ...

windows was one of the glories of Irish religious art of the twentieth century. They are now housed in the Jesuit Residence at

Manresa House, Dublin Manresa House is a retreat centre run by the Society of Jesus in the Dollymount area of Clontarf in Dublin, near Saint Anne's Park. In the 19th century it was home to Robert Warren and Arthur Guinness, and it is a protected structure.

. The altar was designed by the architect Michael Scott with carved altar front by Laurence Campbell. The altar is now in Mucklagh Catholic church.

Cemetery

The Jesuit Cemetery is beside the rear avenue entrance on the clara side of Rahan. 42 Jesuits and one lay college worker are buried there. All remains were left there after the Jesuits departed. Headstones were removed at one stage making the exact location of burial places matching headstones marking them as being unreliable. There was a plaque erected for 8 Jesuits buried in the older Rahan graveyard before the establishment of the Jesuit Cemetery in 1874.

Notable former pupils of the school

Matthias McDonnell Bodkin Matthias McDonnell Bodkin (8 October 1850 – 7 June 1933) was an Irish nationalist politician and MP. in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Anti-Parnellite representative for North Roscommon, 1892–9 ...

, journalist and MP * Sir William Francis Butler, lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, and adventurer, he also served on the National University of Ireland Senate. *

James Laurence Carew James Laurence Carew (1853 – 31 August 1903) was an Irish nationalist politician and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. A member of the Irish Parliamentary Party and later a Parnellite, he was MP for Nor ...

, Nationalist MP * Joseph Dalton - returned to Tullabeg as a teacher, and served as Rector (1861–65) before going to Australia, where he founded a number of Churches and Schools. *

Richard D'Alton Williams Richard D'Alton Williams (8 October 1822 – 5 July 1862) was an Irish physician and poet, "Shamrock" of the ''Nation''. Life He was born in Dublin, son of James and Mary Williams, who came from Westmeath. He grew up in Grenanstown, a townland ...

- Young Irelander, poet and contributor to the Nation. *

Michael Louis Hearn Michael Louis Hearn (1866 – 1 May 1931) was an Irish Nationalist Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for South Dublin, 1917–18. He was the son of T. Hearn of Dublin and was educated at Tullabeg College and at Ratcliffe College, Le ...

- Nationalist MP for South Dublin (1917-1918). *

Edmund Leamy Edmund Leamy (1848 – 10 December 1904) was an Irish journalist, barrister, author of fairy tales, and nationalist politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as memb ...

, editor of United Ireland, the Parnel supporting Nationalist MP (Waterford City, Cork North East, South Sligo, and North Kildare) * Jack Meldon, solicitor, Irish cricketer, TCD cricket champion and Irish billiards champion. * Nicholas O'Cono (1843–1908), a British diplomat, served as Ambassador to Russia and Turkey. * Sir Michael O'Dwyer, British colonial administrator and Governor in British India. *

Patrick James Smyth Patrick James Smyth (Irish name O'Gowan or ''Mac Gabhainn''; 1823/1826 – 12 January 1885), also known as Nicaragua Smyth, was an Irish politician and journalist. A Young Irelander in 1848, and subsequently a journalist in American exile, fro ...

, Young Irelander, Nationalist MP, friend of

John Mitchel John Mitchel ( ga, Seán Mistéal; 3 November 1815 – 20 March 1875) was an Irish nationalist activist, author, and political journalist. In the Great Famine (Ireland), Famine years of the 1840s he was a leading writer for The Nation (Irish n ...

. * Thomas Joseph Tobin, barrister and cricketer for Leinster and Ireland.Thomas Joseph Tobin
StatsZone, Cricket Europe

Notable Jesuits who trained at Tullabeg

Francis Browne Francis Patrick Mary Browne, (3 January 1880 – 7 July 1960) was a distinguished Irish Jesuit and a prolific photographer. His best known photographs are those of the RMS ''Titanic'' and its passengers and crew taken shortly before its sin ...

, spent two years as a novitiate in Tullabeg, famous for his photographs of the Titanic. * Stephen Brown,. *

Patrick G. Kennedy Patrick G. Kennedy SJ (1881–1966), was an Irish Jesuit priest, naturalist and ornithologist. He was responsible for creating Ireland's first nature reserve at Bull Island in Dublin in 1931.

(1881–1966), Jesuit priest, naturalist, and ornithologist. *

Lambert McKenna Lambert McKenna S.J. ( ga, An tAthair Lámhbheartach Mac Cionnaith) (16 July 1870 – 27 December 1956) was a Jesuit priest and writer. He was born Andrew Joseph Lambert McKenna in Clontarf, and studied in Europe. He collected and edited rel ...

, teacher, academic, social thinker, trained at tullabeg. * Michael Morrison, entered Tullabeg in 1925, became a teacher and British army chaplain in the second world war at the liberation of Belsen. * John Sullivan, commenced his novitiate in Tullabeg in 1900. * Joseph Walshe, trained as a jesuit in tullabeg, left jesuits in 1915 became Secretary, Department of External Affairs, Irish Free State, 1923–1946

People associated with the school

Others associated with Tullabeg include W. H. Grattan Flood who taught music there as well as at Clongowes. The Jesuit and poet

Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame placed him among leading Victorian poets. His prosody – notably his concept of sprung rhythm – established him as an innovato ...

is known to have visited Tullabeg, and stayed there on retreat in his final year, and his notes from this retreat are very negative and pessimistic.Gerard Manley Hopkins, County Kildare and Monasterevin
Gerard Manley Hopkins Archive, UCD.

Thomas A. Finlay Thomas Aloysius Finlay, S.J. (1848 – 1940) was an Irish Catholic priest, economist, philosopher and editor. Early life He was born on 6 July 1848 near Lanesborough, the son of William Finlay, an engineer, and his wife Maria Magan; the p ...

, a priest, writer, editor and economist, taught for a year at the college. Peter James Kenny who founded Clongowes was instrumental in the establishment of Tullabeg. William Sutton served as rector from 1890 to 1895. Theologian

John J. O'Meara John J. O'Meara (18 February 191512 February 2003) was an Irish classical scholar, historian of ancient and medieval philosophy (in particular Augustine and Eriugena), educationalist and writer. Biography John J. O'Meara was born in Eyrecourt ( ...

taught in Tullabeg. Others who spent time in Tullabeg include Fergal McGrath, Edward Coyne (founder of the Catholic Workers College/ National College of Industrial Relations) and historian Francis Shaw. The former confederate chaplain in the American civil war

John Bannon John Charles Bannon (7 May 1943 – 13 December 2015) was an Australian politician and academic. He was the 39th Premier of South Australia, leading the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party from a single term in opposition ba ...

ministered at Tullabeg in 1880, after he returned to Ireland and joined the Jesuits. Alfred Murphy served as Rector of Tullabeg. Donal O'Sullivan who was chairman of the

Irish Arts Council The Arts Council (sometimes called the Arts Council of Ireland; legally ga, An Chomhairle Ealaíon) is the independent "Irish government agency for developing the arts." About It was established in 1951 by the Government of Ireland, to encour ...

was rector of the college in the 1940s, and commissioned works by Evie Hone.

References

External links

St Stanislaus College, History
- Tullybeg Golf Club. {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Stanislaus College Boys' schools in the Republic of Ireland Jesuit secondary schools in Ireland Secondary schools in County Offaly Educational institutions established in 1818 Educational institutions disestablished in 1886 1818 establishments in Ireland 1886 establishments in Ireland