St. John's College, Waterford
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St John's College (or St John's Seminary) was a Roman Catholic seminary founded in 1807 for the diocese of Waterford and Lismore.


Foundation

The College was founded by Bishop John Power DD. It was one of many seminaries founded in Ireland following the reliefs of the penal laws by the
Catholic Relief Bill The Roman Catholic Relief Bills were a series of measures introduced over time in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries before the Parliaments of Great Britain and the United Kingdom to remove the restrictions and prohibitions impose ...
. The college was formed out of two schools one a classical school of Rev. Thomas Flynn DD, the other an Academy of Dr. Geoffrey Keating and the new college was located in Manor Hill in Waterford, originally a mansion of the Wyse family. In 1868 a new building for the college was built at John's Hill, the building was designed by the architect Mr.
George Goldie Sir George Dashwood Taubman Goldie (20 May 1846 – 20 August 1925) was a Manx administrator who played a major role in the founding of Nigeria. In many ways, his role was similar to that of Cecil Rhodes elsewhere in Africa but he did ...
from the London firm of Goldie and Child, the foundation stone was laid by the Rev. Dr. O'Brien Bishop of Waterford and a former president of St. John's.''Waterford & Lismore – A Compendious History of the United Dioceses'' by Patrick Power, M.R.I.A., D.Litt., Emeritus Professor of Archaeology, UCC, Cork University Press (1937) From its formation until 1873 when it became exclusively a seminary the college educated lay as well as clerical students, it maintains some lay teaching staff until 1878. Students would study, theology, philosophy, and humanities such as mathematics, Latin, Greek, and English. In the 1830s the college established a mission to
Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
in Canada, over the years the a number of priests trained would have served dioceses around the world, with about 250 serving in the United States.St. John's College, Waterford, Irish priests in the United States: a vanishing subculture
By William L. Smith.
In 1977 St. John's began offering Certificates and Diplomas in Philosophy and Theology validated by the Irish Governments National Council for Education Awards (NCEA) the forerunner of
HETAC The Higher Education and Training Awards Council ( ga, Comhairle na nDámhachtainí Ardoideachais agus Oiliúna) (HETAC), the legal successor to the ''National Council for Educational Awards'' (NCEA), granted higher education awards in Ireland b ...
and
QQI Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI; ga, Dearbhú Cáilíochta agus Cáilíochtaí Éireann) is the national agency responsible for qualifications in Ireland. It was established by the Oireachtas in 2012 following the amalgamation of the ...
.


People Associated with St John's


Presidents of the College

The first president of the college was Rev Thomas Murphy; others who served as president (or rector) of the college include * Rev Garrett Connolly V.G., * Rev Dr Nicholas Foran (1814–1818) * Rev Dr
William Abraham William Abraham is the name of: * William Abraham (Irish politician) (1840–1915), Irish Parliamentary Party Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons * William Abraham (trade unionist) (1842–1922), Welsh Liberal-Labour Member of Parl ...
(1824–1830), appointed Bishop of Waterford. * Rev James Patrick Cooke DD (1830–1834 and again briefly from 1853 to 1854 when he died), * Rev Dominick O'Brien DD (1834–1853), * Rev Michael Wall (1854–1855), * Rev Patrick Cleary DD (1856–1858) a brother of a former president, * Rev Patrick Delaney DD (1858–1873), * Rev
James Vincent Cleary James Vincent Cleary (18 September 1828 – 24 February 1898) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest and Archbishop of Kingston, Ontario. Biography Cleary was born on 18 September 1828, in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, Ireland, to Thomas and Ma ...
DD ( CUI) (1873–1876), he became Archbishop of Kingston, Ontario. * Rev Pierse Power (1876–1881), * Rev Joseph Austin Phelan (1881–1888), * Rev Roger O'Riordan (1888–1889), * Rev Canon William Sheehy DD (1889–1902), * Very Rev Canon William Walsh DD (1902–1910), * Rev Denis Whelan DD OSA (1910–1919), * Very Rev Canon William Byrne, STL DD (1919–1930), * Very Rev Canon John Kelleher, STL BCL (1930–1936), * Rev William Coffey (1936–19??), * Very Rev Canon Thomas Cassidy, * Right Rev Monsignor John Shine LCL, (1974–1980), vice-president (1971–1974) and Professor of Canon Law and Moral Theology * Very Rev Canon Martin Slattery (1980–1985) * Very Rev Michael N. O'Connor (1985–1994) * Very Rev Dr Michael Mullins PP, BD, STL, LSS, STD (1994–1998), Professor of Scripture (1975–1998) * Very Rev Paul Murphy PP


Students of St John's College

The Archbishop of Halifax William Walsh attended St John's, as did the Historian of Dr Patrick C. Power.Canon Patrick Power A Talk
by Msg. Michael G. Olden presented at Canon Patrick Power Seminar, WIT, 8 March 2012.
Irish language activist Professor Michael O'Hickey dismissed from Maynooth over his stance on the language, studied at St John's, as did the author, language activist and musician Father Risteard De Hindeberg. Dr
Tobias Kirby Tobias Kirby (1 January 1804 – 20 January 1895) was an Irish Roman Catholic priest and Bishop. Life Kirby was born in Tallow, County Waterford, Ireland, to David Kirby and Elizabeth Caplice. He was educated at St. John's College, Waterford ...
studied at St John's before going to Rome, where he went on to become rector of the Pontifical Irish College and an archbishop.
Patrick Joseph McGrath Patrick Joseph McGrath (pronounced ; born June 11, 1945) is an Irish-born American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of San Jose in California from 1999 to 2019 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdi ...
who became Bishop of San Jose in California. John Vaughan trained as a priest in St John's, he transferred to the Episcopal Church and was elected a
suffragan bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...
in 2012 for the Diocese of the Eastern United States. Bishop
Edwin Regan Edwin Regan (born 31 December 1935) is a Welsh prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the second Bishop of Wrexham from 1994 to 2012. Biography Edwin Regan was born in Port Talbot, and studied at St. John's Seminary, Waterford, I ...
of Wrexham also trained at St John's. Another bishop who commenced his priestly education in St John's (prior to going to Maynooth) was Bishop Michael Sheehan, he returned to St Johns's as a professor for two years. Bishop William Lee MBE of Clifton in England, was a student in St John's before continuing his training in Oscott. Bishop
Séamus Cunningham Séamus Cunningham (born 7 July 1942) is an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church in England. He was the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle in the north of England from 2009 to 2019. Biography Séamus Cunningham was born in Castlebar, Cou ...
of Newcastle and Hexham also trained in St. John's. The former bishop of Southwark, the Waterford-born Charles Henderson, studied at St John's. Lawyer John Hearne SC, who helped draft the Irish Constitution, studied at St John's before transferring to Maynooth. Archbishop of Toronto John Walsh was educated at St. John's before moving to Canada to complete his clerical training. The Rt Rev Edward Barron, who served as bishop of Liberia, studied at St John's, before going to Rome; he returned to St John's serving as a professor before becoming a bishop. Pat Buckley studied there from 1973 to 1976 and was ordained in the college on June 6, 1976, by the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Dr Michael Russell. The writer and editor of the Waterford News Edmund Downey and Irish Liberal Party MP for Waterford City
James Delahunty James Delahunty (24 July 1808 – 15 June 1885) was an Irish Liberal Party politician from Waterford. Born in Waterford, and educated at St. John's College, Waterford, Delahunty was chairman of the Waterford and Central Ireland Railway Company ...
were also educated at St John's. Bishop James Maher DD (1840-1905) of Port Augusta, Australia (1896-1905) studied Philosophy and Theology at St John's before being ordained in Maynooth. J. F. X. O'Brien, the Irish nationalist and Fenian, who served as an MP for Mayo and Cork city studied divinity in St. John's.


Closure

St. John's closed as a seminary in June 1999 due to the decline in vocations, with the 13 students transferred to other seminaries. A number of church and community groups used its lands and buildings, instead such as diocesan offices, Accord and Cura. The local Scouts have a purpose built facility on the grounds of the college. In 2007 the college building and some of the land was sold to the
Respond! Respond! is a housing association founded in Waterford, Ireland in the 1980s, by the Franciscan community there. Its mission was to provide housing for those with limited means such as young families and older persons. To date it has built over ...
Housing association, with a new pastoral centre being built for the diocese and opened in 2005St Johns Pastoral Centre
Diocese of Waterford and Lismore website


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint John's College, Waterford Catholic seminaries Former universities and colleges in the Republic of Ireland Education in County Waterford George Goldie buildings Educational institutions established in 1807 1807 establishments in Ireland Educational institutions disestablished in 1999 Seminaries and theological colleges in the Republic of Ireland Former Catholic seminaries