Cistercian College, Roscrea or Roscrea College is a private boarding school in Ireland. It is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

seven-day and five-day boarding and day school for boys, founded in 1905. Its pupil population is primarily made up of boarding students with some day students also attending. In May 2025 it was announced that from 2026 the school will become co-educational.

Location

Located within the grounds of Mount St. Joseph Abbey in

County Offaly County Offaly (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the Ancient Ireland, ancient Kingdom of Uí ...

, Ireland, 2.5 miles west of

Roscrea Roscrea () is a market town in County Tipperary, Ireland. In 2022 it had a population of 5,542. Roscrea is one of the oldest towns in Ireland, having developed around the 7th century monastery of Crónán of Roscrea, Saint Crónán of Roscrea, p ...

town, the school is managed by monks of the

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious o ...

branch of the

Cistercians The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

. Surrounded by open wooded countryside and thirty acres of grounds and sports fields, it also adjoins the abbey's farm of 360 hectares. While County Tipperary is in Munster, the school does not play in Munster competitions. This is because the original property and lands are Mount Heaton House (now the guesthouse) and demense in the townland of Ballyskenagh, which is actually in the territory of Ely O'Carroll in County Offaly (formerly Kings County). The house, school, abbey, farm and playing fields are just across the county border from County Tipperary, and so the school plays its sport in Leinster competitions. Roscrea is the nearest large town and so the postal address is Roscrea, County Tipperary.

History

The school was founded by the Cistercian monks in 1905 as a monastic

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

for boys and has educated students from all over Ireland and overseas. CCR is one of two monastic schools in Ireland and in 1990 a Board of Governors was appointed by the

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

to govern the administration of the college. In the 17th century, Dr Richard Heaton, a Yorkshire-born Church of Ireland clergyman and botanist, mortgaged the land, and his son Edward built the house on the remnants of a castle and renamed it ''Mount Heaton''. In 1877 it was in the ownership of the nationalist and Home Rule-supporting MP, the Catholic Count Arthur John Moore. Moore donated the six hundred-acre property, a mansion and its walled garden to the Cistercians. The Cistercians moved into Roscrea from their abbey at Mount Melleray in February 1878. The church, built using a foundation stone from Roman Catacombs in 1879 was finally completed in 1881.

Centennial

The college celebrated its centenary year from September 2005 until September 2006, giving rise to many events, visits and talks from notable past students and their connections. The speakers included;

President of Ireland The president of Ireland () is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The presidency is a predominantly figurehead, ceremonial institution, serving as ...

Mary McAleese Mary Patricia McAleese ( ; ; ; born 27 June 1951) is an Irish activist lawyer, academic, author, and former politician who served as the president of Ireland from November 1997 to November 2011. McAleese was first elected as president in 1997, ...

Dick Spring Richard Martin Spring (born 29 August 1950) is an Irish former Labour Party (Ireland), Labour Party politician who served as Tánaiste from 1982 to 1987, 1992 to November 1994, and December 1994 to 1997, Leader of the Labour Party (Ireland), L ...

Brian Cowen Brian Bernard Cowen (born 10 January 1960) is an Irish former politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 2008 to 2011. Cowen served as a TD for the constituency of Laois–Offaly from 1984 to 2011 and served in several ...

, Mary Hanafin and

Charlie McCreevy Charles McCreevy (born 30 September 1949) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services from 2004 to 2010, Minister for Finance from 1997 to 2004, Minister for Tourism and Trad ...

Closure risk and recovery

In February 2017 it was announced that the school would cease taking new enrollments due to financial difficulties caused by falling student numbers. However, following a public meeting attended by over 300 people, an action group made up of parents and past pupils was formed. The group was charged with raising funds to supplement the school's finances and developing a long term strategy to make the school self-sustaining again. Progress was made, and on 16 March 2017 it was announced that the school would remain open after funding was secured by past pupils and parents. Following on from the fundraising, donations from former pupils and financial changes which saved the school from closure, as of 2017 Cistercian College was to offer scholarships to students who excel in a number of academic subjects and sports to cover 50% of school fees.

Ethos

The influence of Abbey is an integral part of the college and daily life is influenced by the presence of the few remaining Cistercian monks. Though most of the school's current teaching staff are now lay-persons, a tiny number of Cistercian monks and brothers take part in the school's administration and

chaplaincy A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intelligen ...

. The college aspires to be a "Christian community of learning, a worshipping community with an awareness of the presence of God in daily life and in the preparation of pupils for adult life".

Extra-curricular activities

Yearbook and musical

Each year a musical is held, around the time of the mid-term break at

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

. It is a tradition going back to the founding of the school. The school yearbook is known as ''The Vexillum''. Referred to by the boys as ''The Vex'', it is produced annually towards the summer holidays and is usually distributed on the final evening before the last summer exams. It is compiled by the pupils. It contains reports on sporting and non-sporting events throughout the year, including the

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

and rugby campaigns and 6th year profiles.

Sports

Pupils have the opportunity to receive coaching and compete in a number of sports. Team games are served by the facilities that include: * Playing fields ( rugby,

gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

, and soccer) * An all-weather pitch * Heated indoor swimming pool * Basketball court * Tennis courts * Gymnasium The school's sports complex provides indoor facilities for a range of sporting activities. The main sports played are rugby and hurling during the autumn and spring and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

during the late spring and early summer. The school's sporting colours are black and white. The school has produced professional rugby players, county hurlers and representatives on the Irish athletics team including in

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...

and

hurdles Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today ...

. On St. Patrick's Day 2015, Cistercian College Roscrea's Senior Cup Team won the school's first ever Leinster Schools' Senior Challenge Cup. Roscrea are one of the oldest participants in the competition, going back to at least 1910, when they played in that years final. The school has a national and international reputation for sporting achievement. The students have access to a 9-hole golf course. A golf team participates each year in competition.

Horse riding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding ( Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...

is also undertaken in the college as well as

show jumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ar ...

, where students have represented the country at international competitions.

Debating and public speaking

Irish, English and German-language debating teams compete each year from Cistercian College. They have won several competitions, including the all-Ireland debating competition Comórtas a Phiarsaigh in 2010 and the GDI All-Ireland German Debating Competition in 2013 and 2019. In-house public speaking competitions take place each year, with the Silver Medal being awarded to the winner from Third Year, and the Gold Medal to the winner from Sixth Year.

Noted past pupils

* Conor Brady – former editor of ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' * James Creedon – reporter for ''

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'' * Michael Houlihan – former president of the

Law Society of Ireland The Law Society of Ireland () is a professional body established on 24 June 1830 and is the educational, representative and regulatory body of the Solicitor, solicitors' profession in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As of 2020, the Law Society ha ...

* Augustine Martin (known as "Gus" Martin) – senator, professor of Anglo-Irish Literature at UCD, broadcaster and scholar ;Politics * David Andrews – former Minister for Foreign Affairs * Barry Cowen – former

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine The Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and the Marine () is a senior minister in the Government of Ireland and leads the Department of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and the Marine. The current Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries a ...

, TD *

– former

Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

; Barry's brother *

– international rugby player; former

Tánaiste The Tánaiste ( , ) is the second-ranking member of the government of Ireland and the holder of its second-most senior office. It is the equivalent of the deputy prime minister in other parliamentary systems. The Tánaiste is appointed by the P ...

* Jim Glennon – international rugby player; former TD ;Sport * Gavin Duffy – international rugby player * Ciaran Gaffney – rugby player for

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

and

Zebre Zebre Parma (, meaning " Zebras") are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by t ...

Barry Glendenning Barry Glendenning (born 12 March 1973) is an Irish sports journalist who holds the position of deputy sports editor on the ''guardian.co.uk'' website run by UK newspaper ''The Guardian''. Glendenning was born in Birr, County Offaly and atte ...

– football journalist with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' * Jim Glennon – see "politics" * Séamus Hennessy – All-Ireland medallist with the Tipperary senior

team *

Willie Mullins William Peter Mullins (born 15 September 1956) is an Irish racehorse horse trainer, trainer and former jockey. He is a nineteen-time List of Irish National Hunt races, Irish National Hunt Champion trainer. Mullins is the most successful traine ...

– racehorse trainer and former jockey * Tadhg Leader – former rugby player and former place kicker for the Hamilton Tiger Cats * Seán O'Brien – rugby player for Connacht * Tiernan O'Halloran – rugby player for

* Dick Spring – see "politics" * Cormac Izuchukwu- rugby player for Ulster Rugby & Ireland ;Music * Filippo Bonamici aka Fil Bo Riva – musician

References

External links

Cistercian College, Roscrea
– official website
Mount St. Joseph Abbey, Roscrea
– official website {{Private schools in the Republic of Ireland 1905 establishments in Ireland Boys' schools in the Republic of Ireland Educational institutions established in 1905 Private schools in the Republic of Ireland Catholic boarding schools in Ireland Catholic secondary schools in the Republic of Ireland Roscrea Secondary schools in County Offaly Secondary schools in County Tipperary Trappist Order