REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY McALEESE AT THE SEMINAR IN THE PONTIFICAL IRISH COLLEGE
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY McALEESE AT THE SEMINAR IN THE PONTIFICAL IRISH COLLEGE, ROME
Dia dhíbh a cháirde. Tá an-áthas orm bheith i bhur measc inniu.
Good evening everyone. It is a very great pleasure for me to be here with you all today as we celebrate the 375th anniversary of the foundation of the Irish College – or as it has been known since 1948 - the Pontifical Irish College in Rome. As many of you will know I have been here at the College for the past few days and I am so grateful for the warmth of the welcome extended to both Martin and I by everyone, not least this evening.
During the dark age of Penal Laws, we know that a network of some 35 Irish Colleges sprang up across Europe from Lisbon to Prague, providing centres of learning where Irishmen could study. This was of course at a time when that opportunity was denied to them at home. Four of these colleges still survive, all of them here in Rome and they serve to remind us of the many great minds which Ireland produced in those dark times - names such as Luke Wadding, the founder of two colleges, St Isidore’s and the Irish College and St. Oliver Plunkett, who studied at the Irish College and taught at Propaganda Fide before returning to Ireland.
The century in which the Irish College was founded was indeed a dark one in Irish history. It was the century in which the old Gaelic aristocracy, bearers of tradition, which exemplified an important independent strand of Indo-European tradition, received its deathblow with the battle of Kinsale, the later Cromwellian conquest and final defeat at Limerick. Through the grim times of the Penal Laws, hundreds of Irishmen made their way to the network of Irish colleges on the continent of Europe to study and receive their religious formation over two centuries. Those who came to
Rome to study were particularly privileged since at the time of the foundation of the Irish College, Rome besides the centre of Christianity was also the centre of Western art, the city where the baroque movement had originated and developed. The patronage of Popes, Cardinals and nobles had made of Rome the pre-eminent centre of art in the Europe of the time. Ireland’s best and brightest were immersed in a world of remarkable sophistication and for them great freedom. It was in this world they found the courage and the vision to believe Ireland’s misery could be transcended.
If we pause and reflect on the situation of those students who came to Rome during that early period of the College’s history, we can imagine a world in which contrasting emotions dominated their imagination. On the one hand they must have felt sad and anxious for the parents and relatives they had left behind and whom they might not see again, in the oppressed, defeated, island of their birth - their fervour to achieve the aim of their vocation would have been tempered also by the obligation to swear that they would return to Ireland to preach their traditional faith in a dauntingly hostile political environment. The elegiac words of 17th century Munster priest and scholar, Seathrun Ceitinn (Geoffrey Keating), in his poem “Mo Bheannacht Leat, A Scribhinn” spring to mind:
Mo Bheannacht Leat, A Scribhinn,
Go h-Inis Aoibhinn Ealga
Trua nach leir damh a beanna
Ge gnath a teanna dearga
May my blessing go with you, my manuscript,
to the sweet island of Ireland.
It's a pity I cannot see your hills
so often topped with flame.
On the other hand, they must have been inspired and thrilled by the splendour of
the city in which they were sent to study, where the works of Bernini, Bramante, Michelangelo and Caravaggio, for example, were still new and some were even then in the course of completion. But these were dedicated, studious men, not likely to be distracted from their avowed mission and they included in their ranks outstanding scholars such as Wadding himself. Many returned to Ireland and had to spend much of their ministry in hiding or in prison. For more than a few their lives ended as martyrs on the gallows, like St. Oliver Plunkett.
Eventually, the prohibitions on Catholic education in Ireland relaxed. From 1795, it was possible for Irishmen to study for the priesthood at home and gradually the Irish colleges on the continent began to disappear. The particular character of the Eternal City was such that the four Irish colleges here survived and flourished throughout the 19th century. They built up and have passed on a valuable heritage. The oldest of them, Luke Wadding’s foundation of St. Isidore’s, contains a valuable library of rare books and was a great centre of learning at the time of Wadding. Up to the time of the Risorgimento, it housed a significant collection of Irish manuscripts which are now in the Franciscan house in Killiney. Its historic library wing here is, I am glad to say, in the course of much-needed repair and restoration, with assistance from the Irish Government. The Augustinian college was destroyed in the Napoleonic upheaval but was reborn later and today St. Patrick’s stands as the Irish National church in Rome. The Dominican college occupies one of the most important archaeological sites of Rome, San Clemente, with links to Nero’s Rome, the Mithraic cult, the old church with links to Gregory the Great and a chapel with some of the earliest examples of Renaissance art in Rome.
The Pontifical Irish College was, however, always considered the pre-eminent college of the Irish in Rome and, although its location changed more than once, the site of its original foundation is still today known as Via degli Ibernesi. It was here that Daniel O’Connell’s heart found its final resting place. Although Irishmen could study for the priesthood at home since the 19th century, it was perhaps in this period that the Irish College reached its greatest importance as its rich archive testifies. This is an important collection of documents, including the correspondence of the Bishops in Ireland and elsewhere with Rectors of the College, who included Paul Cullen who served as Rector here for 17 years before returning to Ireland to become Ireland’s first Cardinal, Tobias Kirby who was Rector for 41 years and John Hagan, who was such an influential figure during the period of Ireland’s emergence into independent statehood. This archive has been described as one of the most important private collections of the history of the 19th century in the English-speaking world.
Throughout its history, graduates of the Irish College reached the highest positions in the church at home. More recent students include Dom Columba Marmion and the present Archbishop of Armagh, Dr. Séan Brady, who was rector here ten years ago when I first visited the Irish College.
All four colleges in Rome have survived into the 21st century and are adapting to the changed circumstances. Besides its basic religious and spiritual dimension, the Irish College provides an important service to the many Irish visitors who have always been attracted to Rome. It is the chosen venue for large numbers of Irish men and women who come here every year to marry and for hundreds of ordinary Irish people who find here in the summer a welcoming home away from home. It is a lively meeting place for the Irish community in Rome with annual concerts and plays by the students and it has been the centre of a number of important historical seminars in recent years.
St. Patrick urged the Irish to be Christians and Romans as well – ut Christiani ita et Romani suis. His exhortation, which is also the motto of the Irish College, has been realised in an exemplary manner by the number of high quality students who have benefited in the past 375 years from all that the College has to offer. Their education here has enriched Ireland. They brought Ireland to Rome and Rome to Ireland in a complex web of lived lives, each committed to the great Gospel commandment to love one another. I remember the first time I came here - a stranger, no VIP, and as soon as I stepped inside the door I felt and was made to feel completely at home. Part of Ireland’s heart and hearth is here. Long may it continue to make Ireland as proud as it has made us these past 375 years.
Gura fada buan sibh. Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.