An important educational establishment

The following is a historic piece reflecting on the history of St Patrick's College in Cavan, which celebrates its 150th anniversary this week...

The Kilmore Diocesan Synod, which was held in October 1834 during the episcopacy of Bishop James Browne, was the beginning of a period of great pastoral reform in the Diocese of Kilmore.

Thirty-seven years later, on May 23, 1871, when Nicholas Conaty was Bishop of Kilmore and this period of reformation was coming to an end, Cardinal Paul Cullen, Archbishop of Dublin, laid the foundation stone of the new St Patrick’s College in the townland of Cullies, just outside Cavan Town. St Patrick’s College replaced St Augustine’s Seminary (also known as the Kilmore Academy) on Farnham Street, which was established by Bishop Browne in 1839. The new college opened on March 12, 1874.

On that historic day, 83 students – all boarders - moved into the building even though construction was not yet complete. The new college could accommodate about 100 boarding students and was built at a cost of £11,176.

The college was designed by the well-known architect, William Hague Junior; while his father, William Senior, was awarded the contract. The cut stone for the building was taken from Ross Quarry near Oldcastle, Co Meath. The original Hague building, the present-day Kilmore Diocesan Pastoral Centre, has remained virtually unchanged structurally since then. In the intervening years, St Patrick’s College became an important and distinguished educational establishment within the diocese and further afield.

For the first 12 years of its existence, the College provided an education for clerical students studying for the priesthood and a secondary education for boys. A total of 39 students were ordained to the priesthood for the diocese and the foreign missions between 1877 and 1886. One of those ordained from the College on December 18, 1881, was Patrick Finegan, a native of the parish of Urney and Annagelliff (Cavan), who later went on to join the staff of the College in 1885 and served in a number of parishes in the diocese before being consecrated as Bishop of Kilmore in 1910. He died in office in 1937.

In 1886, the college ceased to be major seminary and was opened to day students for the first time.

In 1913, the first recorded appearance of a St Patrick’s College football team was a challenge game against an Antrim senior team played at Wattlebridge, Co Fermanagh, on August 16 that year.

In 1928, a college team played in the MacRory Cup, the Ulster Colleges Football Championship, for the first time.

In 1935, St Patrick’s College recorded its first win in the MacRory Championship in its history.

College teams would subsequently win another 11 MacRory titles and were finalists on another eight occasions. St Patrick’s College won the Hogan Cup, the All-Ireland Colleges Gaelic Football Championship, in 1972.

In 1939, construction began on the New Wing, a five-storey building (including a basement block) which consisted of new living accommodation, classrooms, science rooms, and study hall. This wing was demolished in 2012. The ambulatory was built in 1955.

In 1964, the number of boarders reach a peak of 241. The number of day students began to rise rapidly in 1967 with the introduction of free post-primary education in the country.

In 1968, the St Killian’s Wing was built to fulfil the need for additional classroom space. The building of the Assembly Hall was completed in 1970, the same year when, for the first time, the number of day students exceeded the number of boarders. New basketball courts were opened in the early 1970s with a new Sports Complex beside the outdoor handball alleys opening in 1979. The College celebrated its centenary in 1974. Then President of Ireland, Erskine Childers, visited the college to mark the occasion as did Cardinal William Conway, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All-Ireland, the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Gaetano Alibrandi, other bishops as well as national and local public representatives.

In 1985, St Augustine’s Wing, a new block consisting of classrooms, laboratories, art room and music room, was opened.

Student numbers reached 720 in 1995, an all-time high up to this time. Of these, 104 were boarding students.

With less than 80 boarders, it was decided in 1998 that boarding in the College would be phased out over two years and finally end in June 2000.

Work on the new St Patrick’s College began in late 2010. A state of the art €9 million, Government-funded, new school was completed in September 2012. Its facilities, educational and sport, were greatly enhanced by the very generous additional funding provided by the Diocese of Kilmore.

The new College was officially opened on May 7, 2013, by the then Minister for Training and Skills, Ciarán Cannon and was blessed by the Bishop of Kilmore at that time, Most Reverend Leo O’Reilly, after whom the Sports Hall in the new building was named.

Over the decades, as the building evolved, so too did the provision of education.

The last 40 years has seen a broadening of the curriculum, away from the classical academic education, to one where technical and business subjects are available. In conjunction with the opening of the new college building, the Board of Management planned the introduction of Home Economics and Metalwork/ Engineering as new subjects.

Two further subjects, Computer Science and Leaving Cert Physical Education, have been added in recent years.

The college now has the broadest possible curriculum with 22 option subjects available to study at Leaving Certificate. Student choice is prioritised, allowing them to follow a course of study that suits their abilities and interests.

The Board continues to ensure the best facilities are available to the students.

In recent years, with the assistance of the ‘Friends of St Pats’ initiative, it renovated the handball complex and the assembly hall.

Since 2012, enrolment in the college has steadily risen from 550 to 770 students. In the 2024/25 school year the college will exceed 800 students for the first time. The increase in the school population reflects the modern Ireland, with 23 different nationalities attending.

Fifty five full-time teachers, one Special Needs Assistant, office staff, caretaking staff and supervisors instil a culture of high expectations (Ad Meliora - To Better Things) each day. Academic performance is still prized and a holistic view of education is promoted and evident in the college. Excellence in sports, music and the Arts is enthusiastically pursued.

The college is rooted in the community, supporting many worthy causes, local businesses and its facilities are used by local sporting clubs and voluntary organisations.

St Patrick’s College opened in 1874 to serve the people of Cavan and the Diocese of Kilmore. One hundred and fifty years later, it continues to do so.

Catholic education continues to be relevant and thrive. The founding fathers, and those that have nurtured it since, can be proud of what they built.