Holy Ghost Schools

The Spiritan Education Mission

In Ireland education has been our main contribution to the Church and society.

On October 29, 1859 three French Spiritan priests and one brother arrived in Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire) and so began the Irish Province. The opening of Blackrock College in 1860 began the Spiritan involvement in education in Ireland. The Congregation is committed to education today and into the future through the setting up of the des Places Educational Association. To visit our schools' web sites just click on the red bullets points to the right.

The first school to be established in Ireland was Blackrock College, founded in 1860 by Fr. Jules Leman. The original intention had been that the Irish foundation would be confined to recruiting members for the Holy Ghost Congregation. However, Fr. Leman, following the Congregation's tradition of openness to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, soon saw the great need for secondary education in Ireland. He also felt that the Congregation should not only take from the Christian community in Ireland, but should contribute to it in a spirit of service.
This was followed in 1864 by the opening of Rockwell College which also combined a secondary school with a junior seminary for future members of the Congregation.By virtue of their concern for high educational standards, both colleges soon gained a high reputation for their contribution to Irish education.

Blackrock College was even affiliated to the Royal University for a time. A third college, St. Mary's, was opened in Ireland in 1890 at Rathmines, Dublin. It closed in 1916 but reopened ten years later.
The Irish colleges promoted a global vision of education. Almost from the beginning, Irish members of the Congregation were active in education abroad. As early as 1862 a newly-professed Brother, John Carey (Brother Francis Joseph), was teaching English in Chandernagore, near Calcutta. He taught in a trade school staffed by Brothers which the Congregation had founded in a spirit of concern for the poor. Another example of service to education abroad was Fr. Patrick William Power whose first appointment was to Chandernagore. He next served in Mauritius and in Trinidad before being appointed President of the newly-opened Holy Ghost College in Pittsburgh, later to become Duquesne University.

Education 1926-2001
Under successive Superiors General, the same values have guided the many educational undertakings of the Congregation worldwide. The scope of these undertakings has been on a massive scale, particularly from 1926, when Archbishop Louis Le Hunsec became Superior General.

Ireland
In Ireland, St. Michael's College was founded in 1943 and Templeogue College in 1966.
Missions dependent on the Irish Province of the Congregation played a leading part in the expansion of educational undertakings, bringing to young people in the developing countries wider horizons and increased opportunities for personal development.