Crescent College

Crescentes in Illo Per Omnia Growing in Him through all things
Address
Dooradoyle, Co. Limerick Munster, Republic of Ireland
Information
School type	Jesuit Secondary school
Founded	Originally 1565, refounded 1859 and 1971
Headmaster	Nicholas Cuddihy
Age range	12-18
Pupils	950
Slogan	Ad maiorem Dei gloriam
Website	http://www.crescentsj.com

Coordinates: 52°38′11″N 8°38′26″W / 52.63639°N 8.64056°W / 52.63639; -8.64056

Crescent College Comprehensive SJ is a secondary school located on a section of 40 acres (162,000 m²) of parkland at Dooradoyle, Limerick, Ireland. The college is one of a number of Jesuit schools in Ireland.

History

The first Jesuit School in Ireland was established at Limerick in 1565 by the Apostolic Visitor of the Holy See, David Woulfe SJ. Woulfe was closely related to the city's merchant aristocracy and it was probably for this reason that the city was chosen as a base for the Irish mission. However Limerick was a wealthy and fortified trading port, and geographically proximite to the independent Earldom of Desmond, where it was well known that the Jesuits were intriguing with the 13th Earl, James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald. The establishment of a Jesuit school at Limerick represented a significant challenge to the Irish Government of Elizabeth; but it also indicated the strategic importance of Ireland to Rome in its efforts to counter the Reformation in the Tudor Realms. The school at Limerick was the first educational mission of the Society of Jesus, designed to spearhead the Catholic Counter Reformation, and pre-dated the Jesuit missions to South America by some ten years.

Woulfe's cousin Edmund Daniel, a Jesuit scholastic, aided him in running the school. William Goode, an English Jesuit also worked there, and we know about the school from letters written by Goode which still exist. Goode was later to die of exposure while fleeing from the authorities with the Earl of Desmond. Daniel too came to an unfortunate end and having refused to take the Oath of Supremacy, was put to death at Cork on the 25th of October 1572. He became the Jesuit Order's first European Martyr and reports of his execution caused a stir in the Catholic parts of the Continent, and recorded in a number of contemporary woodcuts. However despite these setbacks the early school flourished; in 1565 the city Council decided that the masters should be paid an annual salary of ten pounds, but this money was not accepted as it was to be raised as a levy on ships entering and leaving the port. It was therefore decided that the education offered should be free, based only on voluntary contributions, and very much in the spirit of Ignatius's Roman College founded 14 years before. The earliest recorded example of a school play in Ireland was performed in this School on the Feast of St. John in 1566. Goode also records the curriculum offered and students were first instructed to read, and progressed to read selected letters of Cicero or the dialogues of Frustius. The students copied all the works, as there were no books. They studied catechism either in English, or in Latin for the Irish speakers. There were no holidays at the school, but students were withdrawn by their parents at harvest time. Classes took place in very confined space, and students could only attend class in rotation.

This school was situated near King John's Castle for much of its existence, though it occasionallly moved outside the city to Kilmallock to avoid the attention of the authorities during times of peril. A stone inscribed with a cross and the motto IHS, dated 1576, was taken from the Castle Lane Site to Dooradoyle in 1973. Despite the occasional and unwelcome attention of the authorities, particularly during the turbulent years that followed, the school was forced to close not for religious and confessional reasons, but due to the difficulties of the Jesuit Order elsewhere, and in 1773 it closed its doors for 86 years following the Papal suppression of the Society of Jesus. Following the restoration the Jesuits gradually re-established many of their schools throughout the country, and returned to Limerick in 1859, at the invitation of the Bishop of Limerick, Dr George Butler. This school was initially a Diocescan College and operated from premises in Hartstone St, however the Jesuits quarrelled with Dr Butler's successor and established their own school. The Jesuits had acquired Crescent House, a large city residence, from the Russell family in the early 1870s and it was rumoured that Mrs Russell, while in residence, had ordered all the curtins of the house closed so she wouldn't have to look upon the statute of Daniel O'Connell, recently erected in the middle of the Georgian Crescent.

The school at the Crescent, and the attached Chapel, were dedicated first to St Aloysius Gonzaga, but rededicated to the Sacred Heart in 1873, after the school chapel was enlarged and opened for public worship. This was the first church and school in Ireland dedicated to the Cult of the Sacred Heart, popularised centuries before in France by Claude de la Colombiere SJ. However despite this the Sacred Heart College popularly became better known as Crescent College, or 'the Crescent'. Crescent was a fee paying school catering in the main for the city's middle classes, however the Jesuits also ran a free school at Bedford Row, which later closed due to a lack of resources. In its early years Sacred Heart College struggled to survive in competition with the Bishop's school, and many students were lost to other boarding schools. However the arrival of a new generation of Jesuit teachers, notably Tom and Peter Finlay, brought a new vigour and prestige in the 1870′s, and in 1879 when the results of the first nation-wide Intermediate Examinations were published, a Crescent boy, Charles Doyle, obtained first place in Ireland. This was seen as a triumph for the school, and for all schools that received no subsidy from the government. Further innovations came in 1874 when the Rector, Fr William Ronan, invited a French Jesuit Colleague, Fr Jean Baptiste René, to establish an Apostolic College at the Crescent House as a seminary for men of little means. This proved a success but overcrowding necessitated that the Apostolic school relocate, which was later established as a Boarding School at Mungret with funds provided by the Earl of Emly. These schools were again to be joined together when Mungret College SJ closed and its teaching staff transferred to Crescent in 1974.

In the spirit of the early Jesuits, and the changing emphasis of the Post-Conciliar era, Sacred Heart College ceased to be a fee paying school in 1971. Many Jesuit schools in Britain had already become Comprehensive and it was proposed that the Crescent in Limerick, and Gonzaga in Dublin, would also become comprehsive schools. Negotiations opened in the late 1960s at the invitation of the Minister for Education, Donagh O'Malley, who had been a class mate at Sacred Heart College with the then Jesuit Provincial, Cecil McGarry SJ. The comprehensive scheme proceeded in Limerick only and this ushered in a period of significant reform and expansion under Fr Thomas Morrissey: the name Sacred Heart College was dropped and redesignated Crescent College Comprehensive SJ, in recognition of the popular name of the school. In 1971 Crescent House was found to be structurally unsound and overcrowded and some thought was given to a relocation to Mungret College. However instead the school moved to a modern greenfield site at Dooradoyle in 1973, and students and staff from Mungret joined the following year. Later Crescent became a co-educational school, with a ratio of 3 boys to 1 girl. The Primary School, which remained at Crescent House, was closed in 1978 as the Department of Education declined to allow boys an automatic right of entry to the secondary school. Crescent now sits in 40 acres of mature grounds and gardens landscaped by Fr William Troddyn and the late school gardener, P.J. Brennan. Fr Troddyn was introduced to professional gardening whilst a scholastic at Emo Park, and some of his hard work there still survives. Amongst the many trees, a mature avenue of copper beeches, and the thousands of daffofils that spring forth annually in May, are a fitting tribute to both men. The school also maintains a nature garden to attract wildlife to the campus and make students environmentally aware.

Today the school operates under the joint trusteeship of the Society of Jesus and the Minister for Education. Unlike other state schools the Jesuit Provincial enjoys a perpetual majority on the Board of Management, a privilege shared only with Protestant schools at Cork and Donegal redesignated as Comprehensives in the 1960s and 70s. The ethos is Jesuit and Catholic though most of the current teaching staff are lay-persons, with five Jesuit priests currently on the staff. In 2001 the School appointed its first lay headmaster. The current headmaster, Nicholas Cuddihy, was appointed in 2008.

The School continues a tradition of excellence in the fields of drama, debating, music and sport which are important dimensions of any Jesuit School. Girl's Hockey and boy's rugby are the main sports, though many others are offered. Rugby at Crescent blossomed from the late 1940s under the care of Fr Gerry Guinane, and in that time Crescent has had considerable success in the Munster Schools Senior Cup, constituting one of the big five rugby schools in Munster, and winning nine senior titles in the last 59 years, and many titles at junior level. The School is represented at club level by Old Crescent RFC, which is now an open club, but an important component of the Crescent tradition.

Crescent offers a six year curriculum, and classes are divided into 5 lines, each named after a Jesuit patron. Demand for places in the school continues to be heavily oversubscribed.

In June 2006 the Sacred Heart Church closed ending the connection of 150 years with Crescent House, from which the school took its name. A House of Prayer and Spirituality has located to the Jesuit Residence in Doooradoyle.

The school also has a strong tradition of national and international touring. Every year student tours depart from Crescent College to Delphi, Co. Galway; Recess, Co.Galway; Achill, Co.Mayo; Paris, France and Barcelona, Spain. Skiing and snowboarding tours are held annually at various skiing resorts throughout Europe. Crescent rugby, soccer and hockey teams have represented the school internationally in Prague, Holland, Japan, Australia, Spain, South Africa and many other locations. The schools surfing club now entering its fifth year has several annual outings to Lahinch, Co.Clare.

Male students who graduate from Our Lady of Lourdes primary school on Childer's Road are automatically offered a place at Crescent College.

A panoramic photograph of the school May 2006

Notable alumni

Amongst the past pupils of Crescent are:

• Joseph O'Mara, 19th century opera singer
• Mr. Justice John L. Murray, Former Attorney General of Ireland and current Chief Justice of the Irish Supreme Court
• Mr. Justice Joseph Finnegan, President of the High Court
• Mr. Justice Philip O'Sullivan, Judge of the High Court
• Mr. Justice Kevin O'Higgins, Judge of the High Court
• His Honour Judge Tom O'Donnell, Judge of the Circuit Court
• Bill Whelan, Riverdance composer
• Tom O'Donnell, Fine Gael TD and former government minister
• Richard Harris, actor
• Terry Wogan, BBC TV presenter
• Paul Canty, rugby player
• Peter Clohessy, rugby union international
• David Wallace, rugby union international
• Donogh O'Malley, Fianna Fáil TD and government minister
• Desmond O'Malley, founder of the Progressive Democrats political party and government minister
• Dermot Whelan, Comedian
• Tim O'Malley, Progressive Democrats TD and Minister of State
• Simon Carswell, Irish Times Finance Editor
• Richard Oakley, Journalist
• Andrew Dillon, Dean, School of Information, University of Texas at Austin
• George Clancy, Mayor of Limerick 1921
• Canon John Hayes, Founder of Muintir na Tíre
• Eoin Reddan, rugby union international
• Bryan Walsh, Director of Peter Pan 1960
• John Hayes Chaplain in World War I killed in action
• Gordon Wood (rugby player)
• David Wallace (rugby player)
• Matthew Potter writer and historian
• Eamon O'Flaherty writer and historian
• Conor Niland, tennis player

Crescent College in popular culture

• Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt's memoir of growing up in Limerick in the 1930s and '40s, references the school.

References

External links

• Crescent College SJ Web site
• Crescent College SJ Nature Garden
• Old Crescent Rugby Football Club
• Crescent College Hockey Web site