IRISH
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IRISH
education. It became necessary, tlierefore, to seek
education abroad, and many colleges for the training
of the secular clergy were founded on the Continent,
at Rome, in Spain and Portugal, in Belgium, and in
France. The history of the Irish college and of the
other Irish establishments at Rome is dealt with in spe-
cial articles (see Irish College, The, in RoiMe, etc.).
That of the other Irish colleges on the Continent may,
for the sake of order, be given in separate sections,
according to the countries in which they existed.
In Spain and Portugal. — Salamanca. — The most famous of the Irish colleges in Spain was that of Salamanca, founded, at the petition of Father Thoma.s White, S.J., by a decree of Philip III dated 1592, and opened in 1593 with the title: El Real Colegio de Nobles Irlandeses. The support of the students was provided for by a roj'al endowment. The discipline and management of the college was entrusted to the Jesuit Fathers at Salamanca, an Irish father holding the office of vice-rector. The Jesuits continued to govern the college until the order was expelled from Spain in 1707. Since that date the rectors of the college have been selected from amongst the Irish secular clergy, presented by the bishops of Ireland and confirmed by the King of Spain. Dr. Birming- ham was the first rector after the departure of the Jesuits. Dr. Curtis, subsequently Archbishop of Armagh, held that office from 1781 to 1812, and rendered valuable service to the Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War. In more recent years Dr. William McDonald, of the Dioce.se of Armagh, Father Cowan, of Dromore, Father Bernard Maguire, of Clogher, have been rectors. That office is at present held by the Very Rev. Michael O'Doherty, D.D., a priest of the Diocese of Achonry. The Iri.sh college at Salamanca was open to students from all the provinces of Ireland, but in the seventeenth century the majority of them came from the southern and eastern provinces. It was made cause of com- plaint that Father White, S.J., was unwilling to receive students from Ulster and Connaught, and the exiled Irish chiefs, O'Neill and O'Donnell, presented a remonstrance on the subject to the King of Spain. The students attended lectures in the famous Uni- versity of Salamanca, and the college was the nursing mother of many eminent Irish ecclesiastics. Dr. Curtis of ."Vrmagh, Dr. Murray of Dublin, Dr. Kelly of Tuam, Dr. Laffan, and Dr. Everard of Cashel were all alumni of Salamanca, the last four being fellow- students. Xt present the Irish students at Sala- manca number about thirty, and attend lectures at the diocesan seminary which has taken the place of the theological faculty of the ancient university. The college is supported chiefly by ancient endowments, which are subject to the control of the Spanish Government.
Seville. — -\bout 1612 a college for Irish students was established at Seville, and managed by secular priests, one of whom was Theobald Stapleton, who afterwards died a martyr in Ireland, being stalibed while administering Holy Communion. In 1619 Father Richard Conway, S.J., was appointed rector. When he entered upon office, the personnel of the college — superiors, students, and servants — amounted to eighteen. They suffered much from poverty. Their condition moved many to compassion. The fishermen at Seville obtained an indult from Pope Paul V, permitting them to fish on six Sundays and holidays each year in order that they might give the profits of their labour for the support of the Irish students. For the same purpose Irish merchants at Seville granted to the college a percentage on every cask of wine they sold. Soldiers of the Irish Brigade in the Spanish service gave a portion of their pay. With such aid the college continued to e.xist and was able to send every year two priests to the Irish mission. One of the students of the college, Dom-
inic Lynch, became professor in the University of
Seville. In 1769 the Irish college at ScvUle, with all
its goods, rents, and rights, was, by royal authority,
amalgamated with that of Salamanca.
Madrid. — In 1629 a college for Irishmen was founded by Father Theobald Stapleton, who has already been mentioned in connexion with the college at Seville. The number of students varied from ten to twenty, supported by the charity of benefactors. The college served as a hospice for those Irish eccle- siastics who, having completed their studies, came to the capital to claim the bounty of £10 which the King of Spain had granted to Irish students in the Peninsula, to enable them to return to Ireland. In 1677, Dr. James Lynch, .\rchbishop of Tuam, resided for some time at Madrid and succeeded in restoring the college to greater prosperity. But eventually it was closed, and its property lost to the Church in Ireland.
Alculd. — In Alcald, anciently Comphdum, famous for its university, and for its polyglot edition of the Bible, an Irish college was founded in 1590, by a Portuguese nobleman named George Sylveira, a descendant, through his mother, of the Macdonnells of Ulster. He bestpwed on the college an endow- ment of the value of £2000, and, at a cost of £1000,, built a chapel dedicated to his patron, St. George.! At Alcald there were four masters, twenty students, and eight servants. This ancient college has long since ceased to exist.
Santiago de Compostela. — In 1605 a college for Irish ecclesiastics was founded at Compostela. Philip III bestowed upon it an endowment of £100 a year. It was under the direction of the Jesuits. In 1671 there were six students. At the conclusion of the phi- losophy course all went to Salamanca for their theo- logical studies. In 1769 the property of the Irish college at Santiago de Compostela was amalgamated ■ with that of the college at Salamanca.
Lisbon. — Besides the colleges in Spain there existed also an Irish establishment at Lisbon. The college was founded bv Royal Charter in 1593, imder the title: CoUegio de Estudiantes Irlandeses sub invoca- ?aon de San Patricio en Lisboa. Like the other Irish colleges in the Peninsula it was placed under the management of the Jesuits. The celebrated Stephen White, S.J., was one of its earliest pupils. During the great earthquake which almost destroyed the city of Lisbon in 1755, the Irish college and its in- mates suffered no injury. Not long after it suffered from the malice of men. In 1769 it was closed and confiscated by Pombal, under the pretext that it was a Jesuit establishment. But in 1782 an Irish secular priest. Dr. Michael Brady, succeeded in having the college restored to the Irish. Dr. Brady was suc- ceeded in the office of rector by Dr. Bartholomew Crotty, subsequently President of Maynooth, and Bishop of Cloyne. Dr. Crotty held the office of rector from 1801 to 1811. During his tenure of office an invitation was addressed by Dr. John Bap- tist Walsh, rector of the Irish college in Paris, to the students at Lisbon, to come to his college in Paris, an invitation of which the bishops of Ireland expressed their disapproval. The number of stu- dents in the Irish college at Lisbon in the eighteenth century was from twelve to fourteen. During the French Revolution it increased to thirty or forty, to. fall again to fourteen after 1815. Dr. Burke, Arch- bishop of Tuam; Dr. Talbot, Dr. Russell, and Dr. Carpenter, Archbishops of Dublin; Dr. Verdon, Bishop of Ferns, and Dr. Kelly, Bishop of Waterford, were Lisbon students. During the civil wars in Portugal, in the nineteenth century, the college was closed, and has not since been reopened.
Besides the colleges for the education of the secular clergy at Lisbon there was also a convent of Irish Dominican Fathers, and a convent of Irish Dominicaa
