Blackrock College

Blackrock College (Irish: Coláiste na Carraige Duibhe) is a Catholic, voluntary, fee-paying secondary school for boys, located in Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland.

The College, set in 56 acres (227,000 m²) of parkland on the broad sweep of Dublin Bay, lies four miles from the city centre of Dublin. Founded by the Roman Catholic Congregation of the Holy Spirit in 1860, Blackrock College was the first of the Order's five schools in Ireland and is run by the Congregation in close co-operation with a dedicated group of lay personnel. It accommodates approximately 1000 day and boarding students (with a majority of day students).

Willow Park School, a private primary school that acts as the College's principal feeder, is also run by the Order and is situated on the same campus. Until the early 1970s, St. Michael's College in Ballsbridge was also a feeder school for Blackrock College, but St Michael's now has classes up to the Leaving Certificate.

Overview

Known originally as The French College (because it provided a broad French style of education), Blackrock College was founded in 1860 by Père Jules Leman, CSSp, and other French members of the Holy Ghost Order with a dual aim - namely to train personnel for missionary service in countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia, and provide a first-class Catholic education for Irish boys, something not widely available at the time. In response to changing circumstances, a highly successful Civil Service training department and university college were established (as University College, Blackrock) and flourished for some 40 years in the Williamstown Castle part of the College. When public examinations at secondary level were introduced, Blackrock College was seen to excel. Though founded by a wholly clerical team, lay personnel were soon introduced – their numbers increasing over the years, as finances permitted. As of 2005, there are extremely few clergy remaining in the teaching staff itself, coinciding with declining numbers of priests in religious orders in Ireland in recent decades.

The College has a strong sporting tradition, particularly in the field of rugby football - as of 2005, it has held the prestigious Leinster Schools Senior Rugby Cup 64 times, including the competition's inception in 1887. A wide cultural education is also emphasised, with the peaks of these being the annual Leman Festival Concert (presented by staff and students in the National Concert Hall in Dublin) and dramatic productions.

The spiritual and missionary aspect of the school's inception has been maintained, despite the worldwide decline of new clerics in the Catholic church. Many charitable causes are supported by the students; most notably the school is behind the annual St. Patrick's Day Badge appeal which raises large sums of money throughout Ireland for the Irish charities GOAL and Aidlink. Bob Geldof, initiator of the Band Aid and Live Aid movements for famine relief in the 1980s, was a student at the college, although he often said that he hated his time there. Another student was Frank Duff, the founder of the main worldwide Catholic lay movement, the Legion of Mary.

The Des Places Educational Association, as College Patron, maintains the Spiritan ethos in all five schools – Blackrock, Rockwell, St. Mary's, St. Michael's and Templeogue – conducted by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit in Ireland.

Notable alumni

• Barry Andrews
• Shane Byrne
• Rory Carroll
• Tim Pat Coogan
• Eamon de Valera
• Frank Duff
• Dave Fanning
• Bob Geldof
• Rowan Manahan
• John Charles McQuaid
• David McWilliams
• Pádraic Ó Conaire
• Liam Ó Flaithearta
• Ardal O'Hanlon
• Brian O'Driscoll
• Brian O'Nolan
• John O'Shea
• Ruairí Quinn
• Fergus Slattery
• Ryan Tubridy

This article is licenced under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Blackrock College".