History of the College

There was still not enough space. In the 1840s it became politically expedient 'to do something for Ireland', and part of that 'something' was a building grant of £30,000 for Maynooth. It was the height of the 'Gothic Revival', and its leading exponent, A.W.N. Pugin, was chosen as architect. He chafed at the financial constraints, but produced three sides of 'St. Mary's Square' in plain thirteenth-century Gothic. While it dominates the humbler earlier buildings, it is much plainer than Pugin's dream. His greatest grievance was that funds did not run to a College Chapel.

The Irish Catholics had by now begun the building of new churches, some in an ornate Gothic style. Yet the chapel of the national seminary was still a hall in the north end of Long Corridor, regarded as temporary when it was first used in 1800. But there were still more urgent needs, notably a new infirmary, built to the north of Pugin's buildings in the 1860s. It looks like a Gothic sanatorium and tuberculosis was certainly in the minds of those who commissioned it. It has recently been remodelled (2002) as the headquarters of the commissions and agencies of the Irish Bishops' Conference.

The Chapel, to be built by public subscription, was initiated by Charles W. Russell, President from 1857 to 1880. A distinguished scholar and administrator, he is perhaps most widely remembered as the friend and confidant of John Henry Newman, who said of him that 'he had perhaps more to do with my conversion than anyone else'. The architect was J.J. McCarthy, Professor of Architecture at the Catholic University. The foundation stone was laid on 20 October 1875, and it was finally opened for worship on 24 June 1891. It is in French fourteenth-century Gothic, more ornate than Pugin's buildings, but still restrained. It may perhaps be too dominated by the massive tower and spire, added a decade later.

The architect for the interior was William Hague but the guiding spirit was Robert Brown, President from 1885 to 1894. They were not free of the perennial problem, of having 'to do much with little means', but the outcome was an unqualified success. In a large complex of plain and generally utilitarian buildings, a visit to the College Chapel can hardly fail to be a genuinely religious experience.

The greatest contributing factor is, inevitably, the stained glass windows. It was not a great period for glass, but the cumulative effect is impressive - the great Rose Window centred on Christ the King in glory, and the row stretching down the nave and round the apse depicting scenes from his public ministry. They were supplied by three firms, Mayer from Munich and Lavers and Westlake and Cox Buckley and Co. from London. N.H.C. Westlake of the first of these London firms gave a 'pre-Raphaelite' feel to the interior with his Stations of the Cross and the great heavenly procession of saints and angels that fills the ceiling (the panels were designed by Westlake and executed by a Dublin artist, Robert Mannix). This praise swelling towards the altar is echoed in the floor, where a psalm-verse in a marble mosaic calls for perpetual praise of the Lord. The massive organ was built by Stahlhut of Aachen. A most impressive feature, rivalling even the light from the stained glass, is the row upon row of carved oak choir-stalls that fill the whole church. Their detail does really suggest the medieval craftsmen, except that here it was produced by a Dublin firm, Connollys of Dominick Street. The five apse chapels are a notable feature of the design. The central one, the Lady Chapel, has mosaics depicting the life of Our Lady, carried out with Italian glass by Earley Studios of Camden Street. The complex of buildings at Maynooth had been substantially completed by about 1900. The architecturally undistinguished Aula Maxima was built in the 1890s, the equally undistinguished but more unexpected swimming pool in 1903, one of the very first in Ireland.

Academic Development

The student body fluctuated between five and six hundred, all of them of course seminarians preparing for the priesthood. Authority to confer degrees came slowly enough to what, by the standards of the time, was a large 'third-level' institution. In the centenary year 1895 a petition was sent to Rome for authority to grant degrees in theology, philosophy and canon law, and this was granted in 1896. The thorny problem of civil university education acceptable to Catholics was resolved by the Irish Universities Act of 1908. There was provision for Maynooth to become a 'recognised college', and this began to function in 1910, with faculties of Arts, Science, Philosophy and Celtic Studies. In 1966 it was decided to open the College courses to religious and laity, and student numbers grew. There are now about 5,000, of whom only a small minority are studying for the priesthood. Legislation in 1997 established the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, as a totally separate body. Its main developments are to the north of the road from Maynooth to Kilcock, but it maintains a significant presence in the older heritage buildings.

The Latest Years

Here a few noteworthy recent developments may be listed. A new library was opened in 1984. Named the John Paul II Library, its main door faces a bronze statue by Imogen Stuart of the Pope with Irish youth. This is surrounded by the 'heritage wall' recording the names of benefactors. Near the main west door of the College Chapel is a bronze statue of Our Lady Queen of Angels, a gift to honour the many Irish priests who have worked in Los Angeles. It was dedicated by Cardinal Roger M. Mahoney on 3 October 1991. St. Mary's Oratory, in the Pugin buildings, had been allotted to the senior students in the1850s, over the protests of Nicholas Callan, who claimed that he had been promised the large hall as a laboratory. The plain space was slightly embellished after it had been gutted in the fire of 1 November 1878, but it remained utilitarian despite the insertion of two genuinely distinguished stained-glass windows in 1939. They survived an unfortunate refurbishing in the name of liturgical renewal, and remain a chief glory in a total and happier reordering carried out to mark the new millennium. This renewal was made possible with a generous grant from the St. Joseph's Young Priests Society. The Oratory is adorned with works of art by Patrick Pye (Transfiguration), Imogen Stuart (Madonna and Child), Ken Thompson (St. Joseph, Altar, Ambo, Chair), Kim en Joong, O.P. (non-figurative) and Benedict Tutty, O.S.B. (Tabernacle and Cross).

Finally, there is the bicentenary garden, located in St. Mary's Square, designed to symbolise man's spiritual journey towards God. It really should be taken slowly and reflectively. A detailed leaflet is available.

<< Previous