Foundation Day at Maynooth College

Foundation Day: 20 April 2010
Saint Patrick’s College celebrates Foundation Day
on the week of 20th April each year.

Forty students and ten professors lived in the cramped conditions of Stoyte House during the first year of the College, 1795-1796. Stoyte House had been the home of John Stoyte, the land steward for the Duke of Leinster, who lived in Carton House.

Plans were prepared for the extension of Stoyte House, and the Foundation Stone for Long Corridor was laid by the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Camden, on 20 April 1796 in the presence of the four judge-trustees, officials of Dublin Castle, the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, the Duke of Leinster and the first President of the College, Rev Thomas Hussey.

The original house, before the renovations of the 1950’s

Each year the college celbrates Foundation Day during the week of 20th April. Some of the events of the week surrounding Foundation Day 2010 are listed below:
      - 20th & 21st April: The College Drama Group will perform Translations, by Brian Friel
      - 23rd April: The Irish Chamber Choir of Paris will perform in the College Chapel
      - 24th April: On Saturday a conference will be held on the Year of Evangelisation
      - 24th April: The Foundation Day Eucharist will be celebrated at 9.30 a.m.
                        in Saint Mary's Oratory, for the living benefactors of the College.
      - 25th April: Seminary Open-Day for Vocations Sunday
The two-story extension to Stoyte House was started in 1796, within a year of the College's foundation. Long Corridor as it was called, formed the first side of what was later to be Saint Joseph's Square. It was raised to three stories in the early 50's when the top story of Stoyte House was also raised.