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Edmund Rice

1762–1844

 

In 1993, Pope John Paul II declared Edmund Rice, the founder of the Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers, to be a man of heroic virtue - the first step on the road to his canonization as a saint.  Among all the Irishmen of his day and since, Edmund Rice has affected more people than can be imagined through the foundation of these two Irish teaching orders as a force in education worldwide.  'Educate that you may be free' was a maxim of the Irish patriot Thomas Davis.  Edmund Rice helped to make this a reality.

      He was born at Westcourt near Callan, in County Kilkenny, and into a well-connected family on 1st June 1862.  His father was a prosperous farmer, so he did not lack either material comfort or an education.  He received his early education at a 'hedge school', an informal school often in the open or in a cottage, for the children of Catholics living in the Callan area.  Having gone on to a commercial academy in 1777 at Kilkenny as a preparation for a business career, he went to work in Waterford in 1778 with his uncle, who died and left him the business.  He married Mary Elliott, the daughter of a Waterford merchant, in 1785.  His great wealth did little to cushion the shock of his wife's death in 1789, when she fell from her horse while out hunting.  The child she was expecting was born prematurely and disabled.

      Her death was the turning point of Rice's life.  Having made ample provision for his daughter Mary, he now decided to retire from business and devote himself to charitable work.  At first he thought he might go to Europe and join an enclosed order.  One day he called on his friend, Fr John Power.  While they were talking they heard the shouts of young boys fighting in the street outside.  Power's sister remarked, 'Well, Mr Rice, you are thinking of burying yourself in a monastery on the Continent.  Will you leave these poor boys uncared for?  Can't you do something for them?'  He realized then that a truer vocation lay at home, helping his own people.

      In 1796 Rice sought permission from Rome to create a religious society which would provide the poor with free education, and he helped establish a Presentation convent for girls in Waterford in 1798.  With the approval of the church authorities in Rome and Ireland, he opened a school for poor boys in Waterford in 1800.  Rice was joined by two companions, and they began to live as a community in rooms over the school, which was in a converted stable.  Then, in 1803, they moved into a specially-built school and monastery called Mount Sion.  The town itself was a prosperous seaport with glass and other industries, with a thriving trade to Newfoundland, the United States, and the West Indies.  Nevertheless, in the midst of plenty, it also had its poor.

      This first venture was a success; other schools followed, but the arrangements for their control were unsatisfactory.  Yet, from the success of the schools sprang a congregation of men (approved by the pope in 1820) called the Institute of the Brothers of Christian Schools of Ireland.  These men were not priests like the Jesuits or other teaching orders, but unordained brothers who nevertheless took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.  As Rice saw it, they were there to serve a pressing need.  However, they faced opposition from Bishop Daniel Murray of Cork, which led eventually to the creation of another congregation, the Presentation Brothers.

      In 1829 came Catholic emancipation, which would open up many new opportunities for young Catholics to advance their careers.  But it had the rather absurd consequence of bringing with it a new penal law to provide for 'the gradual suppression and final prohibition' of male religious orders.  This did not apply to the Jesuits and others, but did apply to the brothers.  Rice and his colleagues found they were in an illegal situation, but though there were some difficulties, in the end the regulation proved a dead letter.

      The introduction of the National School system in 1831 provided another problem for the brothers.  Though some of their schools at first joined the state system, it proved unappealing and controversial, and eventually Rice withdrew.  Rather than depend on state funds, the schools survived through the goodwill of benefactors.

      Rice himself retired in 1838; there were then twenty-two houses of the Christian Brothers in the British Isles.  Among them was the O'Connell's Schools in north Dublin, founded in 1828, a place of great influence in the city.  His last years were clouded by further controversy and dissension within the order, as his successor found it hard to live so closely with the founder.  In 1840 Rice made a farewell tour of the schools he had brought into being.  Soon afterwards his health and mental faculties began to give way.

      Edmund Rice died at Mount Sion in Waterford on 29th August 1844, but since then the system he inaugurated has spread with the Irish people throughout the world.  The Christian Brothers combined practical teaching for boys with deep religious influence and a patriotic fervour which has marked the lives of countless people since.  Their discipline was harsh to present-day eyes, but they gave to generations of Irish people with few advantages in the world the greatest boon of all - a decent education.

      They also gave nearly all of them a sense of national identity, fostered through their own specially prepared schoolbooks, which is seen as one of the most important elements in the creation of modern Ireland.  For everyone in public life who had attended a fashionable Jesuit school there were scores who had gone to the Christian Brothers.  They all left a mark somewhere.