Irish College in Bordeaux

Irish College Bordeaux
French: Collège des Irlandais, Bordeaux
TypeSeminary
Active1603–1794
FounderFr. Dermot McCarthy and
Archbishop de Sourdis
Religious affiliation
Roman Catholic
Academic affiliation
University of Bordeaux
Location
Rue du Hâ, Bordeaux.

Irish College Bordeaux– established in 1603, set up under the leadership of Rev. Dermot McCarthy (a priest of the Diocese of Cork),[1] invited by Cardinal François de Sourdis, Archbishop of Bordeaux to set up an Irish College in the city, and affiliated to the University of Bordeaux. McCarthy arrived with forty students from Ireland in November 1603. Pope Paul V, recognised it with a papal bull of the 26 April 1617.[2] Due to an increase in the number of students, in 1618, a number of students were sent to other colleges. Alumni and staff were buried in the Irish Church, St. Eutrope, Bordeaux, which was given to the Irish. Students studied in the Jesuit College. Rector Rev. Dr. Thadee O Mahony developed the college, and recognising the support of Anne of Austria (wife of Louis XIII), they renamed the chapel Saint-Anne-la-Royal. Following endowment in 1654, alumni were granted French naturalisation,[3] which meant a number of alumni stayed and ministered in France.[4] The Irish College in Toulouse (1618-1793) was a sister college also supported by Anne of Austria, it followed the Bordeaux statues until it was constituted with its own statues.

Following the French Revolution students were sent home, and the last rector of the college, Rev. Martin Glynn, was executed by guillotine during the Reign of Terror on 19 July 1794. The college closed with its remaining property (and burses) transferred to the Irish College in Paris.[5] The properties in Bordeaux were sold in 1880.

Rue Mc Carthy is named after the first superior in the college.[6]

The buildings Collège des Irlandais was situated on rue du Hâ, Bordeaux, and the now demolished Chapelle des Irlandais, place Pey Berland.

  1. ^ 'Irish Links with Bordeaux' by Richard Hayes, Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, Vol. 27, No. 106 (Jun., 1938), pp. 291-306, Messenger Publications.
  2. ^ Bordeaux - Irish Colleges, on the Continent New Advent, Catholic Encyclopedia.
  3. ^ A European Walk through Bordeaux, Bertrand Favreau and Tyché Editions 2014.
  4. ^ 'Some Records of the Irish College at Bordeaux' edited by T. J. Walsh, Vol. 15, Archivium Hibernicum, 1950.
  5. ^ 'The Irish College at Bordeaux. 1603-1794' by Rev. Patrick Boyle CM, The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Ser. 4, Vol. XXII, pp. 127-145, August, 1907.
  6. ^ Irish left mark on bordeaux by Lucius McPhilemy, Greens and Grapes.