Crescent College Comprehensive SJ, formerly known as the College of the Sacred Heart, is a Catholic secondary school located on 40 acres (160,000 m2) of parkland at Dooradoyle, Limerick, Ireland. The college is one of a number of Jesuit schools in Ireland.
Contents
Administration
The school operates under the trusteeship of the Society of Jesus and the Minister for Education, with the Jesuit Provincial appointing a majority of the members of the Board of Management, including the chair. The ethos is Jesuit and Catholic, although most of the teaching staff are lay-persons. A number of Jesuit priests live on campus at the Della Strada residence, which hosts the Jesuit Refugee Service. In 2001 the school appointed its first lay headmaster.
Campus
Crescent now sits on 40 acres of grounds and gardens landscaped by Fr William Troddyn and the late school gardener, P.J. Brennan, who together 'purloined' clippings and bulbs from the Limerick region in order to use on the grounds of Crescent, including an avenue of copper beeches. The school also maintains a nature garden to attract wildlife to the campus.
Some commemorative inscription stones from Castle Lane, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, were built into the external walls of the old Georgian school buildings at the Crescent in Limerick city centre. Another stone from the Castle Lane site, inscribed with a cross and the motto IHS, dated 1642, was brought to Dooradoyle in 1973 and was placed above the 1973 Foundation stone of the present site.
History
16th century
The first Jesuit school in Ireland was established at Limerick by the Apostolic Visitor of the Holy See, David Wolfe. Wolfe had been sent to Ireland by Pope Pius IV with the concurrence of the third Jesuit General, Diego Laynez. He was charged with setting up grammar schools "as a remedy against the profound ignorance of the people". In 1565 preparations began for establishing a school at Limerick.
At his instigation, Richard Creagh, a priest of the Diocese of Limerick, was persuaded to accept the vacant Archdiocese of Armagh, and was consecrated at Rome in 1564. An English Jesuit, William Good, joined him. Good had completed the Spiritual Exercises in 1562 under the direction of Mercurian, and at his recommendation had been formally admitted to the Society of Jesus shortly before by Jean Montaigne at the Jesuit college in Tournai.
Wolfe intended to establish the first Irish Counter-Reformation school at Limerick, with the Primate's approval, and so it was intended that on arrival in Ireland Good should travel there, and be accompanied by a Limerick-born Jesuit scholastic, Edmund Daniel, who was a kinsman of Wolfe's. Ultimately, Good and Daniel would not enjoy a good relationship.
This early Limerick school operated in difficult circumstances. In April 1566 Good sent a detailed report to Rome of his activities via the Portuguese Jesuits. He informed the Jesuit General that he and Daniel had arrived at Limerick city two years beforehand and their situation there had been perilous. They established contact with Wolfe, but were only able to meet with him at night, as the English authorities were attempting to arrest the Legate. Wolfe charged them initially with teaching to the boys of Limerick, with an emphasis on religious instruction, and Good translated the cathechism from Latin into English for this purpose. They remained in the city for eight months, before moving to Kilmallock in December 1565 under the protection of the Earl of Desmond, where they lived in more comfort than the primitive conditions they experienced in the city. However they were unable to support themselves at Kilmallock and three months later they returned to the city in Easter 1566, and strangely set up their house in accommodation owned by the Lord Deputy of Ireland, which was conveyed to them by certain influential friends.
They recommenced teaching at Castle Lane, and imparting the sacraments, though their activities were restricted by the arrival of Royal Commissioners.
17th - 18th centuries
At the Restoration of Charles II the school moved back to Castle Lane, and remained largely undisturbed for the next 40 years, until the surrender of the city to Williamite forces in 1692. In 1671 Dr James Douley was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Limerick and during his visitation to the Diocese reported to the Holy See that this and other Catholic schools operating in the Diocese were also attended by local Protestants.
Despite the efforts of the Castle authorities and English government the Limerick school managed to survive the Protestant Reformation, the Cromwellian invasion and Williamite Wars, and subsequent Penal Laws. It was finally forced to close, not for religious or confessional reasons, but due to the political difficulties of the Jesuit Order elsewhere.
19th and early 20th centuries
Following the restoration of the Society of Jesus in 1814, the Jesuits gradually re-established a number of their schools throughout the country, starting with foundations at Kildare and Dublin. They returned to Limerick at the invitation of the Bishop of Limerick, Dr. John Ryan, in 1859. Negotiations between the Order and the Diocese of Limerick were conducted at Rome rather than Ireland, and it was agreed that the new school would be a day school only. The Irish Vice Provincial, Fr Joseph Lentaigne, reluctantly agreed given the demands of existing Irish Jesuit Houses and at the beginning of the 1859 school year the Bishop's school was entrusted to Jesuit management. The pioneer Jesuit community in 1859 consisted in Frs. Edward Kelly (1824–1905) (Rector), Thomas Kelly (1829–1898), Peter Foley (1826–1893), Edmund Hogan (1831–1917), Matthew Saurin (1825–1901), and Matthew Russell (1834–1912).
This diocesan college operated initially at premises in Hartstone Street, which had been occupied by the Sisters of the Faithful Companions of Jesus, before they purchased Laurel Hill House and established a school for girls there. Paul Connolly, from a Limerick City family, was the first pupil enrolled, and also attending that day was the future Bishop of Limerick, Edward O'Dwyer.
The curriculum included ancient classics, mathematics, and modern languages (English and French). German was added later and the school prospectus advertised that boys were to be prepared "for the University and the Ecclesiastical Colleges; for the Learned Professions; for the Public Service – Civil and Military; and for the department of Mercantile and Commercial Life".
In 1862 the Jesuits acquired Crescent House and three neighbouring buildings towards the southern end of the Georgian Crescent. Crescent House was a large city residence which had been vacated by a local banking family, the Russells. The Georgian house on the Crescent property had a large garden and a number of vacant neighbouring sites, offering possibilities for expansion. However the Jesuits had paid a large sum for Crescent House and they initially postponed plans for a neighbouring church until this debt was lessened. It wasn't until 1864 that the execution of plans for the church commenced and although the garden of Crescent House was large, it wasn't sufficient to house the new church so additional properties had to be purchased.
Late 20th - early 21st centuries
In 1939, the school population remained under 130, but by the 1940s it grew to 300 boys, rising to over 500 by the 1960s. A biography of Fr William Hackett reveals his belief that parents who sent their children to Jesuit schools were "making their way into the upper middle class on the back of the Jesuit vow of poverty". Hackett was not unique in this view, and the Generalship of Pedro Arrupe urged the Jesuits to return to the original Ignatian vision and the spirit of the early Jesuit schools. It was proposed that the Crescent in Limerick and Gonzaga College in Dublin should adopt a comprehensive curriculum in a new relationship with the Minister for Education, and cease to be fee-paying schools. Negotiations opened in the late 1960s at the invitation of the then Minister and former pupil Donagh O'Malley, who had been a classmate of the Jesuit Provincial, Cecil McGarry, S.J. The comprehensive scheme proceeded in Limerick only, and this ushered in a period of reform and expansion under Fr Thomas Morrissey: the name Sacred Heart College was dropped and "Crescent College Comprehensive SJ" adopted in recognition of the more common name of the school.
The redesignation of the school as a comprehensive was not without controversy and the Limerick Trades Council complained in the media of the unsuitability of Jesuits to run such a school, given their association with upper-class education. The board of management met with the Council and argued that the Society's schools in Limerick before the suppression had been free. The government's new scheme, they argued, gave the Society an opportunity to return to its earlier tradition, bringing the benefits of Jesuit education to all classes.
In 21st century review of a work on the history of the Crescent, edited by Anthony White and published for the sesquicentenary of the College, Dr Daire Keogh of DCU critiques an article written by Fr Morrissey. Keogh argued that the Jesuit initiative at Limerick didn't reflect the 'option for the poor' as promoted by Pedro Arrupe. Rather, he argued, the accommodation at Limerick reflected "the desire of the Minister for Education to secure a Jesuit endorsement for a new model of schooling, approval which would lift the [SIC middle classes view] of what were often dubbed 'contraceptive schools'".
In 1971, the Georgian school buildings at Crescent House were found to be structurally unsound, overcrowded, and not adaptable to expansion. Some thought was given to a relocation to Mungret College, but after consideration the Mungret site was deemed to be too far outside the city catchment area. Instead land was purchased at Dooradoyle in 1973, resulting in the demolition of the MacMahon historical seat (a family closely related to the French Dukes of Magenta). Shortly afterwards the Crescent Shopping Centre opened beside the school from which it was named.
Competitions
In 2011 they won a European Space Agency competition and represented Ireland in Norway, finishing third among teams from fourteen countries, with their satellite in a can. In June 2015 Crescent beat 25 other schools in the Irish Science Teachers' Association Junior Science Quiz.
Sports
Girls' hockey and boys' rugby are the main sports, though many other contact and noncontact activities are offered. The girls have competed in futsal. Rugby at Crescent developed from the late 1940s under coach Fr. Gerry Guinane, and in that time Crescent had some success in the Munster Schools Senior Cup, constituting one of the big five rugby schools in Munster and seeded in the top 8 schools at Provincial level. It has won a number of senior titles since the cup's inception in 1909, winning the Schools Senior Cups on rugby 12 occasions in 1947, 1949, 1951, 1963, 1983, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2013, 2014 and 2022. The school is represented nationally at club level by Old Crescent RFC, which is now an open club.
In 2010 Crescent was named Munster rugby and hockey School of the Year, and in 2011 Richard Butler, Chairman of Limerick County Council, hosted a reception at the County Hall to mark the sporting achievements of the school in that year. The girls' hockey team won the Kate Russell All-Ireland Hockey Championship in 2015. Both boys and girls have represented the Munster and Irish teams in rugby and hockey at various levels. In 2017, the boys won the all-Ireland basketball title. The college won the Munster Irish Schools Championship in golf in 2008 at senior level and 2011 at junior level.
Student life
According to some media outlets in Limerick, "the school has a long-standing successful reputation for drama and the performing arts". The school has an award-winning choir and orchestra, taking part annually in the Feis Ceoil classical music festival at the RDS in Dublin, Winning first place in 1996 and second place in 1984, 2005 and 2006. In 2013 a 30-member Orchestra and 65 strong choir recorded a song for the Waltons Music for Schools Competition and achieved 2nd place nationally at a performance in the National Concert Hall, Dublin. An annual musical school show raises money for charity.
The College also maintains a chapter of the Society of St Vincent de Paul, which has an annual 'sleep out'. Students also participate in mandatory social placement programme for fifth-year students. In line with its objective of educating men and women for others, in 2011 the school hosted the opening of the website Why Care? which is run by the Jesuit Center for Faith and Justice in Dublin. It seeks to keep teachers and students alike abreast of social problems afflicting Ireland.
Recognition
The 2016 Sunday Times table, of the top performing 400 schools in Ireland, placed Crescent College 24th in terms of provision of graduates to university and tertiary colleges, and ranked Crescent as the 5th best school in Munster. According to the Irish Independent, Crescent has educated executives from two of the top three companies in Ireland: Google's John Herlihy and Microsoft's Paul Rellis.
In popular culture
Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt's memoir of growing up in Limerick in the 1930s and '40s, references the school.