All Hallows College was a college of higher education in Dublin. It was founded in 1842 and was run by the Vincentians from 1892 until 2016. On 23 May 2014, it was announced that it was closing because of declining student enrollment.[2] The sale of the campus in Drumcondra to Dublin City University was announced on 19 June 2015 and completed on 8 April 2016.[3] The college closed on 30 November 2016, becoming the All Hallows Campus of Dublin City University.
The college was founded in 1842 by Reverend John Hand[4] and, from 1892 until its closure in 2016, was under the direction of Vincentians.[5]
By 1973, the college had trained 4000 priests[6] for England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, South America, South Africa, India, Canada, Australia,[7] the West Indies, New Zealand, and the United States. All-Hallows alumni were the largest group of secular priests in California up to the late 1890s.[6]
The name of the Monastery may also originate from the fact that the lands it was built upon once belonged to the much older monastic foundations of the Priory of All Hallows owned by the Augustinians and founded by Diarmaid mac Murchadha in 1166, but later dissolved under the Reformation. The general area of Drumcondra back then was commonly known as Clonturk or Ceann Torc of North, Dublin.[8]
The academic training for a priest took seven years, of which three were devoted to physics, mental philosophy, languages, and English literature; the remaining four years were devoted to sacred scripture, history, liturgy, canon law, sacred eloquence, and the science of theology.[9]
Up until 1891, the college was run on a voluntary basis, not under any particular Catholic body, following a number of disputes with the hierarchy and Cardinal Cullen, over the administration of the College, and increased nationalism in the college following on from the Land League and Home rule movements, following intervention from the pope, the Vincentians were placed in charge of the college.[10]
The church organ was built in 1898 by Telford & Telford of Dublin.[11]
After its establishment in 1909, some students would take examinations for the National University of Ireland, as some students had previously done with its predecessor the Royal University of Ireland from 1936 All Hallows students attended UCD's Earlsfort Terrace for their degree courses.
In autumn 1955, while on holiday in Ireland, Senator John F. Kennedy addressed students of All Hallows at the invitation of Fr. Joseph Leonard.[12] His speech referred to the suppression of religion in the Soviet bloc.[13]
After the Second Vatican Council
In the 1960s, after the Second Vatican Council, the college began accepting women from religious orders and also all Lay Students, offering adult education, and certificates, degrees and diplomas in theology, humanities and pastoral studies.
In 1976, the Vincentian retreat and conferencing in St. Joseph's, Blackrock, moved to Purcell House, All Hallows. Similarly, in 1981 the Vincentian Mission Team moved to the College, from Blackrock, resulting in All Hallows being where missionaries returned to stay.
In 1982 the Diploma in Pastoral Leadership course commenced. The Pathways - Exploring Faith and Ministry adult education course for the dublin diocese commenced in 1985.
In 1984, the Dominican College Girls Secondary school, Eccles St., transferred to a new school built on the northern part of All Hallows College lands, on Griffith Avenue.[14]
The BA degree, a four-year programme in Theology with Philosophy, Psychology or Spirituality was validated by the Irish governments NCEA in 1988. In 1991 the Evening BA and MA by Research began, which was followed in 1993 by the taught MA programme.[15]
In 1992 during the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the college, the All Hallows Association was set up by Pastmen former students of the college who had not proceeded to ordination. Also in 1992 the Sabbatical Renewal Programme commenced.
In 1997 in association with the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA), the Dept. of Education, and WIT, the first Certificate in Training and Development Adult Basic Education Management was run in All Hallows.
The final two ordinations took place in 1998 and the College ceased to be a seminary.[16]
In 1999, the colleges degree programmes were validated by Dublin City University following on from NCEA. The undergraduate degrees based on subjects were recognised by the teaching council entitling graduates to teach in secondary schools in Ireland.[17]
From 2003 to 2015, Preparing for Ministries, a version of the Pathways programme in All Hallows, was provided on an outreach basis, at various locations in the Diocese of Clogher.[18]
In 2008, the college, as with the Mater Dei, and St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, became a college of Dublin City University.[19]
In 2009 MA in Ecology and Religion run by the Missionary Society of St. Columban moved to the college and in 2012 the MA in Applied Spirituality moved from the Milltown Institute began being delivered by All Hallows.
In 2012, the International Peace Bureau conference was held in All Hallows, where President Michael D. Higgins presented the Sean McBride Prize.[20]
In 2018 the All Hallows Alumni Network was set up to continue the connection between graduates of the college.
Courses
All Hallows College was home to programmes that provided students with the skills to promote fairness and equality in the workplace and in society: leadership and management in the pastoral arena, the community and voluntary sector and on all dialogue between public policy and social justice. Programmes were held in spirituality, supervisory practice and ecology and their application to questions and issues about the meaning of life that came up in work settings, therapeutic settings, family settings, relationships or in the context of social issues. The college enrolled 700 students.
The college offered joint major undergraduate degree courses (where the student's two subjects were both considered majors and could both to be used as a basis for employment) in a combination of Theology and either Psychology, English Literature or Philosophy. These were offered under the Free Fees scheme that operates in Irish third-level education. Degree options were also available excluding Theology. In those instances, students applied directly to the college and paid full fees. The undergraduate degree courses were available to school leavers via the Dept. of Education's Central Applications Office (CAO), yet about 50% of first-year students were mature students (aged 23 and over).[21]
The college offered postgraduate programmes in Social studies such as Social Justice and Public Policy, Management: Community and Voluntary Services, Leadership and Pastoral Care, Christian Spirituality, Supervisory Practice and Ecology and Religion. Most of these taught courses had a graduate certificate and diploma stages prior to the MA stage. The college also offered research master's and doctoral studies. All of the master's and doctoral programmes were entitled to tax relief under the government scheme.[22]
In 2017, the President of All Hallows College in conjunction with Dublin City University launched a strategic plan for the future called the Aisling (Vision) program in order to modernize the courses on offer in the college and also develop a stronger academic and resource links with its new partner institute, Dublin City University.[23]
All Hallows ran adult and community learning courses.
As part of the reaction to the closure of the aerospace company in Dublin Airport under the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) a tailored degree course was provided in All Hallows for some 70 former employees.[24]
Public talks
The college ran a series of public talks each autumn and spring on subjects relating to the church, its mission and social justice, the 2015 spring series was entitled "Reading the Signs of the Times - Urgent Questions for the Church today", with speakers including Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and Fr. Peter McVerry SJ. Previous subjects have included "Vatican II: The Journey Continues" and "The Joy of the Gospel: Evangelii Gaudium Exploring the Teaching of Pope Francis".
Graduation
Graduation took place every year on campus. The final graduation, 1 November 2016, was presided over by the vice-president, Mary McPhillips and the president of Dublin City University, Brian McCraith. Following the ceremony, a reception was held for graduates and their friends and families in the college dining hall.
Exchange programmes
The college engaged in the Erasmus student exchange programmes with Liverpool Hope University as well as the universities of Trier and Erfurt in Germany. All Hallows ran study abroad programmes with American universities such as DePaul University[25] in Chicago and St. John's University (New York)[26] both also founded by Vincentians. The college also engaged in programmes with Webster University, St. Louis; the University of Missouri and Regis University, Denver.
Facilities
The college had a dining room, student common room, computer room, the John Hand library and study facilities. Students could use the facilities in Dublin City University and its sister colleges. Students had access to online learning via moodle. An archive of the college was hosted on campus. The college had on-campus accommodation for visiting students and groups. The Purcell House building hosted seminars, conferences, and workshops.
A number of non-profit organisations and charities such as Volunteer Missionary Movement, Daughters of Charity[27] Education and Training Service,[28] Ruhama[29] (Supporting women affected by prostitution and human trafficking), Accord Catholic Marriage Counselling, Debt and Development Coalition Ireland, Console (Living with Suicide), Migraine Association of Ireland, National Association for Pastoral Counselling and Psychotherapy, Marys Meals, and Older Women's Network (OWN) Ireland were based on campus.
On campus there is a monument to Fr. Hand and a graveyard where he and a number of other former presidents, professors and students of the college are buried. Deceased former students and staff are commemorated by trees planted on the college grounds.
The College Chapel was often used for concerts by choirs and musical societies, such as Liam Lawton, Dolce Choir,[30] The Offbeat Ensemble, and the Dublin Airport Singers.
On 22 December 2003, the college hosted a special Christmas edition of RTÉs Marian Finucane Show with choirs for the northside of Dublin, and featured Brian Kennedy, Suzanne Murphy, Anúna, Bernadette Greevey and the Three American Tenors.
The BBC Songs of Praise show on 20 March 2016, featured a recording of Enya singing in the college chapel.[31]
People associated with All Hallows
Along with the founder Fr. Hand, over the years a number of eminent people had taught at or been associated with All-Hallows Dr. Bartholomew Woodlock(became Rector of the Catholic University of Ireland), Dr. David Moriarty, Dr. Michael Flannery, Dr. Eugene O'Connell, Dr. George Michael Conroy(Professor of Dogma, 1857 to 1866), Dr. James McDevitt, Dr. Sylvester Barry, Dr. Thomas A. Bennett, Monsignor James O'Brien (St. John's College, Sydney), and Dr. Patrick Delany (Hobart), have gone on to leading positions in the Catholic Church or other educational institutions. Two other noted professors at the college were the converts from Anglicanism Father Thomas Potter, and Mr. Henry Bedford MA.
The architect and designer of churches in Ireland James Joseph McCarthy was Professor of Ecclesiastical Architecture at the college.[32] The organist and composer Vincent O'Brien served as Professor of Gregorian Chant from 1903.
Presidents of All Hallows College
Rev. David Moriarty became president following the death of Fr. Hand in 1846, other presidents have included Dr Woodlock, the carmelite Dr. Thomas A. Bennett D.D. O.C.C. (1803–1897), the Very Rev. Dr William Fortune (1834–1917), Rev. Thomas O'Donnell CM and more recently Fr. Kevin Rafferty CM and Mgr. Tom Lane CM (served from 1970 to 1982). Fr. Mark Noonan C.M. (serving from 1996 to 2011) he was succeeded in 2011 by the first foreign and the final president of All Hallows College, Dr. Patrick McDevitt, C.M., PhD, a Vincentian priest, from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois.[citation needed]
The term rector has also been used in the past for the head of the college.
David Cremin Titular Bishop of Cunga Féichin, Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney, Australia.
George F. Dillon, priest, Missionary Apostolic in Australia, co-editor (with Roger Vaughan) of The Express Catholic newspaper (of Australia), and famous theological and anti-Masonic writer
The college's main buildings were the historic Drumcondra House designed by Sir Edward Lovett Pearce for Marmaduke Coghill, Purcell House, O'Donnell house, and Senior house. The architect J. J. McCarthy extended the house and designed a college quadrangle, however, only two sides were built. The college chapel was designed by George Ashlin in 1876, replacing an earlier chapel by McCarthy, the south side of the chapel is dominated by Evie Hone's stained glass window.[34]
Drumcondra House - original Georgian house which the college was built around.
Purcell House - Conference Centre and Oratory.[35] Originally known as Junior House[36] designed by architect J.J. O'Callaghan in 1884.
On 23 May 2014, it was announced that the College activities would be winding down due to financial difficulties, these were brought to the fore following a fundraising effort which included the sale of letters from Jackie Kennedy was cancelled.[40] The College was not in receipt of direct state funding, and was capped at how many students it could accept on the Irish government's free fees scheme.[41] The winding down affected academic programmes in the short term, but a sabbatical course ran in 2014 and before and after Easter 2015. Efforts were made, liaising with DCU and its Colleges, to maintain the Adult Learning BA (ALBA) degree programme, which is the only one of its kind in Ireland.[42] In September 2014 the College announced it was seeking a partnership or a sale of the campus to facilitate this, hoping to retain a presence on the campus and continue its mission.[43] Since 2015 the adult education Pathways programme has been run by the Dublin Dioceses Centre in Clonliffe College. The final Faith Renewal programmes ran during the 2015 to 2016 academic years.
All Hallows College Festival Week
All Hallows College Festival Week was held in July 2016, to mark the transition of the All Hallows Campus to DCU, and to celebrate the legacy of the College, featuring events such as a garden party, fun day and open day with tours, exhibitions and lectures and a mass celebrated by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.[44]
Programme Transfer
A number of the courses and programmes taught in All Hallows have been transferred to other institutions
BA in Adult Learning for Personal and Professional Development (ALBA) was transferred to DCU
Pathways programme, transferred to Clonliffe College in 2015, and from 2021 the Mater Dei Centre for Catholic Education (MDCCE), in DCU St. Patrick's, Campus.[46]
Sabbatical Renewal Programme run by the Presentation Sisters in Portarlington
DCU All Hallows Campus
The DCU School of Theology, Philosophy, and Music is based on the All Hallows Campus. The DCU Church of Ireland Centre (CIC), based at the campus. Since 2015, following storm damage to their school, the local Rosmini Community (secondary) School which caters for Visually Impaired students has been house temporarily on the campus. As part of the sale agreement for the college, a new primary school for the area was to be built on the college lands.[47]
DCU Church of Ireland Centre (CIC)
The Church of Ireland Centre maintains the ethos of the Church of Ireland College of Education following its incorporation into DCU. In 2022, the original Church of Ireland Training College, Kildare Place, altar furniture was moved to and rededicated in All Hallows Chapel, by the Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson, for use by Church of Ireland Centre and community there.[48]
Jesuit DCU Partnership
The DCU Jesuit Library Partnership saw the Jesuit Library Milltown Park move to Woodlock Hall at All Hallows Campus, where the Theology faculty is based.[49] The library consists of 140,000, theology and philosophy books, and is described as a ten-year loan.[50]
All Hallows Trust
Following the winding down of the college, the All Hallows Trust was set up to maintain the legacy and heritage of the college, and continue with a number of activities. Continued activities by the trust were enshrined in the agreement to sell the college to DCU. The Trust maintains an office on campus. The All Hallows trust supports a number of academic activities such as the publication of books and papers on the college and Vincentian tradition, it also manages the All Hallows Trust PhD scholarships.[51] It also supports the All Hallows Association and the All Hallows Alumni Network(AHAN) for events such as the annual Jubilee Mass,[52] and the annual advent mass (continuing on from the college carol service). The Trust also supported the meeting of alumni in the Passionist Retreat Centre near Sacramento, California, in May 2022. Other events the trust support include book launches and talks.[53]
The Congregation of the Mission, abbreviated CM and commonly called the Vincentians or Lazarists, is a Catholic society of apostolic life of pontifical right for men founded by Vincent de Paul. It is associated with the Vincentian Family, a loose federation of organizations who look to St Vincent de Paul as their founder or patron.
Dublin City University is a university based on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. Created as the National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin in 1975, it enrolled its first students in 1980, and was elevated to university status in September 1989 by statute.
St Patrick's College, often known as St Pat's, was a third level institution in Ireland, the leading function of which was as the country's largest primary teacher training college, which had at one time up to 2,000 students. Founded in Drumcondra, in the northern suburbs of Dublin, in 1875, with a Roman Catholic ethos, it offered a number of undergraduate courses, primarily in primary education and arts, and in time postgraduate courses too, mostly in education and languages.
Mater Dei Institute of Education was a linked college of Dublin City University from 1999 until its closure in 2016, located in Drumcondra, Dublin City, Ireland, near Croke Park, on the site of what was formerly Clonliffe College, the Roman Catholic Seminary for the Archdiocese of Dublin. The college was founded by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid in 1966 as an institute for the training and formation for teachers of religion in secondary schools in the Republic of Ireland. Clonliffe was also affiliated to the Angelicum in Rome that offered a three-year course leading to a diploma and a four-year course leading to a Masters; Fr. Joseph Carroll was its first president. Other Presidents of the College included Msgr. Michael Nolan, Dr. Dermot Lane and Sr. Eileen Randles IBVN(1986-1995). The foundation of the college was a response to the challenges posed by the Second Vatican Council. It had a Roman Catholic ethos and had approximately 800 students.
Drumcondra is a residential area and inner suburb on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. It is administered by Dublin City Council. The River Tolka and the Royal Canal flow through the area.
St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth, is a pontifical Catholic university in the town of Maynooth near Dublin, Ireland. The college and national seminary on its grounds are often referred to as Maynooth College.
Third-level education in the Republic of Ireland includes all education after second-level, encompassing higher education in universities and colleges and further education on Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) and other courses. The degree-awarding institutions which can grant awards at all academic levels are the University of Dublin, National University of Ireland, University of Limerick, Dublin City University, Technological University Dublin, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Munster Technological University, Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest, Atlantic Technological University and South East Technological University, as well as St Patrick's College, Maynooth. Quality and Qualifications Ireland, a State agency, can grant awards in other institutions directly, or delegate the authority to do so. The King's Inns of Dublin has a limited role in education specialising in the preparation of candidates for the degree of barrister-at-law to practice as barristers. Medical schools in Ireland also have particular regulation. There were seven establishments of higher education within Ireland ranked among the top 500 universities worldwide by the Times Higher Education Supplement in 2023.
St Peter's College, Wexford is an Irish secondary school and former seminary located in Summerhill, overlooking Wexford town. It is a single-sex school for male pupils. Currently, the school's population is over 770.
The Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy was a Jesuit-run institution of higher education and research, located in Dublin, Ireland. It was located in Ranelagh, County Dublin.
Holy Cross College, located in Clonliffe Road, Drumcondra was founded in 1854 as the Catholic diocesan seminary for Dublin by Cardinal Paul Cullen.
The Church of Ireland College of Education, or C.I.C.E. as it was more commonly known, was one of the Republic of Ireland's five Colleges of Education which provided a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree, the qualification generally required to teach in Irish primary schools. Its degrees were awarded by Trinity College, as for the Marino Institute of Education and Froebel College of Education. It also provided postgraduate courses in Learning Support and Special Educational Needs and a Certificate Course for Special Needs Assistants.
Drumcondra House is a Georgian house and gardens in Drumcondra, Dublin, Ireland which as of 2022 forms part of the DCU All Hallows Campus and formerly part of All Hallows College. It was designed by the architects Sir Edward Lovett Pearce and Alessandro Galilei and was built in 1726 for Marmaduke Coghill who had originally lived in Belvidere House, and now forms part of DCU St. Patrick's Campus Drumcondra.
Dr Bartholomew Woodlock was a Roman Catholic bishop, philosopher and educator. He established the Catholic University School, Dublin, and founded the Society of St Vincent de Paul in Ireland. He was the 2nd Rector of the Catholic University of Ireland, now University College Dublin, after Cardinal John Henry Newman.
Fr. John Hand (1807–1846) was an Irish priest and the founder of All Hallows College in Dublin.
Dermot Patrick Martin Dunne is the current and, by some counts, 35th Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.
Ellen Woodlock was an Irish philanthropist, who helped set up a number of institutions which provided social services to the poor in Dublin. Born Ellen Mahony, in Cork in 1811 her father Martin Mahony ran a successful wool milling business to Cork, Ellen was married in 1830 and widowed quite young, just before the birth of her only son, Thomas. Ellen Woodlock, a sister of Francis Sylvester Mahony and was the sister in law of Rev. Dr. Bartholomew Woodlock, who was President of All Hallows College and Rector of the Catholic University of Ireland. She intended joining a religious community in France but after spending a few years in that country returned to Cork and then moved to Dublin. In Drumcondra, Dublin she met Sarah Atkinson with whom she worked on many initiatives. She helped establish St. Joseph's Institution in Dublin in 1855. Along with her daughter in law and Sarah Atkinson she established the Children's Hospital at 9 Buckingham Street in 1872, which later moved to Temple Street, which she visited every day.
O’Donnell House was erected in Drumcondra in honour of the memory of Fr. Thomas O'Donnell (1864-1949), who served as President of All Hallows College from 1920 to 1948, and is now a part of the expanded campus of Dublin City University. It was originally part of the former All Hallows College, created in 1842 by Fr. John Hand (1807-1846), and run by the Vincentians order of priests as a seminary to educate future Roman Catholic missionaries to serve abroad. That college closed in 2016, and the premises became the All Hallows Campus of Dublin City University, a university established in Glasnevin, Dublin, since 1989.
Daire Kilian Keogh is an academic historian and third-level educational leader, president of Dublin City University (DCU) since July 2020.
Simon "Sam" Clyne was an educational leader in Ireland, President of St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, the country's largest college of education, and a commentator on educational matters. A Vincentian priest and PhD holder, Sam Clyne also served as Principal of Castleknock College and as chaplain to the President of Ireland.
The Holy Ghost Missionary College, in Kimmage in Dublin, Ireland, colloquially known as Kimmage Manor, is a Holy Ghost Fathers (Spiritans) institution that has served as a Seminary training missionary priests and spawned two other colleges the Kimmage Mission Institute and the Kimmage Development Studies Centre.The college church, The Church of the Holy Spirit serves as the parish church.
1 2 Irish priests in the United States: a vanishing subculture By William L. Smith.
↑ J. McSweeney, The Sesqui Centenary of William McGinty (Celebration to mark the 150th year of All Hallows priests in Australia), Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society 18 (1997), 7-10.
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