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St. Malachy's College | |
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St. Malachy's College front exterior | |
Address | |
36 Antrim Road , BT15 2AE | |
Coordinates | 54°36′32″N5°56′25″W / 54.6089°N 5.9403°W Coordinates: 54°36′32″N5°56′25″W / 54.6089°N 5.9403°W |
Information | |
Type | Grammar School |
Motto | Gloria Ab Intus (Glory from within) |
Religious affiliation(s) | Roman Catholic |
Established | 1833 |
Closed | July – August |
Local authority | Belfast Education and Library Board |
Principal | Paul McBride |
Years taught | Year 8 – Year 14 |
Gender | All-Male |
Age | 11to 18 |
Number of students | 1,025 (approx) |
Campus size | medium |
Color(s) | |
Athletics | Badminton, Basketball, Cross country running, Gaelic, Golf, Hurling, Rugby, Soccer, Swimming, Volleyball, Waterpolo |
Team name | Malachians FC |
Website | www |
St. Malachy's College, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is the oldest Catholic diocesan college on the island of Ireland. [1] The College motto is 'Gloria Ab Intus', 'Glory from within'.
Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast of Ireland. It is the second-largest city on the island of Ireland, after Dublin. It had a population of 333,871 as of 2015.
The word diocese is derived from the Greek term dioikesis (διοίκησις) meaning "administration". Today, when used in an ecclesiastical sense, it refers to the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. Sometimes it is also called bishopric.
The College opened on the feast of St. Malachy, 3 November 1833, having been founded by Bishop William Crolly four years after Catholic Emancipation and the formal, parliamentary repeal of the penal laws, which had outlawed, among other things, the celebration of the Catholic Mass, and the provision for the education of the Catholics of Ireland. [2]
William Crolly was successively the Bishop of Down and Connor from 1825 to 1835 and then Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh from 1835 to 1849.
Mass is the main eucharistic liturgical service in many forms of Western Christianity. The term Mass is commonly used in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, as well as in some Lutheran, Methodist, Western Rite Orthodox, and Old Catholic churches.
The College has been on the same site since 1833. Bishop Crolly chose a site on the northern fringes of the then small Georgian town, a farm called Vicinage which today is recalled on the street next to the College - Vicinage Park. Vicinage Farm was owned by Thomas McCabe a watch maker by trade, a strong liberal voice and advocate of Penal Law reform who was also a founder member of the Society of United Irishmen. [3]
The Society of United Irishmen, founded as a Radical or liberal political organisation in 18th-century Belfast, Ireland, initially sought Parliamentary reform. It evolved into a revolutionary republican organisation, inspired by the American Revolution and allied with Revolutionary France. It launched the Irish Rebellion of 1798 with the objective of ending British monarchical rule over Ireland and founding a sovereign, independent Irish republic.
One of the glories of the College is the Chapel, built in the 1882 (at the same time as the distinctive College tower) [4] and which was significantly enhanced for the College centenary in 1933 when 32 stained glasses windows from the Harry Clarke studio were commissioned. [5] Installation took place between 1935 and 1937 and today this is one of the finest collections of stained glass in Northern Ireland. [6]
Henry Patrick "Harry" Clarke was an Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator. Born in Dublin, he was a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement.
St. Joseph's Seminary, the seminary for the Diocese of Down and Connor, [7] was situated on the same campus for over a century. This was officially known as the Diocesan Seminary at St Malachy's, and colloquially as "the wing" due to it being a wing of the college building. The Diocesan Seminary moved to the Cliftonville Road during the Christmas holidays of 2012, and took the name St. Malachy's Diocesan Seminary, in recognition of the long-standing connection to the College, until its closure in 2018.
Seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, and divinity school are educational institutions for educating students in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, in academics, or in Christian ministry. The English word is taken from the Latin seminarium, translated as seed-bed, an image taken from the Council of Trent document Cum adolescentium aetas which called for the first modern seminaries. In the West, the term now refers to Catholic educational institutes and has widened to include other Christian denominations and American Jewish institutions.
St. Malachy's College is located in the Water Works electoral ward of north Belfast, between two main roads (the A6 Antrim Road and the A52 Crumlin Road), close to where they meet at Carlisle Circus.
The Antrim Road is a major arterial route and area of housing and commerce that runs from inner city north Belfast to Dunadry, passing through Newtownabbey and Templepatrick. It forms part of the A6 road, a traffic route which links Belfast to Derry. It passes through the New Lodge, Newington and Glengormley areas of Northern Ireland amongst others.
The Crumlin Road is a main road in north-west Belfast, Northern Ireland. The road runs from north of Belfast City Centre for about four miles to the outskirts of the city. It also forms part of the longer A52 road. The lower section of the road houses a number of historic buildings, including the city's former law courts and prison, whilst the road encompasses several large housing areas, including Ardoyne, Ballysillan and Ligoniel.
The grounds of the College are accessed primarily from a tree-lined avenue on the Antrim Road, which leads to the front quadrangle, known as "the quad". The foremost building, which comprises 3 sides of the quadrangle and faces westward, is the oldest part of the College and dates to its earliest days in the 1830s. 'A' and 'B' blocks, housing the History, Classics and Drama departments, as well as administrative offices, the Library, and the Chapel, take up much of these three sides; the remaining rooms consist of priests' apartments, abandoned dormitories and the Upper Study Hall. The more modern St. Joseph's seminary building completes the fourth side of the quadrangle. The College canteen and Music block are also accessed through the front quadrangle.
The concreted back quadrangle, bounded by the College Hall (westward), the gymnasium (northward) and the old building (southward and eastward), has in recent years been enhanced by several flower beds. The Mater Infirmorum hospital, and a small shrine to the Virgin Mary, both overlook the back quadrangle. The College Hall is the focal point of dramatic productions within the College, as well as assemblies and examinations. In recent years, the College's music department has eschewed the College Hall for its annual concerts, in favour of the more acoustically advantaged Ulster Hall in Bedford Street.
Behind the College Hall is 'D' block, completed in the 1960s, and the adjoining 'E' block, completed in the 1970s. Both consist largely of standard classrooms, with the exception of Physics laboratories on the top floor of 'D' block and Biology laboratories on the top floor of 'E' block. Since the 1980s, the second floor of 'E' block has also become home to the Computing department. The school's Lecture Theatre is on the ground floor of 'E' block.
'C' block, located to the north of 'E' block, was opened in the 1990s and replaced a row of temporary classrooms from the 1950s. It now houses the Chemistry, Art and Technology departments.
At the rear of the College grounds is the Sports Hall, the centrepiece of which is a basketball court, renovated in recent years with a multi-purpose hardwood floor. A synthetic pitch, laid in 2006, is adjacent to the Sports Hall. For security reasons, the pitch is surrounded by high walls on three sides, separating the College grounds from the former Crumlin Road prison (now a tourist site) and the residential area on the site of the former Girdwood British Army barracks on Cliftonpark Avenue.
The College celebrated its 175th Anniversary in April 2008 with a concert at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast. It also gathered the students and staff together in the College "Quad" area for a special photo which has not been taken in over 50 years for the college.
St. Malachy's is a boys' school providing education for approximately 1,200 students aged 11 to 18 with a very wide catchment area. It is the only male, Catholic, grammar school in north Belfast and students come from both areas local to the College such as Ardoyne and New Lodge, as well as more suburban Belfast and rural towns in County Antrim such as Carrickfergus, Antrim town and Randalstown.
The college has impressive records in both GCSE and A-level examinations, In 2018 it was ranked joint seventh in Northern Ireland for its GCSE performance with 99.4% of its entrants receiving five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, including the core subjects English and Maths. [8] 82.4% of its students who sat the A-level exams in 2017/18 were awarded three A*-C grades. [9]
The college is also noted for having a strong music department and was recently designated as the first specialist music college in Northern Ireland. [10] The College is strong in mathematics and the primary sciences, with numerous alumni working in senior positions in prestigious national and international engineering and technology companies and research institutes. In recent years the College has developed a strong reputation for the arts and music and, more recently still, film/video production. [11]
The college has had many recent sporting successes, especially in athletics and basketball. [12]
The current Chairman of the Board of Governors for the College is Sir Gerry Loughran KCB.
As of 2018 [update] :
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St Dominic's Grammar School for Girls, formerly St Dominic's High School, is a Catholic grammar school for girls aged 11–18, in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
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Saint Malachy's Church is a Catholic Church in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is located in Alfred Street, a short distance from Belfast City Hall. The Church is the focal point of the local parish community and Saint Malachy's Parish is one of the 88 parishes in the Diocese of Down and Connor. After Saint Mary's Church in Chapel Lane and St Patrick's Church, Belfast in Donegall Street, Saint Malachy's is the third oldest Catholic Church in the city of Belfast.
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Rt. Rev. Mgr. Canon James P. Clenaghan, P.P., V.G., St Malachy's Church, Belfast was a distinguished senior Irish churchman and educationalist whose entire ministry was in the Diocese of Down and Connor where he rose to become Vicar General.