The Jesuits in Galway

by Tom Kenny

There is historical evidence to show that the Jesuits were already in the city in the early 1600s, combining the work of ministry and education. In 1645, the Order set up their first college in Galway on Lower Abbeygate Street, where Powell’s shop is today. They were forced to leave the city by the Cromwellians, but they came back. They were forced to leave the city by the Williamites, but they came back. They had to close their Galway residence in 1768 due to a lack of manpower but they were persistent and came back again, and in 1859 they took over a house on Prospect Hill and the following year, set up a college in Eyre Square.

They then bought a site on Sherwood Fields on Sea Road, and in March 1861 they laid the foundation stone for a new college and residence there. Eleven months later, the building was sufficiently finished for them to move in and begin teaching classes. In March 1862, work began on the building of the church.

On the Feast of St Ignatius, July 31 1863, the Bishop of Galway, Dr McEvilly officially opened and dedicated the church, the residence and the college. It was a remarkably ambitious building project to take on at a time when the economic state of the country was dire. Attendances at Mass and ceremonies grew rapidly, devotions and confessions sometimes went on until midnight.

The college was a different matter. Pupil numbers reached 110 in 1874, but they began to fall thereafter. The number for 1899 was 49. It was estimated in 1912 that the total number of boys available for secondary education in the city was 270 and many of their families could not afford the fees charged by the Jesuits. In 1924, there were 67 boys in the school and the priests were under severe financial pressure, so finally, with great regret, it was decided to close the school in 1926.

This decision did not go down well locally, and immediately a sustained campaign began to have the college reopen. The intense lobbying worked and, in 1929, the doors opened again to admit 79 pupils. It began as an English medium school, but it had a very different new staff, young and enthusiastic Jesuits, and by 1931 it had become an all Irish-medium school, Scoil A, Coláiste Iognáid.

In 1939, a boys' chapel and extra bedrooms for the priests were added, and 20 years later a new science laboratory was built. In 1967 the Jes became a non-fee-paying school, and two years later a new extension, known as the Griffin Building, was finished. It was decided that the bunscoil should join the State primary system and it became an all-Irish State primary school known as Scoil Iognáid in 1971.

In 1974, a decision was made to change to a three form entry to the secondary, one of which was to be co-educational and known as the Scoil Gaeilge which would become the Irish medium section of the school. The other two forms were to offer instruction through English. Within 10 years, Coláiste Iognáid was completely co-educational, the first such secondary school in the city.

Fortunately, the Jesuit Order had purchased some land directly behind the school on Raleigh Row and they opened a new co-educational Gaelscoil there in 1984. The classrooms vacated by Scoil Iognáid were now used by the secondary school. The Jesuits built a new residence facing Raleigh Row and so the entire old school facing Sea Road became available for redevelopment and construction began on extra classrooms, specialist rooms, a modern sports hall and enhanced facilities in keeping with curricular demands and emotional expectations of the future. This extension opened in 2013.

The one constant through all of these changes and improvements has been the Jesuit ethos which ensured that the school continued and continues to live by Jesuit Christian values and provide students with a rich and special school experience, to prepare them to be confident, competent and compassionate as they get ready to face the complex and uncertain world.

All of the above is taken from a wonderful essay by Paddy Lydon which is included in the book, The Jes 150 Years, available in good bookshops.

Our first photograph is probably the first ever taken of the church and the school c1865. It was taken from across Sea Road and you can see the sea wall in the foreground which prevented any flooding of either building. The second photograph was taken from the pitch in 1969 and shows, on the far left, the Griffin Building under construction. In the centre is the back of the church and to the right is the Boys' Chapel and the priest’s residence overhead.