Editing Jesuits (section)

==== Ireland ====
{{see also|List of Jesuit schools in Ireland}}
The first Jesuit school in [[Ireland]] was established at [[Limerick]] by the [[apostolic visitor]] of the [[Holy See]], [[David Wolfe (Jesuit)|David Wolfe]]. Wolfe was sent to Ireland by [[Pope Pius IV]] with the concurrence of the third Jesuit superior general, [[Diego Laynez]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/Media,4303,en.pdf |title=From Limerick City.ie |access-date=8 February 2023 |archive-date=20 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230220052938/http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/Media,4303,en.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was charged with setting up grammar schools "as a remedy against the profound ignorance of the people".<ref>{{Cite ODNB |title=Entry for David Wolfe SJ by Thomas Morrissey SJ |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29832 |url-access=subscription |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/29832 |last1=Morrissey |first1=Thomas J. }}</ref>

Wolfe's mission in Ireland initially concentrated on setting the sclerotic Irish Church on a sound footing, introducing the [[Council of Trent|Tridentine]] Reforms and finding suitable men to fill vacant sees. He established a house of religious women in Limerick known as the Menabochta ("poor women" ) and in 1565 preparations began for establishing a school at Limerick.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Entry for David Wolfe SJ by Judy Barry |url=https://dib.cambridge.org/viewReadPage.do?articleId=a9107&searchClicked=clicked&quickadvsearch=yes |url-access=subscription |publisher=Dictionary of Irish Biography |access-date=8 February 2023 |archive-date=28 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728113859/https://dib.cambridge.org/viewReadPage.do?articleId=a9107&searchClicked=clicked&quickadvsearch=yes |url-status=live }}</ref>

At his instigation, [[Richard Creagh]], a priest of the Diocese of Limerick, was persuaded to accept the vacant [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Armagh|Archdiocese of Armagh]], and was consecrated in Rome in 1564.

This early Limerick school, [[Crescent College]], operated in difficult circumstances. In April 1566, [[William Good (Jesuit)|William Good]] sent a detailed report to Rome of his activities via the Portuguese Jesuits. He informed the Jesuit superior general that he and Edmund Daniel had arrived at Limerick city two years beforehand and their situation there had been perilous. Both had arrived in the city in very bad health, but had recovered due to the kindness of the people.

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 catechism from Latin into English for this purpose. They remained in Limerick for eight months.<ref name="Tudor Limerick 1566. pp. 7-36"/>

In December 1565, they moved to [[Kilmallock]] under the protection of the Earl of Desmond, where they lived in more comfort than the primitive conditions they experienced in Limerick. They were unable to support themselves at Kilmallock and three months later they returned to Limerick 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.<ref name="Tudor Limerick 1566. pp. 7-36">"Life in Tudor Limerick: William Good's 'Annual Letter' of 1566". By Thomas M. McCoog SJ & Victor Houliston. From ''Archivium Hibernicum'', 2016, Vol. 69 (2016), pp. 7–36</ref>

They recommenced teaching at Castle Lane, and imparting the sacraments, though their activities were restricted by the arrival of Royal Commissioners. Good reported that as he was an Englishman, English officials in the city cultivated him and he was invited to dine with them on a number of occasions, though he was warned to exercise prudence and avoid promoting the [[Primacy of Peter|Petrine primacy]] and the priority of the [[Mass in the Catholic Church|Mass]] amongst the [[Sacraments of the Catholic Church|sacraments]] with his students and congregation, and that his sermons should emphasize obedience to secular princes if he wished to avoid arrest.<ref name="Tudor Limerick 1566. pp. 7-36" />

The number of scholars in their care was very small. An early example of a school play in Ireland is sent in one of Good's reports, which was performed on the Feast of St. John in 1566. The school was conducted in one large aula, with the students were divided into distinct classes. Good gives a highly detailed report of the curriculum taught. The top class studied the first and second parts of [[Johannes Despauterius]]'s Commentarli grammatici, and read a few letters of Cicero or the dialogues of Frusius (André des Freux, SJ). The second class committed Donatus' texts in Latin to memory and read dialogues and works by Ēvaldus Gallus. Students in the third class learned Donatus by heart, translated into English rather than Latin. Young boys in the fourth class were taught to read. Progress was slow because there were too few teachers to conduct classes simultaneously.<ref name="Tudor Limerick 1566. pp. 7-36" />

In the spirit of Ignatius' [[Roman College]] founded 14 years before, no fee was requested from pupils. As a result, the two Jesuits lived in very poor conditions and were very overworked with teaching and administering the sacraments to the public. In late 1568, the Castle Lane School, in the presence of Daniel and Good, was attacked and looted by government agents sent by Sir [[Thomas Cusack (Irish judge)|Thomas Cusack]] during the pacification of Munster.<ref name="catholicE">
''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1913), Vol. 11 Edmund O'Donnell by Charles McNeill</ref>

The political and religious climate had become more uncertain in the lead up to [[Pope Pius V]]'s formal excommunication of Queen [[Elizabeth I]], which resulted in a new wave of repression of Catholicism in England and Ireland. At the end of 1568, the Anglican Bishop of Meath, [[Hugh Brady (bishop)|Hugh Brady]], was sent to Limerick charged with a Royal Commission to seek out and expel the Jesuits. Daniel was immediately ordered to quit the city and went to Lisbon, where he resumed his studies with the Portuguese Jesuits.<ref name="catholicE" /> Good moved on to [[Clonmel]], before establishing himself at [[Youghal]] until 1577.<ref>{{Cite ODNB |title=Entry for William Good SJ by Thomas McCoog SJ |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10946?docPos=1 |url-access=subscription |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/10946 }}</ref>

In 1571, after Wolfe had been captured and imprisoned at [[Dublin Castle]], Daniel persuaded the Portuguese Province to agree a surety for the ransom of Wolfe, who was quickly banished on release. In 1572, Daniel returned to Ireland, but was immediately captured. Incriminating documents were found on his person, which were taken as proof of his involvement with the rebellious cousin of the [[Earl of Desmond]], [[James FitzMaurice FitzGerald|James Fitzmaurice]] and a Spanish plot.<ref>{{Cite ODNB |title=Entry for Edmund Daniel SJ by Stephen Redmond |year=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/69033?docPos=1 |url-access=subscription |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/69033 }}</ref> He was removed from Limerick, and taken to Cork, "just as if he were a thief or noted evildoer". After being court-martialled by the Lord President of Munster, Sir [[John Perrot]], he was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered for treason, and refused pardon in return for swearing the [[Act of Supremacy]]. His execution was carried out on 25 October 1572. A report of it was sent by Fitzmaurice to the Jesuit Superior General in 1576, where he said that Daniel was "cruelly killed because of me".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Entry from Irish Jesuit Archives website by Vera Orschel (archivist & editor) entitled 4 / 2015 Irish Jesuit Documents in Rome: Part 17 (1 April 2015) 'Not giving the Jesuit martyr Edmund Daniel (O'Donnell) a bad name'. This document contains some scanned copies of Good's original correspondence |url=http://sjarchives.tumblr.com/ |publisher=SJArchives |access-date=8 February 2023 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326033033/https://sjarchives.tumblr.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

With Daniel dead and Wolfe dismissed, the Irish Jesuit foundation suffered a severe setback. Good is recorded as resident at Rome in 1577. In 1586, the seizure of Earl of Desmond's estates resulted in a new permanent Protestant plantation in Munster, making the continuation of the Limerick school impossible for a time. It was not until the early 1600s that the Jesuit mission could again re-establish itself in the city, though the Jesuits kept a low profile existence in lodgings here and there. For instance, a mission led by Fr. Nicholas Leinagh re-established itself at Limerick in 1601,<ref>Vera Moynes, ''Irish Jesuit Annual Letters 1604–1674'' Vol. II, p. 551</ref> though the Jesuit presence in the city numbered no more than 1 or 2 at a time in the years immediately following.

In 1604, the Lord President of Munster, Sir [[Henry Brouncker (died 1607)|Henry Brouncker]] - at Limerick, ordered all Jesuits from the city and Province, and offered £7 to anyone willing to betray a Jesuit priest to the authorities, and £5 for a seminarian.<ref>Vera Moynes, ''Irish Jesuit Annual Letters 1604–1674'' Vol. I, p. 32.</ref> Jesuit houses and schools throughout the province, in the years after, were subject to periodic crackdown and the occasional destruction of schools, imprisonment of teachers and the levying of heavy money penalties on parents are recorded in publications of the time. In 1615–17, the Royal Visitation Books, written up by [[Thomas Jones (bishop)|Thomas Jones]], the [[Archbishop of Dublin (Church of Ireland)|Anglican Archbishop of Dublin]], records the suppression of Jesuit schools at [[Waterford]], Limerick and [[Galway]].<ref>T. Corcoron, "Early Jesuit Educators", in ''Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review'', Vol. 29, No. 116 (Dec. 1940), pp. 545–560</ref>

In spite of this occasional persecution, the Jesuits were able to exert a degree of discreet influence within the province and in Limerick. For instance in 1606, largely through their efforts, a Catholic named Christopher Holywood was elected Mayor of the city.<ref>Vera Moynes, ''Irish Jesuit Annual Letters 1604–167''4 Vol. I, p. 88</ref> In 1602, the resident Jesuit had raised a sum of "200 cruzados" for the purpose of founding a hospital in Limerick, though the project was disrupted by a severe outbreak of plague and repression by the Lord President.<ref>Vera Moynes, ''Irish Jesuit Annual Letters 1604–1674'' Vol. I, p. 40</ref>

The principal activities of the order within Limerick at this time were devoted to preaching, administration of the sacraments and teaching. The school opened and closed intermittently in or around the area of Castle Lane, near Lahiffy's lane. During demolition work stones marked I.H.S., 1642 and 1609 were, in the 19th century, found inserted in a wall behind a tan yard near St Mary's Chapel which, according to Lenihan, were thought to mark the site of an early Jesuit school and oratory. This building, at other times, had also functioned as a dance house and candle factory.<ref>Maurice Lenihan ''Limerick; Its History and Antiquities'' p. 671 {{ISBN? }}</ref>

For much of the 1600s, the Limerick Jesuit foundation established a more permanent and stable presence and the Jesuit Annals record a 'flourishing' school at Limerick in the 1640s.<ref>John Canon Begley, ''The Diocese of Limerick in the 16th and 17th Centuries'' p. 440 {{ISBN? }}</ref> During the Confederacy the Jesuits had been able to go about their business unhindered and were invited to preach publicly from the pulpit of St. Mary's Cathedral on 4 occasions. Cardinal [[Giovanni Battista Rinuccini|Giovanni Rinuccini]] wrote to the Jesuit general in Rome, praising the work of the Rector of the Limerick College, Fr. William O'Hurley, who was aided by Fr. Thomas Burke.<ref>Lenihan p. 666</ref>

A few years later, during the Protectorate era, only 18 of the Jesuits resident in Ireland managed to avoid capture by the authorities. Lenihan records that the Limerick Crescent College in 1656 moved to a hut in the middle of a bog, which was difficult for the authorities to find. This foundation was headed up by Fr. Nicholas Punch, who was aided by Frs. Maurice Patrick, Piers Creagh and James Forde. The school attracted a large number of students from around the locality.<ref>Lenihan p. 667</ref>

At the Restoration of [[Charles II of England|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. During his visitation to the diocese, he reported to the Holy See that the Jesuits had a house and "taught schools with great fruit, instructing the youth in the articles of faith and good morals."<ref>Begley p. 479</ref> Douley also noted that this and other Catholic schools operating in the Diocese were also attended by local Protestants.<ref>Begley p. 480</ref>

The Jesuit presence in Ireland, in the so-called Penal era after the Battle of the Boyne, ebbed and flowed. In 1700 they were only 6 or 7, recovering to 25 in 1750. Small Jesuit houses and schools existed at Athlone, Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel, Clonmel, Kilkenny, Waterford, New Ross, Wexford, and Drogheda, as well as Dublin and Galway. At Limerick there appears to have been a long hiatus following the defeat of the Jacobite forces. Fr. Thomas O'Gorman was the first Jesuit to return to Limerick after the siege, arriving in 1728. He took up residence in Jail Lane, near the Castle in the Englishtown. There he opened a school to "impart the rudiments of the classics to the better class youth of the city."<ref>Begley ''The Diocese of Limerick from 1691 to the Present Time'' p. 307 {{ISBN? }}</ref>

O'Gorman left in 1737 and was succeeded by Fr. John McGrath.<ref>Begley p. 307</ref> Next came Fr. James McMahon, who was a nephew of the Primate of Armagh, [[Hugh MacMahon]]. McMahon lived at Limerick for thirteen years until his death in 1751. In 1746, Fr Joseph Morony was sent from Bordeaux to join McMahon and the others.<ref>Lenihan p. 671</ref> Morony remained at the Jail Lane site teaching at  a "high class school" until 1773, when he was ordered to close the school and oratory following the [[Suppression of the Society of Jesus|papal suppression of the Society of Jesus]],<ref>Begley p. 308</ref> 208 years after its foundation by Wolfe. Morony then went to live in Dublin and worked as a secular priest.

Despite the efforts of the Castle authorities and English government, the Limerick school managed to survive the [[Reformation|Protestant Reformation]], the [[Cromwellian conquest of Ireland|Cromwellian invasion]] and [[Williamite War in Ireland|Williamite Wars]], and subsequent [[Penal laws (Ireland)|Penal Laws]]. It was forced to close, not for religious or confessional reasons, but due to the political difficulties of the Jesuit Order elsewhere.

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. In 1859, they returned to Limerick at the invitation of the Bishop of Limerick, [[John Ryan (bishop)|John Ryan]], and re-established a school in Galway the same year.