Edmund Ignatius Rice
Edmund Ignatius Rice | |
---|---|
Religious, Founder, Missionary, Educator | |
Born | Callan, Ireland | 1 June 1762
Died | 29 August 1844 Waterford, Ireland | (aged 82)
Venerated in | Catholic Church |
Beatified | 6 October 1996, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II |
Major shrine | Westcourt, Callan, Ireland International Heritage Centre, Mount Sion, Waterford, Ireland |
Feast | 5 May[1] |
Attributes | Irish Christian Brothers' Black Habit |
Edmund Ignatius Rice,
Rice was born in Ireland at a time when Catholics faced oppression under
Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers schools around the world continue to follow the traditions established by Edmund Rice (see: List of Christian Brothers schools).
Early life and education
Edmund Ignatius Rice was born to Robert Rice and Margaret Rice (née Tierney) on the farming property of "Westcourt", in Callan, County Kilkenny.[2] Edmund Rice was the fourth of seven sons, although he also had two half-sisters, Joan and Jane Murphy, the offspring of his mother's first marriage.
Rice's education, like that of every other Irish Catholic of the day, was greatly compromised by the 1709 amendment to the Popery Act, which decreed that any public or private instruction in the Catholic faith would render teachers liable to prosecution, a measure that was not reformed until 1782. In this environment, hedge schools proliferated. The boys of the Rice family obtained education at home through Patrick Grace, a member of the small community of Augustinian friars in Callan.[3] As a young man, Rice spent two years at a school which, despite the provisions of the penal laws, the authorities suffered to exist in the City of Kilkenny.[4]
His uncle Michael owned a merchant business in the nearby port town of
In about 1785 he married a young woman (perhaps Mary Elliott, the daughter of a Waterford tanner).[7] Little is known about their married life, and Mary died in January 1789 following an accident, possibly by a fever that set in afterwards. The circumstances surrounding this accident are unclear, but she may have fallen off a horse that she was riding, or been thrown out of a carriage by panicking horses. Mary was pregnant at the time, and a daughter was born on her deathbed.[8] The daughter (also named Mary) was born handicapped. Edmund Rice was left a widower, with an infant daughter in delicate health.
Vocation and beginnings
Following his wife's death, he began discerning a vocation to join a monastery, perhaps in France. One day, while discussing his vocation with the sister of Thomas Hussey, the Bishop of Waterford, a band of ragged boys passed by. Pointing to them, she cried:
"What! Would you bury yourself in a cell on the continent rather than devote your wealth and your life to the spiritual and material interest of these poor youths?"
After settling his business affairs in 1802, Rice devoted his life to prayer and charitable work, particularly with the poor and marginalised of Waterford. In 1802, when he established a makeshift school in a converted stable in New Street, Waterford, he found the children were so difficult to manage that the teachers resigned. This prompted him to sell his thriving business to another prominent Catholic merchant, a Mr Quan, and devote himself to training teachers who would dedicate their lives to prayers and to teaching the children free of charge. Despite the difficulties involved, Edmund's classes were so popular that another temporary school had to be set up on another of his properties, this time in nearby Stephen Street.[9]
The turning point of Rice's ministry was the arrival of two young men, Thomas Grosvenor and Patrick Finn, from his hometown of Callan. They came to him with the desire of joining a congregation, but had not decided which they would join. As it turned out, they remained to teach at Edmund Rice's school and formed their own. The subsequent success of the New Street school led to a more permanent building, named "Mount Sion", where construction began on 1 June 1802. The Mount Sion monastery was officially blessed by Bishop Hussey on 7 June 1803. Since the schoolhouse was not yet completed, Rice, Finn, and Grosvenor took up residence but walked each day from Mount Sion to their schools on New Street and Stephen Street. On 1 May 1804, the adjoining school was opened and blessed by Hussey's successor, Bishop John Power, and their pupils transferred to the new building.[10]
Thanks to the appeals of some of Rice's more influential friends, a request made to the local Church of Ireland bishop for a school licence was eventually granted.[11] By 1806 Christian schools were established in Waterford, Carrick-on-Suir, and Dungarvan.[4]
Foundation of the Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers
In 1808, seven of the staff including Edmund Rice took religious vows under the authority of Bishop Power of Waterford. Following the example of Nano Nagle's Presentation Sisters, they were called Presentation Brothers.[2] This was the first congregation of men to be founded in Ireland and one of the few ever founded by a layman. Gradually, a transformation took place amongst the "quay kids" of Waterford, largely attributed to Edmund and his brothers' work, who educated, clothed and fed the boys. Other bishops in Ireland supplied Edmund Rice with men, and these he prepared for the religious life and a life of teaching. In this way, the Presentation Brothers spread throughout Ireland.
However, the communities were under the bishop's control in each diocese rather than Edmund Rice, which created problems when Brothers were needed to be transferred from one school to another. Rice sought approval from
In the 1820s further difficulties emerged owing to the expansion of the society and its becoming two distinct congregations. From this time on they were called Christian Brothers and the Presentation Brothers. The motto of the Christian Brothers was: "The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord forever" (Job 1: 21).
In 1828, the North Richmond Street house and schools in Dublin were established by Rice, the foundation stone being laid by the politician Daniel O'Connell. The building housed the Brothers' headquarters for many years and the present residence incorporates the original house built by Rice, who lived here for several years beginning in 1831.
Later life and death
In February 1838, Edmund Rice left the North Richmond Street community and returned to Mount Sion in Waterford. Aged seventy-six, and by now in poor health, he wrote to the different communities calling for a
From this time on, Edmund Rice spent an increasing proportion of his time at Mount Sion and the adjoining school, showing a continued interest in the pupils and their teachers. He would also take a short walk each day on the slope of Mount Sion, but his increasingly painful arthritis led the community superior, Joseph Murphy, to purchase a wheelchair for his benefit.[14] At Christmas time, 1841, Rice's health took a turn for the worse, and even though expectations of his imminent death did not turn out to be justified, he was increasingly confined to his room.[15]
After living in a near-comatose state for more than two years (in the constant care of a nurse since May 1842), Rice died at 11 a.m. on 29 August 1844 at Mount Sion, Waterford, where his remains lie in a casket to this day. Large crowds filled the streets around his house in Dublin to honour him.[2]
Beatification and legacy
The first attempt to introduce Rice's cause to sainthood was in 1911 by Mark Hill who travelled Waterford and other parts of Ireland collecting statements from people as to why they thought Rice should be made a saint, but very little progress was made. The cause was taken up by Pius Noonan, who was the superior general at the time. With the help of Giovanni Battista Montini (the future Pope Paul VI), the cause was officially opened in Dublin in 1957.[8]
In 1976, the Historical Commission of the
As a result of these investigations and the examination in Rome of the results, on 2 April 1993,
Two years later, the same Pope approved a miracle attributed to Edmund Rice's
These events paved the way for Rice's beatification on 6 October 1996 by Pope John Paul II.[16] His feast day is 5 May.
A segment of his kneecap (in a reliquary) is on display in the new sports hall at St. Joseph's College in Stoke-on-Trent, "part of the Edmund Rice family of schools, founded by the Christian Brothers and following the charism of Blessed Edmund Rice."[17]
The Edmund Rice Centre is an Australian
See also
References
- ^ "Edmund Rice", Saints Resource, RCL Benziger
- ^ a b c d "Edmund Ignatius Rice, 1762 – 1844", Edmund Rice International Heritage Centres, Ltd.
- ^ Keogh, Dáire (1996). Edmund Rice, 1762–1844. Blackrock, Ireland: Four Courts Press. pp. 25–26, 35.
- ^ a b c Hennessy, Patrick. "Edmund Ignatius Rice." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 26 Mar. 2014
- ^ O'Toole, A.L. (1984). A Spiritual Profile of Edmund Ignatius Rice. Bristol: The Burleigh Press. p. 110.
- ^ Keogh 2008, p. 64
- ^ Keogh 1996, p. 29
- ^ a b c d "Edmund Ignatius Rice", Cork Cathedral Archived 6 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Normoyle, M.C. (1976). A Tree is Planted: The Life and Times of Edmund Rice. Congregation of Christian Brothers. pp. 43–44.
- ^ Normoyle, M.C. (1976). A Tree is Planted: The Life and Times of Edmund Rice. Congregation of Christian Brothers. pp. 45–50.
- ^ Normoyle, M.C. (1976). A Tree is Planted: The Life and Times of Edmund Rice. Congregation of Christian Brothers. p. 43.
- ^ public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Rice, Edmund Ignatius". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 290. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ Keogh, Dáire (1996). Edmund Rice, 1762–1844. Blackrock, Ireland: Four Courts Press. pp. 89–90.
- ^ Normoyle, M.C. (1976). A Tree is Planted: The Life and Times of Edmund Rice. Congregation of Christian Brothers. p. 408.
- ^ Keogh, Dáire (1996). Edmund Rice, 1762–1844. Blackrock, Ireland: Four Courts Press. pp. 92–93.
- ^ a b "Becoming Blessed Edmund Rice". Iona College. Archived from the original on 4 September 2006. Retrieved 8 February 2007.
- ^ "St. Joseph's College". St. Joseph's College. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
- ^ "Our Purpose". Edmund Rice Centre. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
Further reading
- Dáire Keogh, Edmund Rice, 1762–1844 (Four Courts Press: Blackrock, Ireland, 1996)
- Dáire Keogh, Edmund Rice and the first Christian Brothers (Four Courts Press, 2008)
- M.C. Normoyle, A Tree is Planted: The Life and Times of Edmund Rice (Congregation of Christian Brothers: n.l., 1976)
- A.L. O'Toole, A Spiritual Profile of Edmund Ignatius Rice (The Burleigh Press: Bristol, 1984)
- A.l O'Toole, A Religious Profile of Edmund Ignatius Rice (The Burleigh Press: Bristol, 1985)
External links
- Presentation Brothers' official website Archived 17 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine
- Edmund Rice Network International
- St. Francis Xavier Province Australia
- Edmund Rice Oceania Archived 3 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine
- Presentation Brothers Archived 17 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine
- Edmund Rice Network New Zealand
- Edmund Rice Development Ireland