St Patrick's College Maynooth: Encyclopedia II - St Patrick's College Maynooth - History

St Patrick's College Maynooth - History

The college was established in 1795, by act of the Parliament of Ireland, and the building work was paid for by the British Government, partly to discourage the Catholic Church from endorsing Irish separatism (which they then condemned vociferously in the Irish Rebellion of 1798); parliament continued to give it an annual grant until the Irish Church Disestablishment Act became law. The land was donated by the Duke of Leinster.

In 1876 the college became a constituent college of the Catholic University of Ireland, and later offered Royal University of Ireland degrees in arts and science. Even after the granting of the Pontifical Charter in 1896 the college became a recognised college of the National University of Ireland in 1910 and from this time its degrees were awarded by the National University. In 1966 the first lay students entered, these being the members of lay religious orders, and in 1968 all laity where accepted; by 1977 they outnumbered religious. The college held the link with the National University until 1997 when the Faculties of Art, Celtic Studies and Philosophy, and Science were reconstituted as the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, and the other faculties remaining as part of the college. Any student that was conferred with a National University degree prior to that time is legally considered to be a graduate of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.

The college continues to share its campus with National University of Ireland, Maynooth but is a separate legal entity with training in Canon Law, Philosophy and Theology and awards the degrees of the Pontifical University and is associated with several other colleges.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki