BLESSED EDMUND RICE

By Fr Jim Cogley

This week’s postings aim to give a pen picture of a man of enormous significance in Irish history. Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice was born in Callan Co Kilkenny in 1762 and was the founder of both the Christian Brothers and the Presentation Brothers whose influence in the field of education has spread to many parts of the world. There are many who having not attended a CBS school may scarcely have heard of this remarkable man whose methods of education were streets ahead of their time. It’s truly remarkable how one person born so long ago can exert such an influence even to the present day. This was brought home to me recently while staying overnight in the current residence located adjacent to Edmund Rice’s ancient homestead. Waking up in the morning and looking across to that building I realized that by virtue of having gone to a school of his founding I could attribute everything that has ever happened to me from the age of 12 until the present to the life that was born there in 1762. Had that not happened my life would have taken a very different trajectory.

Not only was Edmund Rice a colossus in the Ireland of his time but also to the present time. The congregations he established made remarkable contributions to every aspect of Irish development, social, spiritual, economic, political and particularly educational. At this time when their mission in Ireland is not so defined and numbers are dwindling their light in as many as twenty-eight other countries continue to shine unabated.

The Rice homestead, now restored as a heritage Centre would indicate that Edmund grew up in a comparatively well to do family. This was at a time when no catholic was allowed to own land or receive an education. Yet by finding a loophole in the penal laws of the time he managed to make a good living and run a profitable business. After working with his uncle fitting out ships in Waterford, he later inherited the business and was well on his way to becoming one of the most successful and prosperous men of his generation.

Life does indeed break us all and only ‘some grow strong at the broken places.’ While his early life was successful it was also tragic. Having married Mary Elliot in 1785, four years later she fell from her horse and died. Her unborn child was saved but had a disability as a result. This was the singular defining moment in his life that turned his comfortable life upside down. The intensity of suffering awakened his soul and from there on he searched for a deeper meaning in life. Like the challenge that is there for all of us, Edmund’s life became defined not by the tragedy that had befallen him but by what he did with it. His ongoing care for his handicapped daughter probably played a central role in the direction his life would take when he would later see her needs mirrored in the thousands of urchins and orphans that were roaming the streets of Waterford with no education and no hope for their future.

His handicapped daughter Mary Rice was the broken reed in Edmund’s life that could not be mended but only transcended by prayer. In the manner of Divine providence, she played a vital role in the unfolding of the Divine plan for him. He cared for her diligently and tenderly until the age of forty and undoubtedly was forced to dig deep to find the inner resources of grace that were necessary for his task as a single male parent. In a mysterious way it was she who directed the course of her father’s life not in the way he would have originally intended but in a manner that became fruitful beyond all expectations. Similarly in the manner that Edmund matured in his spiritual journey and responded to his vocation he conferred meaning and purpose to his wife’s early demise and to his daughters stymied life.

In his travels through Waterford City Edmund was daily in contact with the poor and destitute, particularly the young boys without a future who frequented the docks. His first step towards improving their lot was to begin a night school. He was convinced that only with an education could they ever find their way out of the poverty trap. It was difficult to keep people interested in helping with the project, but he was joined by two colleagues from his hometown, Thomas Grosvenor and Patrick Finn who also shared his vision of starting a religious order. So it was that on the 7th of June 1803 that Edmund opened his first school that was named Mt Zion and was already drawing up the rules for his new religious order that was first known as the Brothers of the Presentation. He was around forty at the time, the number in the Biblical sense being associated with new beginnings.

The first CBS school Mt Zion was originally a stable and it was here that Edmund Rice established a system of education that was way ahead of its time in every respect. Spirituality was a vital component since he believed that without it a human being could never be complete. In Mt Zion he had aptitude testing and vocational training and even a tailor’s room where boys could be fitted out to face the world with self-respect and dignity. There he also had a bakery to feed the hungry. He knew every pupil by name and would stand by the door and shake the hand of each to welcome all who came to learn. Even our modern educational system would have a lot to learn from his methods, and it is no wonder that what he established was set for rapid expansion as news of his success with ‘unteachable boys’ began to spread far and wide.