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Crescent College Comprehensive SJ is a secondary school located on a section of 40 acres (162,000 m²) of parkland at Dooradoyle, Limerick, Ireland. The college is one of a number of Jesuit schools in Ireland.

The first Jesuit School in Ireland was established at Limerick in 1565 by the Apostolic Visitor of the Holy See, David Woulfe SJ. Woulfe's cousin Edmund Daniel, a Jesuit scholastic, aided him in running the school. William Goode, an English Jesuit also worked there, and we know about the school from letters written by Goode which still exist. The earliest recorded example of a school play in Ireland was performed in this School in 1566; it was about the birth of John the Baptist and was performed on the Feast of St. John. The school was situated in Castle Lane for much of its existence, though it appears that it may have intermittently moved to Kilmallock to avoid the attention of the authorities. A stone inscribed with a cross and the motto IHS was taken from the Castle Lane Site to Dooradoyle in 1973.

The early School was closed in 1773, following the Papal suppression of the Society of Jesus. Following restoration, the Jesuits returned to Ireland in 1814 and established schools throughout the country. There were originally eight Jesuit Schools in Ireland, and six remain.

The modern school in Limerick dates from 1859, when the Jesuits returned to Limerick to manage a school on behalf of the Bishop of Limerick. This school was initially a Diocescan College and operated from premises in Hartstone St. Later it moved to Crescent House and was renamed Sacred Heart College in 1873, however it became popularly known as Crescent College. The Jesuits also briefly ran St Patricks College at Bedford Row, which closed due to a lack of resources, and an Apostolic College and Boarding School at Mungret College. Mungret College SJ closed in 1974 and many of its teaching staff transferred to Crescent. The Phoenix from its crest was amalgamated with that of Sacred Heart College. The modern school crest reads "Crescentes in Illo Per Omina". Literally this means 'growing in Him through all things', and is based on St Paul's Letter to the Colossians 1:10.

Sacred Heart College ceased to be a fee paying school in 1971 and became a Comprehensive school at the invitation of the Minister of Education. The name Sacred Heart College is now defunct and the modern school is called Crescent College Comprehensive SJ. In 1973 Crescent House had outgrown demand, and the Comprehensive moved to a modern greenfield site at Dooradoyle. Later it became a co-educational school, with a ratio of 3 boys to 1 girl. The Crescent Prepatory School was closed in 1976.

The school operates under the trusteeship of the Society of Jesus and the Minister for Education. The Jesuit Provincial enjoys a majority on the Board of Management and the School premises are rented to the Order for a fee of one penny, due annually in the Michaelmas term. The ethos is Jesuit and Catholic. Most of the current teaching staff are lay-persons, though there are five Jesuit priests currently on the staff. In 1996 the School appointed its first lay headmaster.

The School excels in the fields of drama, debating, music and sport which are important dimensions of any Jesuit School. Rugby at Crescent blossomed from the late 1940's under the care of Fr Gerry Guinane, and in that time Crescent has had considerable success in the Munster Schools Senior Cup, winning nine titles in the last 59 years, and six titles at junior level. The School was also represented at club level by Old Crescent RFC, which is now an open club, but an important component of the Crescent tradition.

Demand for places in the school continues to be heavily oversubscribed.

In June 2006 the Sacred Heart Church closed ending the connection of 150 years with Crescent House, from which the school took its name. A House of Prayer and Spirituality has located to the Jesuit Residence in Doooradoyle.

Other Irish Jesuit Schools include

Past pupils

Amongst the many past pupils of Crescent are:

External links

Secondary schools in Limerick | Jesuit secondary schools in Ireland

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Crescent College".

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