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Edmund Ignatius Rice

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Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice
BornJune 1, 1762
"Westcourt", Callan, Ireland
DiedAugust 29, 1844
Waterford, Ireland
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
BeatifiedOctober 6, 1996, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II
Major shrine"Westcourt", Callan, Ireland
FeastMay 5
For other people named Edmund Rice, see Edmund Rice (disambiguation).

Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice (Template:Lang-ga; 1 June, 1762 – 29 August, 1844), was a Roman Catholic missionary and educationalist. Edmund Rice was the founder of two orders of religious brothers: the Congregation of Christian Brothers and the Presentation Brothers.

Rice was born in Ireland at a time when Catholics faced oppression under Penal Laws enforced by the British authorities. He forged a successful career in business and, after a tragic accident which killed his wife and left his daughter disabled, devoted his life to the education and service of the poor.

Christian Brother schools around the world continue to follow the system of education and traditions established by Edmund Rice (see List of Christian Brothers schools).

Early life and career

Edmund Rice was born to Robert Rice and Margaret Rice (née Tierney) on the farming property of "Westcourt", in Callan, County Kilkenny. Edmund was the fourth of seven sons, although he also had two step-sisters, Joan and Jane Murphy, the offspring of his mother's first marriage.

At this time, Irish Catholics were oppressed by anti-Catholic Penal Laws which were enacted and enforced by the Protestant-dominated British Parliament. 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. In this environment, hedge schools proliferated. The boys of the Rice family obtained an education at home through Patrick Grace, a member of the small community of Augustinian friars in Callan.[1] As a young man, Rice spent two years at a school in Kilkenny to complete his education.

By the standards of the day, the Rices were quite well off. His uncle Michael owned a merchant business in the nearby port town of Waterford. In 1779 Edmund was apprenticed to him, and eventually came to own the business and the wealth that came from the thriving trade with Britain and the North American colonies.

In 1787 he married Mary Elliott, the daughter of a Waterford tanner.[2] 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 thrown out of a carriage by panicking horses. Pregnant at the time, a daughter was delivered on Mary's deathbed. The daughter (also named Mary) was born handicapped. Edmund Rice was left a widower, responsible for an infant daughter in delicate health.

Vocation

Rice devoted himself 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 give up his own business and devote himself to training teachers who would dedicate their lives to prayers and to teaching the children free of charge.

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 religious 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 religious community. The subsequent success of the New Street school led to a more permanent building, which became known as Mount Sion, being erected in June 1802. The Mount Sion monastery was officially blessed by Bishop Hussey on June 7 1803, and the adjoining school was opened soon after.[3]

Edmund Rice's childhood home at Callan

All of Edmund's educational activities were illegal in the eyes of the 'authorities' in Ireland. Most Irish Catholics were effectively cut off from education and consequently cut off from social and political progress.

In 1808, seven of the staff including Edmund Rice, took religious vows under Bishop Power of Waterford. Following the example of Nano Nagle's Presentation Sisters, they were called Presentation Brothers. This was the first congregation of men to be founded in Ireland and one of the few ever founded in a Church by a layman. Gradually a transformation had taken place amongst the "quay kids" of Waterford, largely attributed to the work of Edmund and his Brothers, who educated, clothed and fed the boys. Other Bishops in Ireland supplied Edmund Rice with men whom he prepared for religious life and a life of teaching. In this way the Presentation Brothers spread throughout Ireland.

However, the groups in separate dioceses were under the Bishop’s and not Edmund's control. This created problems when Brothers were needed to be transferred from school to school. So Edmund sought and ultimately obtained approval from Pope Pius VII for his Brothers to be made into a pontifical congregation with Edmund as Superior General; he was then able to move Brothers to wherever they were most needed. In the 1820s further difficulties owing to the expansion of the society 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”. Job1:21.

In 1828, the North Richmond Street house and schools in Dublin were founded by Edmund Rice, with the foundation stone laid by Daniel O’Connell. The building housed the Brothers’ headquarters for many years. The present residence incorporates the original house built by Edmund Rice, who lived here for several years from 1831.

Retirement and death

Edmund Rice retired at the age seventy-six, but was suffering from arthritis and had to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

After falling into a coma, Rice died on August 29 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 the great man.

Beatification

The first attempt to introduce Edmund's cause towards sainthood was in 1911 by Brother Mark Hill. He travelled Waterford and other parts of Ireland collecting statements (on why Edmund should be made a saint) from the people, but very little progress was made. The cause was started up again by the efforts of Pius Noonan, who was the Superior General at the time. With the help of Monsignor Giovanni Batista Montini (the future Pope Paul VI), the cause was officially opened in Dublin in 1957.

In 1976 the Historical Commission of the Dublin Archdiocese and Father Kevin Kennedy now as secretary recommended that Edmund's cause be brought to Rome. Roman theologians agreed to look into Edmund's cause. Three brothers had the burden of investigating archives and collecting evidence on why Edmund should be a saint. They were Mark Hill, David Fitzpatrick and Columba Normoyle, with assistance from John Carroll, Austin Connolly and Donal Blake. After the commission's unanimous approval, Pope John Paul II declared Edmund worthy of his cause in 1993.

On April 2, 1993, the pope declared Edmund Rice venerable and two years later approved the miracle, the curing of a young Newry man, Kevin Ellison, who was thought to have had only 48 hours to live, which was attributed to Edmund Rice. This paved the way to his beatification on October 6, 1996 to become known as Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice.[4] His official feast day is May 5.

References

  1. ^ Keogh, Dáire (1996). Edmund Rice, 1762-1844. Blackrock, Ireland: Four Courts Press. pp. 25–26, 35. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  2. ^ Keogh, Dáire (1996). Edmund Rice, 1762-1844. Blackrock, Ireland: Four Courts Press. p. 29. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  3. ^ Normoyle, M.C. (1976). A Tree is Planted: The Life and Times of Edmund Rice. Congregation of Christian Brothers. pp. 45–49. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  4. ^ "Becoming Blessed Edmund Rice". Iona College. Retrieved 2007-02-08.

Bibliography

  • M.C. Normoyle, A Tree is Planted: The Life and Times of Edmund Rice (Congregation of Christian Brothers: n.l., 1976)
  • Dáire Keogh, Edmund Rice, 1762-1844 (Four Courts Press: Blackrock, Ireland, 1996)

See also

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