St Patrick's College, Mackay
St Patrick's College is a co-educational Catholic school, in Mackay, Queensland, Australia. St Patrick's is one of only two schools in Queensland that offer education only to grades 11 and 12. The college's motto is "Seek Christ", and the current principal is Mr Eamon Hannan.
History
St Patrick's College was originally founded in 1929 as Christian Brothers College, as an all-boys school. The school was situated on the Gregory Street side of where the current school is. In the late 1800's, the river side of today's St Patrick's College was occupied by St Joseph's school. When the Sisters of St Joseph moved to North Mackay, the Christian Brothers acquired the river side land. On the river side was CBC's primary school and on the Gregory Street side was CBC's secondary school. During a renewal process, the school became known as "St Patrick's Christian Brothers College. In 1987 St Patrick's became what it is today. A renewal process resulted in Our Lady of Mercy College (an all-girls school) becoming a co-educational school for lower high school (grades 8-10) and St Patrick's becoming a co-educational school for upper high school (grades 11 and 12.)
Houses
The houses at St Patrick's College are all named after significant members of the Catholic Church. Rice is named after the founder of the Christian Brothers, McAuley is named after the founder of the Sisters of Mercy, Colin is named after the founder of the Marists (Society of Mary), and Chisolm is named after an Australian pioneer who helped numerous poor women on the wharves of Sydney. As of 2004, the house have been separated along gender and year level lines, for example, in 2004 Rice house was year 12 boys.
The houses are:
- Rice, Colour: White.
Edmund Ignatius Rice was born on the 1st of June 1762 in Ireland. He was a wealthy merchant. In 1785 he married Mary Elliot, but tragically, she was killed instantly after being thrown off her carriage when the horse pulling it was spooked. Rice then devoted himself to studying the scriptures and charity work. Using his own money, he funded schools for poor boys, but when he couldn't find staff who would teach the boys, he trained teachers that were completely devoted to teaching and living a life of prayer. In 1808, Edmund Rice and six others of his staff took religious vows. The Christian Brothers, an order of brothers devoted to teaching and evangelizing youth, were formed shortly afterwards, and they have established schools throughout the world. Edmund Rice died on the 29th of August 1838. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1997 and is now called Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice.
- McAuley, Colour: Blue.
Born in Ireland in 1778, Catherine McAuley was a Catholic nun who founded the Sisters of Mercy. Her father was a wealthy man, and when he died, Catherine inherited a large portion of his wealth. She used the money to build a place where she could feed and clothe poor women and their children. Catherine and her helpers entered a program to train as nuns, and after one year they took their vows and established the Sisters of Mercy. The Sisters of Mercy have established hospitals and schools around the world. Catherine McAuley died in 1841. Pope John Paul II, in 1990, officially declared her venerable, after Pope Paul VI put forward a case for her beatification in 1978. She is close to being declared a saint.
- Colin, Colour: Red.
Born in France in 1789, Jean-Claude Colin attended the major seminary at Lyon, ordained as a priest of the diocese, but from his seminary days worked with a group of fellow seminarians to begin the Society of Mary. He worked at the Parish of Cerdon where his brother Pierre Colin was the parish priest. While there he met up with Jean Marie Chavoin who joined with him in the Marist Project. He preached missions in the Bugey, a country region, with others priests who wanted to be Marists. He was asked to take over the College of Belley as Principal and when Rome approved the Society of Mary he was elected as its first Superior General. The Society of Mary was founded to serve the Church in the most urgent, varied and significant tasks. Jean-Claude Colin died in 1875.
- Chisholm, Colour: Gold.
Caroline Chisholm was born in 1808 in England. She was born a Protestant, but after marrying Captain Archibald Chisholm, she converted to Catholicism. When in India with her husband, she saw the suffering of the people on the streets. She then established a school for street children and this started her life long charity work. In 1838, Caroline and her family moved to Sydney, New South Wales. She went on regular walks around the wharves of Sydney, and after seeing the poor and desperate people living in the gutters and doorways she decided it was God's plan for her to help those people. Today she is seen as a social reformer and a heroine for her outstanding work with the poor women of Sydney. Caroline Chisolm died in 1877.