Gormanston College

Franciscan College Gormanston is a Catholic school in East Meath, Ireland, operated and managed by the Irish province of the Order of the Friars Minor. The college operates under the trusteeship of the Minister Provincial and Definitory of the Franciscan Province of Ireland. In September 2014 the school will join the free school scheme.

In keeping with the centuries-old tradition of education not only by means of formal education, Franciscan College Gormanstom seeks to create an ambience within which the students live, study, pray and socialise in close proximity to the Franciscan community

The college is situated in East Meath and is approximately 32 kilometres (20 miles) north of Dublin City. There are approximately 250 pupils enrolled at Gormanston.

The college offers boarding and day facilities. Boarding at Gormanston is a mixture of five-day and seven-day boarding options for boys. Girls are admitted and welcome to the school as day students. International students must have an Irish contact either through an Agency or Guardianship.

Gormanston College is a public, coeducational catholic secondary school under the trusteeship of the Franciscan Province of Ireland. The College is located at Gormanston Castle (built 1789), near Gormanston, County Meath, about 32 kilometres (20 mi) north of Dublin, Ireland.

The college motto is Dei Gloriae, Hiberniae Honori which translates To the glory of God and the honour of Ireland.

The college consists mainly one building and is attached to the residential castle. The grounds, straddling County Meath and County Dublin, contain a river, a mature wood and a small 9-hole golf course. The main approach avenue scrolls through a wood of selected trees. There are several playing fields, in two different locations but contiguous with the college. The college and grounds are located between the Dublin - Belfast motorway and the old main Dublin - Drogheda road. The eastern face of Gormanston Castle looks to the sea, down a long straight field, known as "Cromwells Avenue". One of the most remarkable features of the estate is the yew walk, a foliage enclosed triangular area that dates back some hundreds of years, and leads down to the graveyard, where several of the Order, both priests and nuns, as well as some students, are buried. The old coach road from Dublin to Belfast runs alongside the eastern college boundary walls.

The apostolate of education has been a core ministry throughout the 800-year history of the Franciscan Order. Prior to the Reformation schools attached to the local Franciscan abbey/friary were a common feature of Franciscan ministry. With the closure of the monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII this apostolate came to an abrupt end. The gradual relaxation of the Penal Laws saw a re-structuring of the Order in Ireland and the opening of a number of schools, notably in Clonmel and Athlone.

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