St. Kieran's College
| St Kieran's College Colaiste Ciarán |
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|---|---|
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| Location | |
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Kilkenny Ireland |
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| Coordinates | 52°38′49″N 07°15′20″W / 52.64694°N 7.25556°WCoordinates: 52°38′49″N 07°15′20″W / 52.64694°N 7.25556°W |
| Information | |
| Motto |
Hiems Transiit (The Winter Has Passed) |
| Religious affiliation(s) | Roman Catholic |
| Established | 1782 |
| President | Rev. Dr. Dermot Ryan |
| Principal | Mr. Adrian Finan |
| Website | St Kieran's College website |
St Kieran's College (Coláiste Ciarán) is a Roman Catholic secondary school, located on College Road, Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland. name="officialwebsite"/>
St Kieran's College was founded in Kilkenny, in the diocese of Ossory in 1782, after the passing of the Catholic Relief Act of 1782. This act enabled Catholics to found schools (with the consent of the Protestant bishop of the diocese) for the first time since the Irish penal laws were introduced. Prior to this only Protestants could found educational institutions. The college was founded as the diocesan school and was the first of its kind in the country. The school's motto is “Hiems Transiit”, Latin for “The winter has passed”, It is a metaphor for the repeal of the penal laws which had kept Catholics as second class citizens in Ireland. It is taken from chapter 3:17 verse 11 of the Song of Solomon book of the bible:
"My beloved speaks and says to me: Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone."
The saint for whom the school was named was St Ciarán of Saigir, Apostle of Osraige, "first-born of the saints of Ireland" (Primogenitus Sanctorum Hiberniae). By the 1790s upheaval on the continent led to the demand for the provision of education for priests at home. In 1782 the college opened its doors to students of philosophy and theology, the first college in Ireland to do so. The first location of the college was at Burrell's Hall, James Street, Kilkenny, which is now the location of Saint Mary's Cathedral (the seat of the Bishop of Ossory) and the Irish Christian Brothers secondary school. It was later moved to the present location of the Loreto Convent Girls' Secondary School, Granges Road, Kilkenny.
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