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June 07, 2006

AN TOSTAL SOUVENIR PROGRAMME 1953 - CHAPTER 18 Part 3

Chapter 18 Part 3 of the An Tostal Programme of 1953 is dedicated to the De La Salle Brothers and St. Joseph's Academy.
 
THE DE LA SALLE BROTHERS
 
THE Brothers of the Christian Schools, or the De la Salle Brothers, as they are familiarly known in Ireland, were founded by St. John Baptist De la Salle in Rheims, France, in 1680. The Order and their work spread and at the present time the Brothers teach 420,000 pupils in 64 countries throughout the world.
In 1881 the De la Salle Brothers opened their Irish Novitiate in Castletown, Leix. Three years afterwards they were invited to teach in Kildare by the Very Rev. Dr. Kavanagh, P.P. A residence was built for the Brothers by William Lee, Esq. in 1884, and the school was built by his brother, Michael. Here the Brothers laboured successfully till the morning of December 8th, 1917, when the school took fire accidentally and, with the furniture and equipment, was destroyed. The school was temporarily housed in the old Carmelite Church. Reconstruction followed, and after Easter, 1919, both pupils and teachers resumed their work in the present fine building. With its roll-call of 230 pupils, St. Brigid’s Monastery School has become the Alma Mater of many Kildare boys, associating them with the pupils, past and present, of the Brothers’ other 42 schools in Ireland.
 
THE ACADEMY
 
             About 1915 the need of a Secondary School for Kildare and its neighbourhood became imperative. A beginning was made in that year under the Superiorship of Rev. Brother Alfred and with the approval of Father Campion, P.P., the new school was placed under the patronage of St. Joseph and became known as St. Joseph’s Academy. The number of pupils so increased that by 1938 the building of a new, larger and more up-to-date building was necessary. On 16th January, 1939, St. Joseph’s Academy moved into its present spacious premises. The new Academy was blessed by Very Rev. Father Kane, P.P., who then cele­brated Mass in it in the presence of the pupils and their teachers.
 

Chapter 18 Part 3 of the An Tostal Programme of 1953 is dedicated to the De La Salle Brothers and St. Joseph's Academy.

Posted by mariocorrigan at June 7, 2006 09:53 PM