St Finbarr's College, Farranferris

At the time of the Penal Laws Irishmen who wanted to study to become priests had to travel overseas and many of them went to France (Cork, for example, had close links with Irish colleges in Bordeaux and Toulouse).

In 1795 St Patrick's College, Maynooth was opened to provide for the education of Catholic priests in Ireland (supported by the British Government to prevent priests being influenced by revolutionary ideas from abroad) and that same year the Bishop of Cork set up a post-primary preparatory seminary in Ballyvolane House (near present-day Ellis's Yard), it was to prepare boys for Maynooth and other seminary colleges.

In April 1881 the church acquired Carrollina House in Montenotte so Saint Finbarr's could function as a residential seminary for pupils who wished to become priests (Carrollina, which was situated where the Ardnalee housing estate now stands, was named by John Carroll in 1770s, he was a great grand-nephew of Charles Carroll).

[1][2] The idea for a new purpose built residential seminary school was raised immediately on the founding of Saint Finbarr's.

[2] At the time Farranferris was being built the Bishop of Cork, William Delany, was infirm with old age and most of his duties, including the driving forward of the college, were being carried out by Henry Neville.

Before the college opened, Delany died (to be replaced by Thomas A. O'Callaghan), and Neville was moved on.

A short time after he took over Sexton decided that Farranferris should accept day pupils for outside students.

[citation needed] In the autumn of 1922 one of the teachers as Farranferris, Patrick MacSwiney did a favour for his cousin Mary and took charge of a bag for a friend whose premises were in danger of being raided by government forces.

It was rumoured that this was part of the £100,000 that had been robbed by republican forces from the Customs House in Dublin and that the priest had abused the nuns' trust by hiding the stolen money in the convent on behalf of Mary MacSwiney.

[1] In his first year as president, Joe Scannell introduced an entrance exam for Farranferris, the newspaper notice advertising the new regime stated that pupils were being prepared for "the professions (the Church, Medicine, Law, Engineering, Primary and Secondary Training, etc.

[1] In December 1945 T. F. Duggan, a former British Army Chaplain who had been a POW in WW1 and had won a medal for gallantry in WW2, was made President of Farranferris.

[1] In 1960, St Finbarr's College, Farranferris was expanded (to the designs of James Boyd Barrett) to provide extra schoolroom accommodation and it began to take non-seminary boarders.

[5] Since Closure the old college has become the Farranferris Education and Training Campus, with Northside Community Enterprises becoming the main tenant.