BURIAL OF PRESIDENTS, VICE-PRESIDENTS,

PROFESSORS AND DEANS 1817-79

 

 

ROW 1: Graves in this row are essentially those of the small number of ‘founding fathers’ actually buried in this cemetery; two others are buried in Laraghbryan and one (the second President, Peter Flood) under the floor of St. Joseph’s Chapel; a fourth (Edmund Ferris, a Kerry-born member of the ‘French’ Vincentians, is buried in Castleknock)

 

FRANCIS POWER  (1737-1817) Waterford Born Clonmel; studied and was ordained in France; Vice-President (and effectively acting president to 1798) from college founding to his death (also bursar and teacher of French); first college official to be buried in cemetery

 

MICHAEL MONTAGUE  (1773-1845) Armagh Born Tyrone; continuous connection as student, bursar, vice-president and president for almost 50 years to death in 

1845; reserved this burial space for himself beside Power

 

PAUL O’BRIEN  (1763-1820) Meath/Armagh Native of Moynalty, Co. Meath; great-grand-nephew of O’Carolan; irreverent folk poet, teacher and promoter of

 Irish in Armagh before beginning his studies at Maynooth, aged 38; appointed professor of Irish 1804

 

ANDREW DUNNE (1746-1823) Dublin First secretary to the Trustees (1795-1800); joined staff 1800 as librarian and treasurer; President 1803-1807; PP Dublin

and resumed as secretary to Trustees 1807; resigned pastoral position and returned to college as librarian

 

LOUIS-GILLES DELAHOGUE  (1739-1827) Professor of Moral Theology 1798, of Dogmatic Theology 1801; the earliest and most long-standing of four prominent French ‘founding fathers’ (most of their Irish colleagues also had French connections), and one of two buried here, he stayed on at the college after his retirement in 1820 and died at the age of 88

 

FRANCOIS ANGLADE  (1758-1834)  Professor of Logic from 1802 and Theology from 1810 until his retirement in 1828; also responsible at various times for church music, liturgy and maintenance of the gardens; facilitated the establishment of a Presentation Convent at Maynooth; remained in the college until his death at age 76

 

 

ROW 2: Graves in this row are those of five priests who lived relatively short lives, and of the second (after Montague) longest-serving holder of the post of president of the college in the nineteenth century, and one of its most remarkable scholars and builders, Laurence Renehan

 

JOSEPH BEHAN  (1822-50) Meath Student when appointed professor of 

Philosophy, but died just four years after ordination at the age of 38

 

LAURENCE GILLIC (1827-1854) Meath Ordained in 1849, and appointed professor of Scripture four years later; died after one year in the post, aged 34. NOTE: Tomb enhanced in 1988 with polished facade and restored inscription following fund-raising among Meath priests by Fr. Ronan Drury

 

LAURENCE RENEHAN (1799-1857) Cashel Born near Gortnahoe/Urlingford on Kilkenny/Tipperary border; appointed dean before ordination and successively professor, bursar, vice-president, and president of the college over a period of thirty years, during which he oversaw the development of the main frontage onto St. Joseph’s Square and most of the buildings that enclose St. Mary’s Square, to designs by his friend  A. W. N. Pugin; though professor of Scripture, he had a huge interest in Irish and church music and history and in the collection of manuscripts, many of which he left to the college

 

NOTE: This is one of four similar tombs (Renehan, Kelly, O'Donnell, Jennings)  believed to have been designed by J. J. McCarthy, Professor of Ecclesiastical Architecture at All Hallows College and of Architecture at the Catholic University of Ireland, who was later responsible for the implementation of the design of the college chapel begun by Pugin, with whose work he was associated following the latter’s death.

 

MATTHEW KELLY (1814-58) Ossory Born Kilkenny City; ordained at Maynooth, then professed theology at Irish College Paris, before appointment to Maynooth as professor of English and French 1841; extensive interests in history and Irish manuscripts and literature; appointed professor of Ecclesiastical History 1857 but died the following year aged 44

 

JAMES O’DONNELL (1828-61) Kildare & Leighlin Born Graignamanagh, Co. Kilkenny; ordained at Maynooth; dean, then professor of French and Elocution for some years before he died in 1861 aged 33

 

WILLIAM JENNINGS (1825-62) Tuam Native of Tuam; professor of Philosophy 1852-62; died aged 37

 

 

ROW 3: Graves in this row include those of Nicholas Callan, the pioneering physicist, and Charles Russell, a distinguished president of the college, as well as some of the more long-serving staff from the middle part of the 19th. century

 

NICHOLAS CALLAN (1799-1864) Armagh Born near Dundalk, Co. Louth; educated at Maynooth and after ordination in Italy; Professor of Mathematics and 

Natural Philosophy 1826; inventor of the induction coil and other major advances in electrical engineering and an extensive writer on scientific and spiritual topics. A marker was erected at his grave in 2014 to mark the 150th. anniversary of his death

 

 CHARLES RUSSELL (1812-80) Down & Connor Born Killough, Co. Down; professor of Humanity (1835) and Ecclesiastical History (1845); President 1857-77; 

outstanding scholar in several disciplines and influential writer and publisher; personally reserved a space beside Callan’s grave for his own burial

 

JOHN O’HANLON (1803-71) Ossory Born Freshford, Co. Kilkenny; raised in Dublin and Kilkenny City; ordained at Maynooth; Professor of Theology 1828, Prefect of Dunboyne 1843; major influence on theological thinking in Ireland during his era

 

JAMES O’KANE (1825-74) Derry Born Newtownstewart, Co. Derry; ordained at Maynooth; Junior Dean 1852-6, Senior Dean 1856-71 (resigned due to ill health)

 

JAMES TULLY (1800?-76) Tuam Born Mountbellew, Co. Galway; professor of Irish 1828-71 (a period of 43 years), but more highly regarded for his pastoral rather than professorial skills

 

 

ROW 4: Graves in this row include those of three college staff members of varying backgrounds, responsibilities and histories from the middle period of the 19th. century, and one professor who died almost 120 years later

 

MICHAEL CASEY O.P. (1902-97) Born in Waterford; graduated from UCD and became Assistant State Chemist and a founder member of the Chemical Association before entering the Dominican order at the age of 26; after ordination in 1934 he was science master at Newbridge College for over twenty years before joining the staff of Maynooth in 1957 as lecturer, and from 1960, professor of Chemistry; died aged 95 and is buried adjacent to Nicholas Callan at his own request.

 

ROBERT WHITEHEAD (1807-79) Tuam Born Dublin into an old Galway family; attended lay college and seminary at Maynooth, where his cousin Sir Charles Ffrench was trustee; ordained for Tuam (had been made professor of English at age 21, and of  Philosophy at age 22 before ordination); vice-president in 1845; retired in 1872 but served as librarian until 1876

 

GEORGE CROLLY  (1813-78) Down & Connor Born Downpatrick, Co. Down; 

professor of Theology 1844, and occupied post for 34 years; involved in several initiatives and controversies in the area of theology, and also wrote lives of his uncle Archbishop William Crolly of Armagh (briefly a Maynooth professor also), and St. Oliver Plunket

 

JAMES HUGHES (1830-77) Kildare & Leighlin Born Clashganny, Co. Carlow; Junior Dean 1862-77; maintained a life-long interest in history and archaeology; died aged 47