The same conditions apply to both the Roman Catholic theological
seminary at Maynooth and the Presbyterian theological seminary at Magee.
The students at both of these institutions will be excused from residing
in the new universities, and may continue their studies exactly as at
present, going up to Dublin and to Belfast only to receive their
degrees. Several of the Roman Catholic colleges and the two "godless
colleges" now supported by the state at Cork and Galway are to be made a
part of the Roman Catholic university at Dublin, but Section 3 of the
bill provides that "no test whatever of religious belief shall be
imposed upon any person as a condition of his becoming or continuing to
be a professor, lecturer, fellow, scholar, exhibitioner, graduate, or
student of, or of his holding any office or emolument, or exercising any
privilege in, either of the two new universities or any constituent
college. Nor in connection with either of the new universities or any
such constituent college shall any preference be given or advantage
withheld from any person on account of his religious belief." It will be
permitted, however, for religious denominations to erect chapels or
other houses of worship in connection with either of the new
universities with their own funds for the accommodation of students
professing their faith, but no students shall be required to attend
religious exercises or religious instruction, and they shall be entirely
voluntary. It is well understood, however, and the bill is intended
precisely for that purpose, that one of the universities shall be Roman
Catholic and that the other shall be Presbyterian, just as the present
University of Dublin represents the Protestant Episcopal Church of
Ireland.
Education and religion have always gone hand in hand both in ancient and
modern Ireland. The history of one is the history of the other.
Instruction has always been given either by or under the supervision of
priests and monks, and there have been regular teaching orders, like the
Christian Brothers, which combine religious with secular instruction,
with the catechism as their chief text-book. As early as the middle of
the sixth century the monastery schools of Ireland were famous all over
the world, and even at that date there were three thousand students at
Clonarde College, and an equal number at Bangor, at Monasterboice, and
several other centers of learning. The sons of kings, chiefs, nobles,
and other favored classes lived in the monasteries with their
instructors, but usually each ordinary student had a little hut of sod
built by himself, and often those from the same locality or the same
clan built houses for their common use.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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