400 years ago, co-inciding with the flight of
the earls and a period of great upheaval in
Ireland, the Irish Franciscans founded St
Anthony’s College, Louvain (now Leuveu in
Belgium). St Anthony’s was, for centuries, a
haven for Irish clerical students as well as a
great centre of learning. Today, the
manuscripts and historical records of the
Irish Franciscan colleges in Louvain and in
Rome form a significant archive for any
study of medieval and early modern Irish
historical scholarship. The Irish Franciscans
working in Louvain produced the first full
modern history of Ireland which has had a
profound influence on the writing of Irish
history since the 17th century. The
Franciscan Order has begun to transfer this
critical archive to UCD, where it is now in
the care of the Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute for the Study of Irish History and Civilisation
and the School of History and Archives.
The arrival of the Franciscan manuscripts to
UCD is the latest chapter in their long and
fascinating journey. In 1607, when the Irish
Franciscans established an academic
community in Louvain, they gathered a group
of highly active friars who worked intensely on
collecting books and manuscripts and on
writing history, the lives of the Irish saints and
engaging in contemporary European theological
controversies. St Anthony’s College was founded
against a background of considerable difficulties
for the Franciscans in early 17th century
Ireland. Their friaries had fallen victim to major
military attacks while their manuscripts and
sacred objects had been either stolen or
dispersed for safe-keeping.
Not long after the Franciscans arrived in Louvain, Florence Conry, the founder of St Anthony’s College, conducted O'Neill and O’Donnell, Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell to Louvain before they travelled to Rome and into exile. These two events, 400 years ago, had a profound effect on Ireland. They still inform the profile of the Irish in Europe and our own sense of nationhood.
The Franciscans in Louvain set about a
painstaking project that involved them
returning to Ireland to collect any documented
material to be found on the subject of the lives
of Irish kings and saints. A key component of
the work was carried out by the lay-brother and
historian Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, with the assistance
of his collaborators Fearfeasa Ó Maoil Chonaire,
Cúchoigcríche Ó Cléirigh and Muiris Ó Maoil
Chonaire - a team described by one of fellow
friars and historians, John Colgan, as ‘the Four
Masters’.
This intense work of Ó Cléirigh and other friars brought new dimensions to Irish learning and in many ways rescued for posterity countless documented stories that make up Ireland's early history.Without the Four Masters, our understanding of Ireland's past would be greatly impoverished. The work goes on. Four hundred years later, custodians of Irish culture and history are continuing the mission of Ó Cléirigh and his collaborators, right here in UCD.
Ó Cléirigh's collection of manuscripts formed the core of the Louvain library at St Anthony’s College. The ‘A Manuscripts’, as they are known, are now deposited in the archives of UCD. In 2000, the Irish Franciscans and UCD established a partnership involving the transfer of the historic archive to UCD. It also involved the establishment of the UCD Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute (Fondúireacht Mhíchíl Uí Chléirigh). The Institute is a centre of research which covers all aspects of Irish history and civilisation and encourages scholars to pursue research in the field of Irish studies.
Throughout 2007, the work of St Anthony's College in Louvain has been celebrated in Ireland and on the Continent, in an effort to build on their extraordinary efforts and to reinvigorate the Irish cultural legacy for a new generation of people.
Dr Edel Bhreathnach of the UCD Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute, explains its objectives: “Our core activity is the care of the great Franciscan archive. That involves conservation, cataloguing, digitisation and fundraising so that we will ultimately have somewhere to house this very important national archive. The wider goal of the Institute is to foster academic research into all aspects of pre-18th century Irish history and literature.”
The Louvain 400 celebrations, which have been going on all year, have raised the profile of the Franciscan manuscripts and Dr Bhreathnach hopes that benefactors who recognise the importance of the archive to Irish history will contribute to the development of their permanent home. Louvain 400 has attracted considerable interest across academic and cultural circles and in the wider community.
“When we decided to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the establishment of the Franciscan College in Louvain, a whole range of institutions wanted to get involved,” says Dr Bhreathnach. “A variety of exhibitions with specific local tie-ins extended the Louvain 400 celebration. The Hunt Museum in Limerick used the anniversary as an anchor for its silverware exhibition and the National Museum of Ireland hosted 'Franciscan Faith - Sacred Art in Ireland 1600-1750' which is the direct result of an IRCHSS-funded project under the aegis of the Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute on the material culture of the mendicant orders in Ireland predating 1829 (Catholic Emancipation).”
‘Writing Irish History - The Four Masters and
Their World’ is the central exhibition of the
Louvain 400 celebrations. The exhibition, which
is running until the end of December and is a
collaborative effort involving the Royal Irish
Academy, Trinity College Dublin and UCD, brings
together all surviving original volumes of the
Annals of the Four Masters for the first time
since they were written in the 1630s. Louvain
400 celebrations were also held in the Royal
Hospital in Kilmainham and in the National
Library of Ireland.
UCD, in collaboration with the Louvain Institute for Ireland in Europe, organised an extensive summer school programme in Leuven in May which examined a range of fascinating subjects inspired by the work of the Louvain Franciscans - the Flight of the Earls, the writing of history, the Irish in Europe, Ireland in the 17th century, the role of manuscripts and material culture and the exile experience. The summer school was free and open to all, and attracted a diverse audience from different academic, cultural, historical and religious backgrounds.
So far, the A (medieval and early modern Irish
manuscripts), B (papers relating mainly to St
Isidore's College Rome) and D (papers relating
to Luke Wadding, founder of St Isidore's Rome)
manuscripts have been transferred to UCD as
well as1,500 books pre-dating the year 1700.
Conservation projects, funded by the Heritage
Council, are currently being undertaken on the
A and D manuscripts and all the A manuscripts
have been digitised by the Irish Script on Screen
national digitisation programme. Other projects
being directed by the UCD Mícheál Ó Cléirigh
Institute are the publication of a volume on
the history of the Irish Franciscans from 1540
to the present day, a cataloguing project of
post-1700 books and a large-scale project on
the intellectual heritage of friaries in Ireland
and on the Continent, with particular reference
to St Anthony’s.
See also...
The Irish Franciscans did an immeasurable
service to this country when they chose to
protect the story of the Irish and to project that
story to the widest possible audience. The work
they did has been enhanced by succeeding
generations. The arrival of these archives to
UCD marks an exciting new phase in the story
of the Franciscan manuscripts - the Louvain 400
celebrations have announced this important
development to the nation. Hopefully Louvain
400 and the Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute will
produce a new generation of custodians for this
irreplaceable work.
All images are courtesy of the UCD-OFM Partnership.