Br. Edmund Ignatius Rice

EDMUND RICE was born in Callan, Co. Kilkenny on June 1st, 1762 to Robert Rice and his wife Margaret (nee Tierney). There were two girls and seven boys in the family; the girls, Joan and Jane, were born of an earlier marriage of Margaret to a Mr. Murphy. Edmund- christened the day after his birth in honour of his grand-father -was the fourth son.

His father was a well-to-do farmer, managing two hundred acres of good land for which he paid a yearly rent of 300 pounds.He sent his children to the local "hedge school" conducted in Moat Lane, Callan. The school, was in fact a long shed of stone walls, straw roof and glass-less windows. The subjects taught were reading, writing and arithmetic and, at a cost of a ha'penny extra per week, Irish dancing.

When he reached the age of 14 Edmund was sent to a school in Kilkenny city. He remained here until he was 17 years old, when he was sent to Waterford city to become an apprentice to his merchant uncle, Michael Rice.

With the serious application to work and prudence and kindness in all his dealings with others- characteristics that were to become more marked in his later life- Edmund made such a success of his profession that his uncle left the entire business to him in his will. He soon became one of the leading Catholic merchants in Ireland.

In 1787 Edmund married, but his wife was killed in a riding accident just two years later, leaving him with the care of an invalid daughter, Mary. This great tragedy in young Rice's life drew him closer to God and he became more involved in his work with the poor and under -priveleged. He visited hospitals, prisons, and attended public executions comforting and assisting the condemned.

He was a great reader of the Bible and one of the most cherished relics in the possession of the Brothers is his personal Bible towards the publication of which he subscribed in 1791. His name is written on the fly-leaf in his own hand and also in his own hand is a list of texts of scripture against usury, urging kindness and consideration for one's less fortunate fellow-men. Among them are the following : Lev. 25/35, "If thy brother be impoverished, and weak of hand, and thou receive him as a stranger and sojourner and he live with thee, take not usury of him nor more than thou gavest: fear thy God that thy brother may live with thee." From Matthew 5/42 "Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away." And from St. Luke 6/35, "But love your enemies; do good and lend, hoping for nothing thereby and your reward shall be great and you shall be the sons of the Most High...."

As he made his way round his adopted city of Waterford on business or on errands of mercy he became more and more aware of the plight of his deprived countrymen until eventually he decided to give all his wealth and indeed to give himself totally to help alleviate the misery and hardship.

Most Rev. Dr. Thomas Hussey, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore since 1797, was a close friend of Edmund Rice and must have played an important part in influencing him to start his great work of charity. The same year that he was appointed Bishop by the Holy See, he addressed a fomous pastoral on education to the people and clergy of his diocese, in the course of which he said to his priests: "...I call on you to stand firm against all attempts which may be made under various pretexts to withdraw any of your flocks from the belief and practice of the Catholic religion. Remonstrate with any parent who will be so criminal as to expose his offspring to those places of education where his religious faith or morals are likely to be prevented..."

Nano Nagle had begun her work for poor girls in Cork in 1775. Edmund Rice bought land and made arrangements to help the Presentation Nuns become established in Waterford in 1798. He was their life-long friend and very generous benefactor. To this day some of the proudest possessions of the Nuns in Waterford are the gifts received from Edmund. We can be sure that the example of the Nuns was a very big factor in his decision to do likewise for the poor boys of Waterford.

Edmund Rice's first school was opened in a two storey building in New Street, Waterford. The Founder and his companions lived upstairs and converted the lower storey, which had been a livery stable with cobbled floor, into class-rooms. These rooms, three altogether, were very unsiutable as class rooms, being very irregular in lay-out, lacking proper lighting and ventilation, etc.

Edmund had been an extremely successful businessman but was totally unprepared for his new role of teacher. However, he soon got the assistance of two teachers who had experience and training in the profession. Altough he found it very difficult to cope, with the help of his paid teachers his first school soon became established. It was not long, however, before his two teachers decided that the work was too difficult- the Waterford boys were extremely hard to manage not having been used to school discipline- and no matter how much money they were offered they would not stay. This surely must have been one of the severest tests the founder had to undergo. Being a man of deep faith and unbounded trust in Almighty God he kept going somehow and was soon rewarded when two young men from his native Callan, Patrick Finn and Thomas Grosvenor, came to help him, not as paid assistants but as helpers. Thus began the great work that was to spread to so many countries all over the world.

The foundation stone of a new school and residence, later known as Mount Sion, was laid on 1st June 1802. As soon as the school was ready the New Street boys moved in and Mr. Rice and his companions took up residence in the adjoining house.

Once more however, just when everything was becoming well organised, Edmund was to be severely tested. For some reason unknown to him, Dr. Hussey seemed to turn against him. He no longer visited the school, became formal, cold, even indifferent. In his difficulty Mr. Rice sought the advice of his friend, Fr. John Power, Parish Priest of St. John's, Waterford, and later to succeed Dr. Hussey as Bishop. Fr. Power suspected that the Bishop's change in attitude was due to the way in which Edmund had acquired the property on which Mount Sion was built. The land had been the site of Faha Chapel and had been ecclesiastical property. This property was transferred to Mr. Rice, by the Dean of the Diocese, Dr. Hearne, acting on behalf of the Bishop who was out of the country from 1797 until the end of 1802. The transfer of the property was made without the explicit permission of his Lordship. Fr. Power's advice was that Edmund should hand back the deeds to the Bishop (though he had by this time spent £2,500 of his own money on the buildings). This advice was immediately acted on and as Mr. Rice was handing over the deeds of the property he requested that he be allowed to occupy part of the residence and continue to teach poor boys in the school for the remainder of his life. This humble act of submission convinced His Lordship of the Founder's absolute sincerity and supernatural motives and the two great men once more worked hand in hand to improve the lot of the poor of Waterford.

Mount Sion was blessed and officially opened by his Lordship on 1st June 1803 and Edmund Rice and his first two companions began their life as religious. Less than six weeks later Dr. Hussey had a stroke and died suddenly. In his will, drawn up the day before he died, he left all he had to Edmund.

The new school was soon overflowing but Mr. Rice realised that there were many boys who colud not attend simply because they had no clothes. To encourage these boys to come along he built a little bakery and tailor shop beside the school. The bakehouse cum tailorshop can still be seen in the grounds of Mount Sion, a reminder, not only of his profound charity but also of his down-to-earth, common-sense practicality.

Edmund and his followers used attend Mass every morning in the Presentation Convent. Indeed they followed the Presentation Rule, while working on a new Rule that would later receive the approval of Rome. On the feast day of Our Lady's Assumption, 1808, Edmund Rice and 6 companions made their first religious vows.

Other schools were opened in Carrig-on Suir, 1806, Dungarvan the following year, the famous North Monastery in Cork in 1811, etc., numbering 10 foundations by 1820. Each of these foundations, once established, was more or less an independent unit. Because they followed the Presentation Rule the Brothers were known as the Presentation Brothers. In 1822 the Institute was officially approved by the Holy Father, Pope Pius VII. At this time the majority of the Brothers favoured the amalgamation of the communities under a Superior General and Br. Rice was elected to this office. However, a number of Brothers preferred to remain under the old Rule. Hence today there are two congregations that claim Br. Rice as thier founder: the Presentation Brothers and the Christian Brothers.

From the beginning the emphasis in the schools was on the religious training of the boys. J.E. Bicheno in "Ireland and its Economy, a Tour, 1820", states : "In these schools the chief occupation was evidently of a religious nature, catechetical examination, committing prayers to memory....with a frequent attendance in the Chapel withinb the walls of their schoolhouse....". Nor was the ordinary business of school neglected as the following evidence, put before the British House of Parliament in 1824, testifies: " In the town of Waterford there is one who has devoted his time in a most praise-worthy manner to the benevolent purpose of educating the ignorant and destitute part of his countrymen.... I never saw more order, more regularity of greater system, than in that school under the superintendence of Mr. Rice." Br. Rice summed up education as follows- "Education refers to a man's whole life, here and hereafter."

Br. Rice and his followers lived a life of exterme poverty and were soon in the position of actual poverty as the new schools and monasteries absorbed all thier money. "For fifty years the Institute grew slowly in the atmosphere of poverty and failure that surrounds a genuine work of God" (the late Dr. McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin, in his preface to "Edmund Rice" by J.D. Fitzpatrick).

Br. Rice must have been a deeply spiritual man to keep going in spite of so many difficulties and seeming failure. Perhaps his own words, quoted from a letter still extant, give us an insight into his spirituality more than anything else could do. In a letter dated August 10th, 1810, addressed to a business acquaintance, Mr. Bryan Bolger, tje Founder makes the following observations: "....let us do ever so little for God we will be sure He will never forget it, nor let it pass unrewarded. How many of our actions are lost for want of applying them to this end, and were we to know the merit and value of only going from one street to another to serve a neighbour for the love of God we should prize it more than Gold or Silver...One thing you may be sure of, that whilst you work for God whether you succeed or not, He will amply reward you...."

Br. Rice died in 1844 on the 29th August in Mount Sion, Waterford. He was buried in the Brothers' little cemetery in the grounds of the Monastery. Among the many fine tributes paid to him after his death was the following, in the course of a sermon given by Fr. Fitzgerald on the occasion of the month's mind: "For as long as gratitude shall find a resting place in the Irish heart, as long as religion shall be reverenced amongst us, as long as civilization shall be prized and cherished.... the name of Edmund Rice will be held in benediction."

Br. Edmund Ignatius Rice was a man who took Christ at His word:

"I was hungry and you gave Me to eat;

I was thirsty and you gave Me to drink;

I was a stranger and you took Me in;

Naked and you covered Me;

Sick and you visited Me;

I was in prison and you came to Me."

(Matthew 15-35 & 36)