Who are those blond seminarians? Until mid-twentieth century, visitors to the city of Salamanca stopped to look at them wondering who they were, for Salamanca inhabitants they were a daily scene: tall and blond young men with a black cassock and a clover-shaped purple cross on the heart, passed in two rows between the Theological Seminary and the Colegio del Arzobispo Fonseca. The answer: They are the Irish, students of the Royal College of Noble Irish.
This School was founded by Father Thomas White, SJ, a native of Clonmel, with the approval of Philip II in 1592. The King of Spain provided generous funding and the direction of the school was entrusted by him to to the Jesuits, so that Irish Catholics coming to take refuge in Spain could study there. Close commercial relations came out of this and many families of these students get the Spanish nationality and made a great impact in the destiny of Spain.
Wellington himself, who was Irish, at his arrival to Spain saw that the President of the Irish College of Nobles was a member of a family friend of his. This President, using Wellington´s influence got a house (Colegio del Arzobispo Fonseca) to replace that one the French had burned during the War of Independence. Irish returned to Salamanca after the war and since 1838 they occupied the Fonseca College until 1951.
In Spain, Irish colleges were established in Salamanca, Sevilla, Alcala, Santiago de Compostela and Madrid so that Irish could study in a Catholic University. Many of the most distinguished Irish bishops and priests during the seventeenth century were men who had graduated in Salamanca. Schools had this standard " To receive Irish students , perfect grammarists, of well-known skills, sense and virtue; of clean and pure blood, of Catholic parents and ancestors," as evidenced by a statement of 1720. They were tested in Ireland before coming to Spain, by the Superior of the Company, "without whose report and patent could not be admitted into this seminar" .They studied Philosophy and Theology.
In the period between 1594 and 1644, Salamanca prepared almost four hundred students, including a Primate of All Ireland, archbishops, bishops, directors of religious orders, martyrs, priests, distinguished writers and Doctors of Divinity.
Until 1951 around thirty students studied in this College. They entered the College at age of 18 or 19 years old, having previously passed in Ireland the equivalent to High School Spanish and passed an entrance examination. Instruction was all given in Latin. They all came from aristocratic families, mainly, because they alone could cover the vast expenses of studying abroad, most spent the duration of six years of their studies before returning to their land. But...yes, they spent their summers in a farm next to the beach that the College had in Asturias. Each and every one of the priests who left the Irish College in Salamanca, returned very oftenly due to the good memories that kept of those times.
Salamanca is a university town since the Middle Ages, for this reason it has assumed constant contacts with other countries and cultures, always attracting a very important number of foreign students. Irish have always had there a constant and considerable influence. The College is now used as a residence for postgraduates from around the world in which almost always an Irish researcher is housed.
Algeciras, fifteen of January 2010.
Jesus Castro.
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