Two past pupils and former Head Boys, Paddy Burns (Notre Dame) and Lewis McGarvey (Duke), faced each other in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship held in WakeMed Soccer Park, North Carolina.
Ultimately, it was Paddy’s team, Notre Dame who won 2-0 over Duke.
Gloria Ab Intus!
On Friday 22nd October, Mass was celebrated in the College Chapel for the Feast of St. Malachy (3rd November). Due to restrictions in place, representatives from the Board of Governors, St. Malachy’s Old Boys’ Association, Senior Staff, Head Boy Team and College Musicians were in attendance.
At 10am, the Mass was streamed across various sites within the College to enable all staff to pause from their usual teaching routines to allow boys to watch, listen and to participate in celebration.
European Heritage Open Days (EHOD) is Northern Ireland’s annual celebration of local architecture, history and culture.
St Malachy’s College Chapel (Harry Clarke Stained Glass Windows) and The O’Laverty Library will be open 11:00-16:00 Saturday 11th September 2021.
‘We live in unprecedented times.’ How often, over the past year, have we heard politicians and commentators make this type of statement. Actually - no – we don’t. Throughout history pandemics have been a fact of life.
Ex-St. Malachy’s student Dr John Curran is a Senior Lecturer at Queen’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities and one of the contributors to this timely look at pandemics and their consequences through history. As an historian of classical antiquity, he examines the devastating plagues of the ancient world in the first episode called ‘Civilisations under Attack’.
The technical vocabulary of disease is still largely in Greek and Latin e.g. pan=all, demos=people, virus=poison, etc. Large scale disease held a particular dread for the Greeks. John examines the great plague at Athens in 431-429 B.C. when, during a war with Sparta, the surrounding rural population crowded into the city and a deadly plague broke out. In the absence of any social distancing it killed a quarter of the population including Pericles, the great champion of Athenian democracy (and hero of Boris Johnson). It marked the start of Athens’ decline.
Rome also suffered plagues on a vast scale which affected commerce and damaged the structures of society. In other episodes the spread of the devastating Black death along shipping routes to Europe is examined. It may have killed over two million people in England alone. Descriptions of the contagion are not easy listening. The final episode discusses how the present Coronavirus might lead to long term changes in health planning, insurance and economic responses.
History, as John Curran points out, is a ‘two-way street’. We look back at the past, but the past sends us messages for our own time. This Queen’s University podcast shows us that we can indeed learn from the experiences of those who battled the great plagues of ancient and medieval times and is well worth a listen.
G. McN
The Life and Tragic Death of Edward Keys.
A century ago this week, on the morning of Saturday 12th March 1921, a poignant ceremony took place in the Chapel of St. Malachy’s College. It was a Requiem Mass for Mr Edward Keys, a young and brilliant Mathematics teacher and former student whose life and career had been cut short by TB. The President, staff and many students of the College were joined by Bishop MacRory in a packed congregation before interment at the family burial at Aldergrove.
But Edward left a unique legacy to his ‘alma mater’. His little leather-bound diary of the year 1914, the gift of the Meighan family, resides rather appropriately in a cabinet in the O’Laverty Library of St. Malachy’s College. In tiny, neat writing Edward has left us an intimate record of a schoolboy’s daily life of lessons, games and relationships in and out of school during the first year of the Great War.
From Hillman St in the New Lodge area, Edward entered the preparatory grade of St. Malachy’s in 1911 at the age of 12. He won a First-Class Exhibition in Mathematics, coming sixth in Ireland and yet he had an awkward relationship with his Maths teacher John A. Conway, known as ‘Kruger’. There is much talk of this in the diary. Teacher and students were often at loggerheads. At one point Edward’s class ‘went on strike’ and refused to do any work. Oddly, after taking his degree in Mathematics at Queens, it was Edward who stood in as substitute teacher for Conway when the latter stood for Parliament (for the South Derry constituency in December 1918.) In 1919 Edward’s teaching post became permanent.
Even though Edward makes disparaging comments about his own ability in Latin there is ample evidence of an exceptional talent. There are a couple of quotations from Greek drama accurately transcribed with careful attention to breathings and accents, phrases in French and references to English literature – all from a prize-winning Mathematics specialist.
Football Mad!
When not in school, visits to the ‘Picture House’ and Oldpark Library are frequently mentioned but like most of today’s teenage boys, football was a huge part of Edward’s life. He played a game most days and was a fanatical supporter of ‘the Stripes’ - Belfast Celtic. Several games are described with player performances and chances missed; the result would affect his mood for some time afterwards. One of his school friends, Arthur Ryan, also a Celtic supporter, accompanied him to matches. Academically gifted too, Arthur would later become a priest and famous theologian, teaching for a short time at St. Malachy’s.
Working from Home!
For a star student, Edward is reassuringly normal. Throughout the pages of the diary he grumbles about many issues including bad weather, teachers, boredom and excessive homework. He enjoyed his Maths, but he was far from a fanatical zealot. During a period of illness at home, a classmate arrived with a consignment of sums sent by ‘Kruger’. Edward is disgusted at ‘the cheek of the man’.
A Tragic Family
In an article for the 1989 edition of the Collegian, Dr Eamon Phoenix examined in some detail the background to the Keys Diary. He discovered that the family suffered appalling tragedy; ‘within six years of the last diary entry’ both his parents and a sister had died. Then, almost exactly a year after Edward’s death, at the height of the sectarian pogroms, his sister Sarah was killed by a sniper when crossing Annadale Street (no longer existing) off the Antrim Road. James Keys, Edward’s brother, who also attended the College thus lost a father, mother, brother and two sisters in a few years.
Even though this is a sad story and St. Malachy’s College was robbed of a talented teacher, there can be no doubt that this young man left behind a unique gift. Extracts from his diary have been selected and provide a local history resource for Year 8 students. His determination, love of sport and sense of fun shine through. In a sense Edward goes on teaching!
G. McN
As a 16-year-old schoolboy he famously showed up at St. Malachy’s College for class on the morning after the devastating blitz of April 1941. It was with great sadness that the College community heard of the death of Fr Brendan McGee on 9th February in Nazareth Care Home at the age of 96.
He was described by Fr Eugene O’Neill, Administrator of St. Patrick’s as a ‘fearless priest’ and a ‘fountain of wisdom’. Always noted for his prodigious memory, Fr Brendan was a former Dean of the Cathedral. He was ordained in 1950 and will be remembered with gratitude and affection in several Belfast parishes and in Portaferry.
In recent years, as an assisting curate, he welcomed students from his ‘alma mater’ attending the annual St. Malachy’s Day Mass at St. Patrick’s, never part of the main event but always busy with preparations in the sacristy.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
On Friday 6 November, Mass was celebrated in the College Chapel for the Feast of St. Malachy and the St. Malachy’s Old Boys’ Association Annual Mass for Deceased Old Boys and staff. Due to current restrictions in place, representatives of St. Malachy’s Old Boys’ Association, current students, past pupils, musicians and senior staff were in attendance.
If you wish to watch the service, please click the following link: https://youtu.be/vCg_Gyaz7qU
Paddy Agnew – ob Nov 15, 2019 (Rugby Intl)
Charlene Fryers – ob Jan 14, 2020 (wife of Martin McWilliams)
Fr Conleth Byrne – ob Jan 17, 2020
Kevin McAlindon – ob Jan 30, 2020
Marguerite Egan – ob Mar 2nd, 2020
Thomas O’Boyle – ob Mar 18th, 2020
Maurice O’Hare – ob Mar 23rd, 2020
Tom Lynch – ob April 1st, 2020
Gerard McCann – ob April 30th 2020 (54 – 57)
Carl Mooney – ob May 3rd, 2020. (Year 11 pupil)
John E Maguire – ob June 1st, 2020
Fr John O’Sullivan – ob June 15th, 2020 (his 96th birthday)
John Sullivan – ob 18 June 2020 (father of Past President, David)
Noah Donohoe – ob c 21 June 2020 (Year 10 pupil)
Michael McQuillan – ob July 11 2020
Kevin Leonard – ob Aug 13 2020
Hugh McCann – ob Sept 2020
Michael O’Neill – ob Oct 5, 2020
Matt Salters – ob Oct 31, 2020
Two team titles as Lavery leads the way at Ulster Schools Cross Country. On a cold, but bright day at Mallusk, Matthew Lavery was the most impressive winner across the 10 races of the day. He went straight to the front and ran away from the field, to record a massive winning margin and claim his first Ulster Schools title. He had the added bonus of leading his Intermediate team to victory. Luke Ferris continued his outstanding season to finish 7th against athletes a year older. Luke Kelly had a solid run in 15th and Eoghan Breen completed the scoring in 34th.
The Senior boys had the most comprehensive team victory of the day placing all 4 scorers in the top 8. Niall McKnight ran a brilliant race to claim 4th place, missing the bronze medal by a whisker in a sprint finish. He was folllowed closely by Callum Morgan in 5th, Adam Ferris in 6th and Fionntan Campbell in 8th. The race was won by St Malachy's AC athlete, and past pupil, Conall McClean competing for Belfast Met.
The highlight of the younger races was undoubtedly Finn Diver who fought his way up to the front of the race after a blistering start by his rivals. Once there he made a strong push for the finish, but couldn't get rid of all the pursuers. In the closest of finishes he was pipped on the line for the win. Year 8 pupil Eoin McConnell ran a brave and aggressive race, placing himself in the top 3-4 athletes throughout most of the race. He lost a few places in the run in, but held on for a super 9th place.
A great day from the College athletes which is available to watch back on the BBC website.
Works on the installation of our new synthetic playing surface was completed on Friday 17th January 2020. The Domo Sports Grass Duraforce XSL pitch was formally handed over to Mr Paul McBride, College Principal by representatives of the contractor, Haffey Sportsgrounds. The College is delighted with our new state of the art pitch and look forward to our pupils and other user groups enjoying the benefit of it for many years to come.
Our former Head Boy (Class of 2019), Paddy Burns, represented Northern Ireland last week in a UEFA U19 Tournament. Northern Ireland played against Norway, Portugal and Germany. The team lost narrowly to Norway and Portugal but beat the Germans on penalties after the game ended 1-1. Paddy scored the first penalty and is hoping to be selected for the team again next July when Northern Ireland host the U19 European Championships.
St. Malachy's College Old Boys' Association 'Annual Mass for deceased Past Pupils and Staff' will be celebrated in the College Chapel on Monday 11 November 2019 at 7.30pm.
