Edmund Ignatius Rice

Edmund Ignatius Rice was born to Robert Rice and Margaret Rice (née Tierney) on the farming property of "Westcourt", in Callan, County Kilkenny. Edmund Rice was the fourth of seven sons, although he also had two half-sisters, Joan and Jane Murphy, the offspring of his mother's first marriage.

Rice's education, like that of every other Irish Catholic of the day, was greatly compromised by the 1709 amendment to the Popery Act, which decreed that any public or private instruction in the Catholic faith would render teachers liable to prosecution, a measure that was not reformed until 1782. In that environment, hedge schools proliferated. The boys of the Rice family obtained education at home through Patrick Grace, a member of the small community of Augustinian friars in Callan. As a young man, Rice spent two years at a school which, despite the provisions of the penal laws, the authorities suffered to exist in the City of Kilkenny.

His uncle Michael owned a merchant business in the nearby port town of Waterford. In 1779, Edmund was apprenticed to him, moving into a house in the market parish of Ballybricken, entering the business of trading livestock and other supplies, and supervising the loading of victuals onto ships bound for the British colonies. Michael Rice died in 1785, and this business passed to Edmund.

He was an active member of a society established in the city for the relief of the poor. His favourite charity was the Sick and Indigent Roomkeepers’ Association, whose members visited the sick poor in their homes. He was also introduced to Jesuit spirituality when he joined the "Waterford group" of young men who met for prayer and reading at the "Little Chapel", now St Patrick's Catholic Church in Jenkin's Lane.

In about 1785, he married a young woman, perhaps Mary Elliott, the daughter of a Waterford tanner. Little is known about their married life. Mary died in January 1789 following an accident, possibly due to a fever that set in afterwards. Mary was pregnant at the time, and their daughter was born on her deathbed. Also named Mary, she was born handicapped. Edmund Rice was left a widower, with an infant daughter in delicate health.

In February 1838, Edmund Rice left the North Richmond Street community and returned to Mount Sion in Waterford. Aged seventy-six, and by now in poor health, he wrote to the different communities calling for a General Chapter to elect a new Superior General. The chapter, which opened on 24 July 1838, elected Michael Paul Riordan as Rice's successor.

From that time on, Edmund Rice spent an increasing proportion of his time at Mount Sion and the adjoining school, showing a continued interest in the pupils and their teachers. He took a short walk each day on the slope of Mount Sion, but his increasingly painful arthritis led the community superior, Joseph Murphy, to purchase a wheelchair for his benefit. At Christmas time, 1841, Rice's health took a turn for the worse, and even though expectations of his imminent death did not turn out to be justified, he was increasingly confined to his room.

After living in a near-comatose state for more than two years, in the constant care of a nurse since May 1842, Rice died at 11 a.m. on 29 August 1844, at Mount Sion, Waterford, where his remains lie in a casket to this day. Large crowds filled the streets around his house in Dublin to honour him.

In 1808, seven of the staff including Edmund Rice took religious vows under the authority of Bishop Power of Waterford. Following the example of Nano Nagle's Presentation Sisters, they were called Presentation Brothers. It was the first congregation of men to be founded in Ireland and one of the few ever founded by a layman. Gradually, a transformation took place amongst the "quay kids" of Waterford, largely attributed to Edmund and his brothers' work, who educated, clothed and fed the boys. Other bishops in Ireland supplied Edmund Rice with men, who he prepared for the religious life and a life of teaching. Subsequently, the Presentation Brothers spread throughout Ireland.

The communities were under the bishop's control in each diocese rather than Edmund Rice, which created problems when Brothers were needed to be transferred from one school to another. Rice sought approval from Pope Pius VII for the community to be made into a pontifical congregation with a Superior General, which was obtained in 1820. The Pope's brief specified that the members were to be bound by vows of obedience, chastity, poverty and perseverance, and to give themselves to the free instruction, religious and literary, of male children, especially the poor.

The heads of houses were to elect a Superior General. Rice held that office from 1822 to 1838. He was then able to move brothers across diocesan boundaries to wherever they were most needed. During that time, the institution extended to several English towns, especially in Lancashire, and the teaching instruction grew out of the primary school stage.

In the 1820s, further difficulties emerged, owing to the expansion of the society and its becoming two distinct congregations. From that time on, they were called Christian Brothers and the Presentation Brothers. The motto of the Christian Brothers was: "The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord forever" (Job 1: 21).

In 1828, the North Richmond Street house and schools in Dublin were established by Rice. The foundation stone was laid by the politician Daniel O'Connell. The building housed the Brothers' headquarters for many years. The current residence incorporates the original house built by Rice, who lived there for several years, beginning in 1831.