In 1857 Saint Eugene de Mazenod again visited England and went to the combined scholasticate, novitiate and juniorate at Sicklinghall in Yorkshire. However, within a few years of that visit, it became clear that the climate there was unsuitable and the mixture of candidates at three levels of formation far from ideal. Moreover, due to the work of preaching missions in Ireland out of the House of Retreat at Inchicore, Dublin, the number of postulants ready for novitiate had increased.
The Novitiate to Ireland
So towards the end of 1860 it was decided to move the Novitiate to Ireland. A suitable residence was found at a place called Hoeyfield, near the town of Delgany, in Co. Wicklow. The novices moved there in November 1860, and renamed the place Glenmary. The house was located about twenty-four kilometres south of Dublin.
According to Memorials of Deeds in the State Registry of Deeds, the property at Hoeyfield was about twenty hectares in size with a ‘mansion’ and out-offices. It was bought by Fr. Robert Cooke, o.m.i., provincial, for the sum of one hundred pounds sterling.
The lease was for one hundred and twenty years, commencing with a Mr. Hoey in 1839. The rental was twenty pounds sterling a year. The Seller was a Mr. Arthur Barlow and family, with address in Townsend Street, Dublin. The actual Deed of Sale to Fr. Cooke was not registered until June 2nd., 1863, just some months prior to the transfer of the Novitiate to Belmont House Stillorgan. The property was bounded on the north by the lands of Coolnaskeagh and Delgany, on the east by Randalstown and Coolguard, on the west by Crossrowdan and on the south by a private road from the Glen of the Downs to Windgates. Later, Fr. Cooke sold the house and the property to a Mr. Patrick Travers, a farmer in Co. Wicklow, for one hundred and thirty pounds sterling. The date of the Deed of Sale is registered as May 1st., 1867.
Situation at Glenmary
In a letter to the Superior General in 1861 Fr. Robert Cooke, Provincial, described Glenmary as ‘very picturesque with a thousand little valleys of ravishing beauty’. The house was protected from the occasional stormy winds from the Irish Sea. Fr. Cooke mentioned a beautiful tree lined avenue leading up to the house.
The novice master was Fr. Prosper Boisramé, who was born in France in 1831, joined the Oblates after his theological studies and received Holy Orders from the Founder at Marseilles. He came to England in 1854 and was assistant novice master at Sicklinghall, Yorkshire before coming to Ireland. He returned to France in 1868 and went on to become master of novices at Lachine, Quebec, Canada, in 1874. According to the personnel of 1862, Fr. Peter Nolan was superior of the house.
Numbers at the Novitiate
From our archives list of novices covering the period November 1860 to October 1863, twenty-four scholastic novices and seventeen lay brother novices entered at Glenmary. Of these seven priests and ten brothers persevered in the Congregation. It is more difficult to estimate how many novices came to Glenmary in 1860 from the novitiate at Sicklinghall in Yorkshire, England. We can say, however, that of those who were at Sicklinghall as of October 1859 and, presumably went to Glenmary to complete their novitiate, three priests and three brothers persevered.
Visit of the Superior General
In a copy of the Acts of Visitation of the British Province, dated June 4th, 1863, the Superior General, Fr. Joseph Fabre, o.m.i., had the following to say about Glenmary.
‘On arrival I was not a little surprised at finding myself in the midst of scenery as beautiful as I have ever seen. Unfortunately, the dwelling house is of the most sorry deion and, what is worse, it is much too small. Happily, the air there is most wonderfully pure, and the fervour of our dear novices makes them cheerfully bear with the inconvenience of an unfit dwelling place. I was able to spend two days in the midst of these dear children.’
In a letter to Rome, written in August 1864, about his visitation of the British Province the previous year, Fr. Robert Cooke, provincial, also describes the house as very inadequate and very cramped. He moved soon after this visit of the Superior General to find another more suitable place for the novitiate, larger and closer to Dublin. This was at Stillorgan, near the village of Galloping Green, and the house and property there were purchased from All Hallow’s College, a seminary on the north side of Dublin run by the Congregation of the Mission.
The juniors and novices walked from Glenmary to Belmont House, on October 10th. 1863.
Richard Haslam, o.m.i.
