St Joseph's Patrician College

St. Joseph's Patrician College
Location
Nuns' Island, Galway, Ireland
Information
Type	Secondary School
Motto	“Pro Deo et Patria”
Established	1862
Principal	Ciaran Doyle
Color(s)	Blue and White
Affiliation	Catholic
Website	http://www.bish.ie

St. Joseph's Patrician College often known as 'The Bish' is a secondary school in Galway city, Ireland. It was founded by the Patrician Brothers, a religious order, and has approximately 800 students. on roll. It has found success in recent years in its wide range of sporting activities including Soccer, Rugby, Basketball, Rowing, GAA, and table tennis. The school is known for its inferiority in every way to the nearby Coláiste Iognáid (The Jes).

History

St Joseph's College was established in 1862 due to the absence of a Catholic Intermediate School for boys in the city. Bishop John McEvilly asked Brother Paul to open such a school and St. Joseph's Seminary was established at Nuns' Island in 1862. Due to the bishop's close association with the school, the seminary was generally referred to as "the bishop's school" and to this day is known as "The Bish." Publicising his new enterprise Bishop McEvilly wrote a pastoral in which he stated: "For many years we have had excellent schools for the lower orders at the Mercy Convent, Newtownsmith, and the Monastery School at Lombard St. The higher class of boys are catered for at St. Ignatius' College, the girls at the Dominican Convent. Now, at last, we happily have a school for the middle class at St. Joseph's Seminary, Nuns' Island."

When the school was established the word seminary had no ecclesiastical connotations and there was in fact a "Seminary For Young Ladies" further down Nuns' Island, by the 1930s the word had come to mean a college for the training of candidates for the priesthood, and at the express desire of Bishop Michael Brown the Brothers changed the name to "St. Joseph's College", and in the 1970s Bro. Valerian Whelan inserted the word Patrician in the title.

In 1899 a National School was opened to cater for the Junior Classes at the Seminary and it too came to be known as "The Bish". In 1930 the Brothers acquired the bonded store belonging to Persse's Distillery, renovated it and transferred the seventy Intermediate pupils across the road. The National School took over the rooms vacated on the original site and continued in operation until 1954 when it and "the Old Monastery School" were replaced by St. Patrick's.

Drama

The following is a list of plays and talent shows performed by the students of St. Joseph's Patrician College:

Year	Name of Show
1984	Bugsy
1987	H.M.S. Pinafore
1991	The Mikado
1992	H.M.S. Pinafore
1993	The Merchant of Venice
1994	Diarmuid and Gráinne (Abbreviated)
1997	Variety in Town Hall Parts 1 and 2
1998	Joseph
1999	Godspell March'99
2003	The King and I
2005	Oklahoma!
2006	The Pirates of Penzance
2007	South Pacific
2010	Bish Bash Talent Show I
2011	Bish Bash Talent Show II

Sport

Rowing St Joseph's College Rowing Club was established in 1932, making its first competitive appearance against St. Patrick's Boat Club later that year in the Schoolboy Fours. It did not acquire its own boathouse until 1955, when the Menlo Emmet's donated their Woodquay premises to the school under the agreement it should never be used for anything but the development of rowing. The club was a success from the beginning, and was seen as a dominant player in the Junior National Championships which had been established in 1964. National Championships

1969 - J18 8+	1985 J18 8+	2003 - J18 8+, 4+
1970 - J18 8+, 4+	1987 J18 4+	2004 - J18 8+, 4+
1971 - J18 8+, 4+	1992 J18 8+, 4+	2005 - J18 8+, 4+, 2-
1982 - J18 8+	1995 - J18 8+	2009 - J18 8+, 4+
1983 - J18 8+	1996 - J18 2-	2011 - J18 8+
1984 - J18 8+	2001 - J18 4+

Internationally, oarsmen from St. Joseph's College R.C. have also excelled, as a club competing at The British School Regatta, Ghent International Regatta and Henley Royal Regatta. Many have represented Ireland on the international stage at all levels of competition from the Home Countries Quadrangular (Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales), to the Coupe de la Jeunesse (European Junior Championship) and the World Junior Championship. Alumni of the school have achieved even higher laurels following on from their experience gained on the Corrib, competing at the World U-23 Championships, World Senior Championships and the Olympic Games.

Soccer

Basketball

Notable alumni

Politics

• Michael Colivet (29 March 1882 – 4 May 1955) was a Sinn Féin politician. He was elected MP for Limerick City, a founding member of the Irish Republic, and elected to the First Dail.
• Séamus Brennan, (1948–2008) Fianna Fáil politician, Teachta Dála and minister of various portfolios, most notably Transport where he oversaw the introduction of the penalty point system.

Sport

• Alan Martin, oarsman, Irish rowing team Beijing Olympics, 2008
• Neville Maxwell, oarsman, Irish rowing team Atlanta Olympics, 1996, Sydney Olympics, 2000
• Ger Farragher, Galway county hurler.
• Colin Hawkins, Dundalk F. C. footballer
• David Collins Galway county hurler, former All Ireland Young Hurler of The Year, former Galway Senior Hurling Captain.