O’Donnell House was erected in Drumcondra in honour of the memory of Fr. Thomas O'Donnell (1864-1949), who served as President of All Hallows College from 1920 to 1948, and is now a part of the expanded campus of Dublin City University. It was originally part of the former All Hallows College, created in 1842 by Fr. John Hand (1807-1846), and run by the Vincentians order of priests as a seminary to educate future Roman Catholic missionaries to serve abroad. That college closed in 2016, and the premises became the All Hallows Campus of Dublin City University, a university established in Glasnevin, Dublin, since 1989.[1]
In the late 1950s, Fr. William Purcell, then President of All Hallows, commissioned a building to honour his predecessor, Fr. Thomas O’Donnell, C. M. O’Donnell had been renowned for a book he wrote in 1910 on the ideals and duties of priests.,[2] and for his biography of Fr. John Hand.[3]
On 20 May 1958, the 112th anniversary of the death of Fr. Hand, O’Donnell House was inaugurated by the Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid. The building, constructed as a modern example of Irish monumental Palladian architecture, was used for primarily for lectures.[4] It also provided residential accommodation on the upper floors for student clerics.
References
edit- ^ Fagan, Jack. "DCU likely buyer for All Hallows College in Drumcondra". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ The Priest of To-day: His Ideals and His Duties, by Thomas O’Donnell, published by Benziger Brothers, New York, 1910
- ^ Fr. John Hand, by Fr. Thomas O’Donnell, C.M. (pp. 290-295) in The Irish Way, essays edited by F. J. Sheed, published by Sheed & Ward, New York, 1933, printed in the Irish Free State by Cahill & Co. Ltd., Dublin
- ^ [1][dead link]