History of Esker

St. Patrick’s, Esker, Athenry, Co. Galway, was established on 18th August 1901.  For thirty-five years it was the major seminary of the Province and from 1948 until 1969 it was the novitiate.  In 1971 the former novitiate was opened as a retreat house.  From its establishment until now Esker has been, and is, a centre for missions in the West of Ireland.

FOUNDATION IN ESKER

When the Redemptorists came to Esker in 1901 they were heirs to a religious tradition that stretched back 600 years and more.  In 1241 the Dominicans established themselves in Athenry where they flourished until 1574 when they were suppressed by the minions of Queen Elizabeth I of England.  However, individual friars remained in the vicinity of their old home until 1698 when an act of the Dublin Parliament banished them from Ireland and forbade their return under pain of death.  But return they did, only nine years later when a little group made a small home for themselves near the old lake at Esker.  In 1715 they moved to the higher and drier ground on which the present buildings stand, and here they remained until 1893 when they abandoned a foundation that, for them, had no future.

Esker served as a minor seminary for the dioceses of Clonfert from 1893 to 1901.

Father Boylan, first Irish Provincial Superior in seeking a home for his congregation in the West of Ireland in a letter dated 21st April 1900 wrote to Bishop Healy of Clonfert said: "I was told sometime ago that you were willing to receive us into your diocese and sell us the place at Esker.  Let me know if you are still in the same frame of mind."  The Bishop said 'yes'.  Father Boylan then asked for a speedy transaction of sale so that he could bring the Irish students direct from Teignmouth, in the south of England to Esker.  But there was little chance of this as purchase had to be negotiated with Willie Daly of Dunsandle who, with his brother Denis St. George, was landlord of the Esker property and who, despite his protestations of good will, was a hard bargainer.

The negotiations dragged on for many months thanks to the dilatoriness of Daly and were concluded only in May 1901.  Bishop Healy the tenant received nearly £5,500 while Willie Daly the landlord received just over £2,400.

Esker with its church, buildings and land was Redemptorist property for nearly £8,000.  And this was only the beginning as the buildings were in an appalling state.  The Dominican Convent had to be demolished and a new monastery built, while the College and Church had to be extended and repaired.  Father Boylan was a happy man when on 21st March 1901, he and Father Somers, the new Superior of Esker, said Mass for the first time in their future home.

On Friday 16th August 1901, Bishop Healy came to Esker and gave full possession of it to Fathers Boylan and Somers both of whom arrived that day.  The first member of the Esker community to take up residence was Father Patrick Sampson who had arrived two days earlier.  Before this happy event however a storm had erupted when the parish priest of Kiltulla, Father Joseph Cahalan protested vigorously to the Redemptorist Superior General against the Esker foundation.  "This place and parish are remote and very poor," he wrote "Hence complaints are inevitable, to the scandal of the faithful and of religion. For these and other reasons I hope that this foundation will never have your approval".  Bishop Healy told Father Boylan to pay no attention to the protest.  Father Cahalan, he said, "wants ‘managership’ of the Esker school and I have told that he will get it."

Esker was destined to become a flourishing centre for missionary work in the English and Gaelic speaking areas of the West.  It served as a seminary too for the Irish Redemptorist students of philosophy and theology, 1905-1940.  It was the Novitiate of the Irish province 1949-1970 and in 1971 a retreat house for women was started.

When one considers the long history of Esker and remembers that it is a continuation of a 13th century Dominican foundation at Athenry it must be recognised as one of the most venerable ecclesiastical settlements in our country today.  Floreat in perpetuum.

Patrick O'Donnell, C.Ss.R.

SEARCH, No. 3, September 1978