Brothers founder Rice honoured with visitor centre
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will officially open the Edmund Rice International Heritage Centre on Barrack Street’s historic Mount Sion, launching a new era for the site which saw the foundation of the Christian Brothers and the Presentation Brothers, and where Edmund Rice died and is now at rest.
Mount Sion incorporates three interwoven strands — an international community of brothers, a visitor centre telling the story of the brothers and their founder, and a chapel which will be open to the public and houses Edmund Rice’s tomb.
Certain to become a focal point of the centre is a facsimile of Edmund Rice’s head, fashioned by Dundee-based scientist Caroline Wilkinson using computer images of the man’s skull. “They have come up with what we think is probably the closest to a likeness of him,” says centre chief executive Andy Kuppe.
“This is the thing a lot of people are interested in. This is how he would have looked at the age of 82.”
Mount Sion looks over the city of Waterford just as it did in the days of Edmund Rice, when the 17-year-old came from his Callan birthplace in Co Kilkenny, crossed the Suir by boat and began his work. Now the main bridge spanning the Suir in Waterford is named after him, marking his work with the city’s least fortunate after an earlier career as a successful businessman.
The €6 million Edmund Rice International Heritage Centre opens 229 years after his arrival in Waterford, and 164 years after his death. The importance he attached to education lives on in the adjacent Mount Sion primary and secondary schools, while throughout the world the Christian and Presentation brothers continue the tradition of teaching and helping the poorest of the poor.
Vocations to the various orders of brothers have been all but extinguished in recent years in this country, but throughout the developing world they continue to flourish and now the phenomenon of brothers arriving here from different countries is being experienced in Waterford.
Christian Brothers communications director Brother Edmund Garvey said: “Even today, while the visibility of the brothers in this part of the world and in the schools is declining all the time, this Edmund Rice spirit is emerging and growing in different ways, particularly in the developing world.”
Some years ago, the call went out from Mount Sion to Christian brothers and Presentation brothers to come to Waterford and form an international community. Now the Barrack Street building is home to Brother Sean Whitty from Canada, Brother Dan Herron from the US, Brother Kevin Mascarenhas from Pakistan, Brother Ian Robertson from Australia, and Brother Peadar Gleeson from Toomevara in Tipperary.
“In its heyday, there would have been at least 26 brothers in this house,” says Brother Ian.
“Today, we have deliberately set out to make this a house of hospitality.”
The brothers are involved in youth ministry and an Information and Support Unit for refugees and asylum-seekers.
Driving the refurbishment and development project over the past few years was Barry O’Brien, who oversaw the upgrade of the original building, the growth of the visitor centre and the construction of a chapel.
Contained in the chapel are a tomb housing the coffin of Blessed Edmund Rice, original stained glass which has been restored and set in concrete, art work, and many windows which allow the building to flood with sunlight during the day and allow those inside to look across the city.
A number of events are being held this week to mark the official opening. A one-man play, Edmund Rice by Brother Dan Casey and a lecture on Edmund Rice by international author and historian Dr Daire Keogh will be held at Mount Sion’s primary school hall on Wednesday February 6. After this Friday’s launch, meanwhile, a gala concert will be held at the Theatre Royal.
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