School founder to be honoured

An Irish educator who helped school millions of boys around the world will be honoured in Waterford City tomorrow.

A €6m visitor centre dedicated to Christian Brothers founder Edmund Ignatius Rice will be officially opened by the Taoiseach.

Born in Callan, Co Kilkenny in 1762, Rice was a successful businessman but devoted himself to education after a tragic accident killed his wife and left his daughter disabled.

He established his first school in Waterford City in 1802 and dozens followed in Ireland and around the world.

Rice’s remains have been placed in a new chapel on the visitor centre site at Mont Sion on Barrack Street.

The visitor centre will recreate Rice’s 18th-century Waterford through new technology using video, sounds and a smell generator.

Also featured is a 19th-century classroom and an exact replica of Rice’s room where he spent his final days.

An information room will give updates on the work of the Christian and Presentation Brothers around the world.

Rice was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1996 and may be made a saint at a future date.

The Taoiseach will also carry out Fianna Fáil constituency visits to Waterford and Cork while in the area tomorrow.