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Spiritan Personalities

Many people associated with the Spiritans have gone on to make a big impact in their field. We have listed some of these below. There are of course many Spiritans themselves who have made history, and there are short biographies of these on a separate page. And lastly, there is a page devoted to famous alumni of Blackrock College, Ireland.

President Eamon De Valera

Eamon De Valera (b. 1882) did both his secondary and university studies at Blackrock College. In 1916 he took a leading role in the Easter Rising and the foundation of the Irish State, culminating in the framing of the 1937 Constitution. He was elected Taoiseach, Uachtarán na hÉireann and Chancellor of the National University of Ireland. He further received the highest honour in the Catholic Church from Pope Pius XII; the Order of Christ. In 1960 he was made an Associate Member of the Holy Ghost Congregation. He died in 1975.

Bob Geldof

Bob Geldof is an internationally-known singer. He was educated in Blackrock College. With his organisation, the massive Live Aid concert took place, raising money for, and awareness of the famine in Ethiopia.

Pádraic O Conaire

Pádraic O Conaire was born in 1882 and received his secondary education from the Spiritans, firstly at Rockwell College and then at Blackrock College. In 1904 he won the Oireachtas Gold Medal for creative Irish writing. Soon after this he was recognised as the leading creative writer in Modern Irish and after some time abroad he returned to Ireland in 1914. Pádraic became a legend in his own life and it was said of him that he brought Gaelic writing from the middle ages to the twentieth century overnight. Like Mozart, he died destitute, of malnutrition in 1928.

Mr Frank Duff

Frank Duff was born in 1889 and studied in Blackrock College from 1899 - 1907. In 1921 he, along with others (including another Blackrock alumnus - Fr. Michael Toher), founded the Legion of Mary. His whole life was devoted to this worldwide and most effective organisation. Being a leading exponent in action and writing of the participation by the laity in the Pastoral Mission of the Church he was invited as a Lay Auditor to the Vatican Council in 1964. (Earlier, in 1948, he was made an Associate Member of the Holy Ghost Congregation). His cause for Beatification has been officially introduced by the late Archbishop of Dublin Most Rev. Kevin MacNamara. He died in 1980.

[Famous Spiritans] [Blackrock College Alumni]