Catholic University Archives

The Catholic University was founded in response to the establishment of three non-denominational Queen’s Colleges in Belfast, Cork and Galway in 1849 . They were condemned by the Sacred College of Propaganda in Rome and at the Synod of Thurles (1850). Cardinal Paul Cullen was uncompromising in his opposition to multi-denominational education and was the driving force behind the establishment of a separate university for Roman Catholics. Dr John Henry Newman was appointed the Catholic University’s first rector in the hope that Newman’s fame and distinction would immediately enhance the reputation of the fledgling institution. However, Newman remained in Dublin for only four years and the university never obtained a charter or the power to confer degrees from the state. Its premises at 86 St Stephen’s Green became a teaching institution known as University College, whose students were awarded degrees by the Royal University. University College was handed over to the Jesuits in 1883. The Catholic University survived notionally as an institution in the person of the Rector, Dr Gerald Molloy (d.1906) and the School of Medicine at Cecilia Street. Like University College, the School of Medicine was eventually absorbed into the National University of Ireland in 1909 as a faculty in the newly established University College, Dublin.

The Catholic University archives complement the archives of the other predecessor bodies that were subsumed into University College Dublin and form part of the University Archives collections. These predecessor bodies became some of the university’s major academic faculties.

Included in the Catholic University archives is the Catholic University Committee minute book. The extract shown here notes the appointment of Dr John Henry Newman as rector of the university, ‘carried by acclamation’ (12 November 1851).

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