Edmund Ignatius Rice

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Edmund Ignatius Rice bigraphy, stories - Founder of the Congregation of Christian Brothers

Edmund Ignatius Rice : biography

June 1, 1762 – August 29, 1844

Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice ( 1 June 1762 – 29 August 1844), was a Roman Catholic missionary and educationalist. Edmund was the founder of two religious institutes of religious brothers: the Congregation of Christian Brothers and the Presentation Brothers.

Rice was born in Ireland at a time when Catholics faced oppression under Penal Laws enforced by the British authorities, though reforms started in 1778 when he was a teenager. He forged a successful career in business and, after a tragic accident which killed his wife and left his daughter disabled, devoted his life to the education, servicing the poor and the Irish republican cause.

Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers schools around the world continue to follow the system of education and traditions established by Edmund Rice (see List of Christian Brothers schools).

Beatification and legacy

Memorial erected in Callan on Green Street (also known as Edmund Ignatius Rice Street), unveiled and blessed in July 1951.

The first attempt to introduce Rice’s cause to sainthood was in 1911 by Brother Mark Hill who travelled Waterford and other parts of Ireland collecting statements from people as to why they thought Rice should be made a saint, but very little progress was made. The cause was taken up by Pius Noonan, who was the superior general at the time. With the help of Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini (the future Pope Paul VI), the cause was officially opened in Dublin in 1957.

In 1976 the Historical Commission of the Dublin Archdiocese recommended that Rice’s cause be brought to Rome, and the Holy See agreed to look into it. Three brothers had the burden of investigating archives and collecting evidence as to why Rice should be declared a saint: Mark Hill, David Fitzpatrick and Columba Normoyle.

As a result of these investigations and the examination in Rome of the results, on April 2, 1993, Pope John Paul II approved the pursual of the Roman phase of the cause, declaring Edmund Rice to be venerable. Two years later, the same Pope approved a miracle attributed to Edmund Rice’s intercession. The miracle occurred in 1976, when Kevin Ellison of Newry, had been given only 48 hours to live due to complications from a gangrenous colon, and an apparent lack of viable colon tissue (a conclusion reached by five doctors after hours in surgery). A family friend, Christian Brother Laserian O’Donnell, gave Ellison’s parents a relic of Edmund Rice. Many friends prayed for a miracle through the intercession of Rice and a special Mass was offered for Ellison’s recovery. Only the relic of Edmund Rice was placed at the bedside of the dying man. The latter survived the 48 hour period during which he was supposed to die, and more besides. Upon investigation, surgeons discovered a considerable length of previously undetected colon. Ellison fully recovered after a few weeks.

These events paved the way for Rice’s beatification on October 6, 1996 and he become known as Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice. His official feast day is May 5.

A bit of his kneecap (in a reliquary) is on display in the new sports hall at St. Joseph’s College in Stoke-on-Trent, "part of the Edmund Rice family of schools, founded by the Christian Brothers and following the charism of Blessed Edmund Rice."

Retirement and death

In February 1838, Edmund Rice left the North Richmond Street community and returned to Mount Sion in Waterford. Aged seventy-six, and by now in poor health, he wrote to the different communities calling for a General Chapter to elect a new Superior General. The Chapter, which opened on July 24, 1838, resulted in the election of Brother Michael Paul Riordan as Rice’s successor.

From this time on, Edmund Rice spent an increasing proportion of his time at Mount Sion and the adjoining school, showing a continued interest in the pupils and their teachers. He would also take a short walk each day on the slope of Mount Sion, but his increasingly painful arthritis led the community superior, Brother Joseph Murphy, to purchase a wheelchair for his benefit. At Christmas time, 1841, Rice’s health took a turn for the worse, and even though expectations of his imminent death did not turn out to be justified, he was increasingly confined to his room.