About our School
Christian Brothers College is a Voluntary Catholic School under the Trusteeship of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust.
The College has a long and proud history in education, and has been a key part of the fabric of Cork life since its foundation.
In that time, the College has come to be recognised as the preeminent educational institution for boys.
How we Began
Christian Brothers College was formally opened on 20 August 1888. Its origins, however, stretch back past almost half a century earlier. In 1842, the Vincentian Fathers founded a seminary in the old Mansion House – formerly the official residence of the Mayor of Cork, now part of the Mercy Hospital complex. Some years later, the school was moved to St Patrick’s Place, and became the Cork Diocesan Seminary.
In 1888 a new seminary was completed at Farranferris. Ecclesiastical students transferred there, while those destined for secular life stayed on at St Patrick’s Place. The then bishop of Cork, Most Rev. Dr O’ Callaghan, invited the Christian Brothers to take charge of St Patrick’s Place. Since then the College has been known as Christian Brothers College, or simply ‘Christians’.
CONTINUED SUCCESS
Edmund Ignatius Rice (1762-1844) established the Congregation of Christian Brothers in the first decades of the nineteenth century. During the opening ceremony in 1888 reference was made to the great successes achieved by the Order with ‘teachers in every country of Europe’. Brother Burke, first principal of CBC, said that the Christian Brothers would have in this college ‘the sons of gentlemen who had been the benefactors of the community for many years past’. From the beginning, CBC was principally involved in preparing pupils for University entry.
OUR VISION
CBC flourished on St Patrick’s Place for a hundred years. A centenary was marked by the opening of the magnificent new College just a short walk from the old one. Over the years, the College has witnessed further enhancement of its facilities, including its sports complex at Lansdowne.
In 2008 the College witnessed significant change when the Christian Brothers handed over trusteeship to the Edmund Rice Schools Trust (ERST). The ERST Charter provides the vision for our school: that our school promotes the personal and social development of all by a caring Christian community of teaching and learning; that Christians is a place of hope, happiness, courage and honest struggle, where everyone is valued and respected.
Today, CBC continues to grow and flourish, responding to the changing world in which we live in the education it provides its pupils, while remaining true to the core values that have underpinned the College for well over 130 years.
