The impact of the Lasallian Mission in Macroom

The contribution of the Lasallian Mission to the community in Macroom has been highlighted by Con Lynch who shared details of his visit to Castletown in the Macroom Parish Newsletter.

500 GRAVES MARK 500 LIVES OF SERVICE

Rows of 3ft high, simple, metal crosses in the De La Salle Community graveyard Castletown, Co Laois, mark the graves of around 500 Irishmen who spent their lives in the service of God and of humanity. 

Jean Baptiste De La Salle founded the order in France c1680 with the aim of setting up schools to provide sound education for poor boys. De La Salle brothers came to Ireland in 1880 and set up schools with the same principal aim of educating poor boys.

Hundreds of young men and boys joined the De La Salle brothers. They usually started in Castletown, Co. Laois, where they received their secondary education. The vast majority attended university or a Teacher Training College and graduated as  teachers. 

I rambled around among the metal crosses last week and found the graves of five of the brothers who taught me in Coláiste Íosagáin. I said a prayer of gratitude for them all. I  prayed also at the grave of my uncle Br. Benedict, a brilliant man who was a teacher and principal in schools in South Africa and Mauritius. I prayed at the grave of my cousin Br. Donie O’Donoughue who,  in his old age, could still remeber the names of the Macroom De La Salle team that he helped train 50 years earlier –a team that reached the semi-final of the Munster Cup. 

I prayed at the graves of others from Macroom, and Kilnamartyra and Clondrohid and Ballyvourney, and met the Macroom man who is the last surviving De La Salle Brother from this area.

A plaque lists the names Brothers who are buried in foreign lands – including Datuk Br. Charles O’Leary from Casloura who is buried and honoured in Borneo where he served so well Today 4,000 De La Salle Brothers provide education for more than 900,000 students in 80 countries worldwide – all part of the work of:

The Church Unsleeping – Its Work Unceasing