Catholic University of Ireland

The Catholic University of Ireland (Irish: Ollscoil Chaitliceach na hÉireann) was a Catholic university in Dublin, Ireland and was founded in 1851 following the Synod of Thurles in 1850, and in response to the Queen's University of Ireland and its associated colleges which were nondenominational. Cardinal Cullen had previously forbidden Catholics from attending these "godless colleges". On May 18, 1854 the Catholic University of Ireland was formally established with five faculties of law, letters, medicine, philosophy and theology with John Henry Newman (later Cardinal) as the Rector. Lectures commenced on November 3, 1854, with the registration of seventeen students, the first being Daniel O'Connell, grandson of the notable Catholic...