Franciscan Brothers
The Franciscan Brothers came to Mountbellew from Milltown, Dublin, in 1818. The Bellew family invited them and gave them resources of land and a house to get established. The Brothers ran a free primary school until 1884. In 1875 they opened a secondary school (boarding) and in 1898 a special Department in the school was set up to prepare students for Teacher Training Colleges.
The Brothers changed from Secondary education to Agricultural Education in 1904 and the Franciscan Brothers’ Agricultural College was founded. This was the first Agricultural College in Ireland. The Department of Agriculture supported the college right from the start. In 1986, the college partnered with a predecessor of Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), in 1986. This cooperation between the two colleges resulted in the setting up of what is now known as the Higher Certificate in Business Studies (Agribusiness).
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Famous quotes containing the word brothers:
“Come, dear children, let us away;
Down and away below!
Now my brothers call from the bay,
Now the great winds shoreward blow,
Now the salt tides seaward flow;
Now the wild white horses play,
Champ and chafe and toss in the spray.”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)