SMA's 100 years of time at Dromantine
FROM when it was first founded in 1856 by Melchior de Marion Brésillac the Society of African Missions has been at the forefront of improving the spiritual and material conditions of those living in some of the most deprived areas of the world.
From the various nations that comprise the West Coast of Africa such as Liberia, Nigeria, Togo and Guinea to more recently administering their trademark standard of missionary work in the most harshest areas of the Indian subcontinent, the work carried out by the SMA has had a positive impact on more people throughout the world than can ever be quantified in words or writing.
Integral to the SMA’s stated objective of preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ and dedication to building a better world for the past century have been the over 600 priests who have been trained and ordained within the Dromantine Estate.
Situated just six miles on the outskirts of Newry Dromantine has been the focal point of the SMA’ operations in Ireland as a training base enabling clergy both from Ireland and abroad to fully prepare themselves before embarking on their mission since it was first acquired by the organisation in 1926.
Now on the 100th anniversary of the SMA’s acquisition of Dromantine Father Des Corrigan explained how the need for a bespoke site in which to train Irish priests who wished to take up vocation with his organisation first arose after a number of priests encountered difficulties when travelling to Léon in France to undergo training.
100 years of service
Originally the Society of African Missions was founded in France in 1856. It then came to Ireland at the start of the 20th century.
“ The need for a place to train priests became very evident in the 1920's. This is where a man called father Maurice Slattery, who was the man in charge, chose this place.
“The situation was that by the early 1900's the SMA had two houses in Cork and we had some students preparing to be missionary priests. Up to 1912 any young man who was interested in becoming an SMA had to go to France, to Léon, to study in the seminary there. This was difficult and many of them did to persevere for a number of reasons.
“ Ireland then became a separate province from the other provinces within the Society of African Missions. This meant Ireland had more autonomy including training their own students to become priests.
“There was a number of students in Cork but this continued to grow particularly around the time of the first world war.
“By the mid 1920's it was clear that the SMA needed a bigger place to establish a permanent seminary. That is when Maurice Slattery, who was the provincial superior at the time, he started to search for a suitable property and he discovered that Dromantine was available.
“ He proceeded to go ahead and buy it. He was a big Kerry man who thought big and acted big. It was a big move for him to come from Cork to Northern Ireland in the 1920's amongst all the upheaval in Northern Ireland in the 1920's However once he discovered that Dromantine was available he sought the permission of the bishop of Dromore for the society to establish a seminary within the diocese
“Bishop Mulhern granted this permission. He went ahead to buy the property. He bought the property literally 100 years ago this month in April of 1926.
“Then he took possession of the property in May of 1926. There was a Father Butler who was appointed as the superior. He had the task of getting the whole place up and ready because when the SMA bought it the house was in pretty good shape but all the furniture and everything else had been sold in a big auction.
“They were coming in to an absolutely empty house. However, Butler was a good administrator and Between May and September he got everything organised and the first students arrived in September 1926.
“They had an official opening on September 29 2026 for them to be trained and ordained priests.
“It happened pretty quickly as they were already students in Cork so they had completed part of their training in Cork.
“They came here in 1926 and the following year in June 1927 11 students were ordained as priests in Newry Cathedral by Bishop Mulhern, they would have gone to Africa. This was the beginning of priests going out from Dromantine to Africa. Over the next 46 years about 600 young men were ordained from Dromantine and went out to Africa. ”