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Saint Patrick's Society for the Foreign Missions
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Saint Patrick's Society for the Foreign Missions
St. Patrick's Missionary Society (Latin Societas Sancti Patritii pro Missionibus ad Exteros; also known as the Kiltegan Fathers) is a Catholic society of apostolic life of pontifical right for men composed of missionary priests. Its headquarters is at Kiltegan in County Wicklow, Ireland. Its members add the nominal initials SPS after their names to indicate their membership in the Society. The motto in Latin and English of the Society is Caritas Christi Urget Nos and Christ's love compels us (2 Corinthians 5:14), respectively.
The Kiltegan Fathers origins stem from an appeal in 1920 by Bishop Joseph Shanahan of the Holy Ghost Order to the seminary students in Maynooth College for missionaries to Nigeria, then part of the British Empire in Africa; Bishop Shanahan was a prelate in Nigeria at the time. Later that year, Fr. Whitney accompanied Bishop Shanahan to Africa.
The society was founded officially on St Patrick's Day, 17 March 1932, by Monsignor Patrick Whitney (1894 - 1942) at Kiltegan, County Wicklow, Ireland. Its original aim was the Christian evangelisation of Nigeria. In 1951, the society expanded its missionary activities outside of Nigeria.
In the 1950s the society expanded, building a new college in Kiltegan, and opening a House of Studies in Sutton House, Rochestown, Douglas, in Cork, with seminarians attending lectures in University College Cork.
In 1997, the Kiltegan Fathers, with the drop in vocations from Ireland, officially decided to open up internationally and set up houses of formation in Nigeria and Kenya. In 2000 trainee priests began studying philosophy in St Joseph's Institute in Cedara, South Africa, and KwaPatrick house was set up. 2002 seen students study theology at the Kiltegan House in Nairobi, as the Society joined other orders in Tangaza University College. Also in 2002 a house of formation was founded in Lusaka, Zambia.
As of 2024, the society has 253 priests and 70 students on formation on four continents including the countries of Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, South Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Uganda, Grenada, Brazil, the United States, Italy, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
The Society moved to High Park, about 2 km from Kiltegan in County Wicklow, the former home of the Westby family, and named it St. Patrick's. It had been donated by a Catholic businessman, John Hughes, to Fr. Pat Whitney in 1929. Fr. Whitney took over the building in 1930. The High Park residence had been rebuilt after it had been damaged in the 1798 rebellion.
Bishop James Kavanagh, taught in Kiltegan. Seán J. White the writer, academic, broadcaster and journalist and Don Mullan the humanitarian and media producer, studied in Kiltegan.
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Saint Patrick's Society for the Foreign Missions
St. Patrick's Missionary Society (Latin Societas Sancti Patritii pro Missionibus ad Exteros; also known as the Kiltegan Fathers) is a Catholic society of apostolic life of pontifical right for men composed of missionary priests. Its headquarters is at Kiltegan in County Wicklow, Ireland. Its members add the nominal initials SPS after their names to indicate their membership in the Society. The motto in Latin and English of the Society is Caritas Christi Urget Nos and Christ's love compels us (2 Corinthians 5:14), respectively.
The Kiltegan Fathers origins stem from an appeal in 1920 by Bishop Joseph Shanahan of the Holy Ghost Order to the seminary students in Maynooth College for missionaries to Nigeria, then part of the British Empire in Africa; Bishop Shanahan was a prelate in Nigeria at the time. Later that year, Fr. Whitney accompanied Bishop Shanahan to Africa.
The society was founded officially on St Patrick's Day, 17 March 1932, by Monsignor Patrick Whitney (1894 - 1942) at Kiltegan, County Wicklow, Ireland. Its original aim was the Christian evangelisation of Nigeria. In 1951, the society expanded its missionary activities outside of Nigeria.
In the 1950s the society expanded, building a new college in Kiltegan, and opening a House of Studies in Sutton House, Rochestown, Douglas, in Cork, with seminarians attending lectures in University College Cork.
In 1997, the Kiltegan Fathers, with the drop in vocations from Ireland, officially decided to open up internationally and set up houses of formation in Nigeria and Kenya. In 2000 trainee priests began studying philosophy in St Joseph's Institute in Cedara, South Africa, and KwaPatrick house was set up. 2002 seen students study theology at the Kiltegan House in Nairobi, as the Society joined other orders in Tangaza University College. Also in 2002 a house of formation was founded in Lusaka, Zambia.
As of 2024, the society has 253 priests and 70 students on formation on four continents including the countries of Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, South Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Uganda, Grenada, Brazil, the United States, Italy, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
The Society moved to High Park, about 2 km from Kiltegan in County Wicklow, the former home of the Westby family, and named it St. Patrick's. It had been donated by a Catholic businessman, John Hughes, to Fr. Pat Whitney in 1929. Fr. Whitney took over the building in 1930. The High Park residence had been rebuilt after it had been damaged in the 1798 rebellion.
Bishop James Kavanagh, taught in Kiltegan. Seán J. White the writer, academic, broadcaster and journalist and Don Mullan the humanitarian and media producer, studied in Kiltegan.