6 December 2025

Vincentian Anniversaries

This year, 2025, is the 400th year of the foundation of the Vincentian Congregation, officially the Congregation of the Mission, in France. We have no original archives going back that far, but we do have material relating to the foundation of the Vincentians in Ireland in 1933/1934.

Four students of Maynooth College, James Lynch, Peter Kenrick, Anthony Reynolds and Michael Burke wanted to form a religious congregation. Ultimately, James Lynch and Michael Burke were to become Vincentians when the decision had been made to join the existing Vincentian Congregation. Early in the endeavour, Anthony Reynolds died of tuberculosis and Peter Kenrick went to the United States where he became Archbishop of St Louis, Missouri. Simultaneously, others were becoming involved in the setting up of the Vincentian mission in Ireland: Father Philip Dowley, Father Thomas McNamara and Father John McCann.

So this year celebrates 400 years of the Vincentians worldwide, and 192 years in Ireland. For the 100th anniversary in 1833/1934, both Castleknock College and the Castleknock College Past Pupils’ Union (Knock Union) had dinner celebrations, as seen here. The Vincentians also published a centenary booklet to mark the occasion.