John Hume at Maynooth

John Hume on his graduation in 1958 following the award of the degree Bachelor of Arts in French and History; he had been unable to sit his examinations in 1957 due to illness, and, having decided to end his studies for the priesthood, had spent the intervening year in a temporary teaching position in Derry. The group photograph shows John with the Devlin brothers, also from the diocese of Derry: Ciaran, on the right, graduated with a B.A. in French and Irish in the same year, and Breandán, seated, who had been ordained in 1956, had just joined the staff as the first permanent Professor of French for more than fifty years. Ciarán, who died in 2012 at the age of 74, had served in several parishes and was also a respected scholar of history. In the 220th anniversary year of of the college, Breandán continues to live there in productive retirement from academic duties (see his reflection on John Hume below).

The loss of John Hume on August 3rd 2020 at the age of 83, and after a long decline that reduced his mobility and interaction with the world, caused a well-deserved outpouring of appreciatipon that focuses, understandably, on the major achievements of his life as a human rights activist and political leader.

But the precise history of his time as a seminarian and university student at Maynooth is also important to any overall assessment of his life, since the two subjects he chose for his Arts degree, French and History, were so essential to his later mission in Europe and his awareness of the historic context of the Northern Ireland problem that he tackled so courageously. 

Media reports following his death have variously reported that he did his degree before seminary studies, that he studied French during seminary training in Paris, and that he left the seminary (in one report 'because of celibacy') after two and a half years, i.e. just a few months in advance of taking his degree exams in September 1957. In fact his involvement with Maynooth lasted two further years, during which he played a pioneering role in the opening up of the college to lay students, a measure adopted in full some ten years later.

It is clear from his own recollections, as mediated in biographical studies, that he was engaged in the full seminary program from his entry to Maynooth in 1954 onwards, including the spiritual programme and studies in philosophy and that he also completed the full course of university studies towards the award of a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and History.

As a day student at the diocesan St. Columb's College in Derry City, John had the advantage of a good grounding in those subjects, and also benefitted from the school's strong record of achievement in final examinations, including those that led to the award of university scholarships. John Hume won one of the latter, of which only ten were awarded in the city in that year. He chose his degree subjects carefully after his introductory year in First Arts, when he excelled in both French and History at the highest level, and only slightly less well in English. 

Despite the enthusiasm of the then President, Monsignor Kissane, who had taught in Canada and was fluent in the language, French was not well resourced as an academic subject at the time. This is attested to by Monsignor Breandán Ó Doibhlín, a priest of Derry diocese some six years senior to John, in a recent oral history contribution to the college archives. 

At Maynooth Monsignor Kissane had secured a temporary lecturer (Cormac Burke, a lay member of Opus Dei later ordained a priest of the order and appointed to a position in the Sacred Roman Rota) until the appointment of a French priest, Hubert Schild of the diocese of Toulouse, to the professorship in 1951 (he was succeeded by Fr. Ó Doibhlín in 1958). Monsignor O'Doibhlín's reminiscences of the time are also instructional on the social background from which Derry students at Maynooth came, and the place of French in a Northern Ireland education system biased against the teaching of Irish. 

His study of History would create a fateful relationship Fr. Tomás Ó Fiaich, a native of Armagh, later Cardinal Archbishop of that diocese (1977-1990) and an important figure in the Peace Process, had been appointed Lecturer in Modern History in 1953, the first  creation of a permanent position in an Arts subject since the early years of the college, when chairs in English, French, Classics and Irish were established (the History position was elevated to a full professorship in 1959).

John Hume's time at Maynooth was uneventful by all accounts. He took part in sports and in the limited social and cultural outlets available, excelling particularly in debating. But he made no secret of his frustration with the unremitting disciplinary regime and limited acquaintance with the world outside the college walls, particularly in regard to political and social issues about which he was learning when he spent the long summer holidays and the shorter Christmas break at home in Derry.

In Summer 1957, as he was preparing for his final degree examination, he made the difficult decision to discontinue his progress towards the priesthood at the age of twenty. However, He contracted a serious illness during his intense studies over the holiday period and so was unable to sit his university exams that year.

But he found a temporary teaching position at the Christian Brothers School in Derry, and his students made some impressive strides in French under his tutelage. He sat his final exams in Maynooth in 1958, gaining a 2.1 Honours degree. He was immediately employed by St. Colman's College in Strabane, and also carried out his studies for the degree of Master of Arts under Fr. O'Fiaich, producing a thesis on the economic and social development of Derry. This was a subject far removed from the usual pre-occupation of Maynooth history essay writers with ancient monastic foundations, post-Reformation depredations or ecclesiastical politics. It is believed to be the first time in the history of the college that a layman was allowed to pursue a post-graduate degree in a secular subject.

His new qualification enabled him to secure a position on the staff of his alma mater, St. Columb's College, teaching French and History, and it was from here that he began his involvement first with the Credit Union movement and then with the broader political scene in which he was to make his mark and from which he was to secure his place in history.

Maynooth College and Maynooth University have always been proud of the John Hume connection. As the nation continues to honour his memory, it is appropriate to pay tribute to the Maynooth-inspired academic and spiritual influences that reinforced his approach to life and career in a way that he did not originally envisage, but which nonetheless were as valid a working out of his vocation as if he had been ordained a priest.

In what must be the most extensive study of any student's academic experience at Maynooth, this 2019 essay by Thomas Dolan, researched in co-operation with the Humes and reproduced in The Historical Journal, is an analysis of the influences of French and History professors on the future politician in his formative years: for the full text, click here

For a reflection by his near-contemporary and co-diocesan Monsignor Breandán Ó Doibhlín click here