St. Macartan's College is the Roman Catholic boys' Diocesan College in Monaghan, Ireland. It is named after Saint Macartan, follower of St. Patrick and founder and bishop of the Diocese of Clogher. The school educates Catholic boys in County Monaghan and surrounding counties. It is located within the parish of Donagh. The school Feast Day is 24 March. St Macartan's College consistently appears as one of the top fifty post-primary schools in Ireland, in the annual school league tables published by The Irish Times. The school is currently ranked number eleven in its list of the twenty best boys' schools in Ireland.
The foundation stone for St. Macartan's College was laid on 8 July 1840. Eight years later the "Sem" opened its doors to its first students, and for over a century-and-a-half the school has adapted itself to meet the educational needs of boys in the North Monaghan and surrounding areas. The school complex has at its heart a grand seventeen-bay stone building. It is in the Georgian style and was designed by the Newry-born architect Thomas Duff in the 1830s. The building has a chapel, a collection of antiquities and a clock tower and includes a large lunch canteen, which was formerly used as a refectory for the school's boarders. In recent years the college has changed from being predominantly a boarding school to a day school catering to its 770 students, and has been sympathetically enlarged to meet the demands of the twenty-first century.
Administration and curriculum
Situated in North Monaghan, on the edge of Monaghan town, St. Macartan's College is a post-primary school for boys. The school caters for boys from 12 to 18 years old. In the Junior Cycle the curriculum includes Civic, Social and Political Education, English, Geography, History, Irish, Mathematics, Physical Education, Religious Education, Science and Social, Personal and Health Education. The students also choose two subjects from the following five: Art, Technology, Business Studies, Music, Materials Technology and Technical Graphics. Also, each student must pick a third language to learn during the Junior Cycle. They get the choice of either French or German. The students sit the Junior Certificate Examination at the end of their third year. The Junior Certificate is used as a gauge of students' talents and abilities, which will be taken into account as they progress to the senior cycle. After the Junior Certificate, the students enter the transition year programme followed by the Leaving Certificate or go directly into the Leaving Certificate Applied programme. The Leaving Cert applied programme caters for only around twenty students and does not provide the same qualifications as the Leaving Certificate. In the final two years the main emphasis is on preparation for the Leaving Certificate. Each student studies Irish, English, Mathematics, Religious Education and Physical Education. Each also chooses four optional subjects from French, German, Construction Studies, Business Studies, Art, Economics, Physics, Biology, Accounting, Chemistry, History, Technical Drawing and Geography.
Crest
The crest of St. Macartan's College, as seen in the front hall of the school, was designed by the artist Richard J. King, for the centenary celebrations of 1940. It is modelled on the front panels of the circular boss of the Cross of Clogher, the 14th-century treasure, now on loan from the Diocese of Clogher to Monaghan County Museum. The panels contain the interlaced letters DEUS, and, underneath, the motto of the College, Fortis et Fidelis. The words "Fortis et Fidelis" suggest a Pauline quotation from 1 Cor 16:13. They evoke the legend of St. Mac Cairthinn, the tréanfhear of Patrick, the bodyguard and champion of the Saint who used to carry him across fords and rivers on his missionary journeys. The words occur in one of the last letters of Father Cornelius Tierney, a former student and priest-teacher in St. Macartan's, and later a Columban missionary who died a prisoner of Communist guerillas in China in 1931.
Academics
St.Macartan's provides a number of subjects for both the Junior and Leaving Certificates. Each student, in consultation with his parents and teachers, decides on the subjects which best suit his interests and abilities. Some subjects are however still compulsory, including Religion, English, Irish and Math at all levels of education.
Sports
St. Macartan's offers a number of sports and competes in the MacRory Cup, the Rannafast Cup, Corn na Og, the Dalton Cup and has programs in golf, soccer, handball, basketball and general athletics. The school reached the MacRory Cup final in 2004. This was repeated in 2007 when they lost by a single point.
Student Council
St. Macartan's has a student council where members are elected to represent the views of the student body and to communicate these to the management and teachers of the college. A student council formed recently, when it became obligatory under law for such an organisation to exist in every secondary school. Before this, no such council existed.
