History of St Louis
As a Catholic Grammar School we have as our patron St Louis IX, King of France, known also as the “Most Christian King”. He was born to wealth and power in 1214. When he was only 12 his father, King Louis VIII died, and Louis IX was crowned King. At that time, his mother Queen Blanche of Castile, was declared regent and remained an important influence in his life.
Yet, despite his wealth and affluence, St Louis led an exemplary life, spending long hours in prayer, fasting and penance. Louis was a great lover of justice and he was renowned for his charity. He was very generous to the poor and underprivileged, and regularly brought the poor to his palace where he served them himself. “The peace and blessings of the realm come to us through the poor,” he would say.
St Louis is often described as “one of the greatest of all French Kings” and was considered by his family, friends, French nobles, and religious men and women to be a deeply pious and honourable man. He took a special interest in charitable institutions, regarding his kingly duties as part of his Christian vocation. St Louis died near Tunis, 25 August 1270. His canonisation to the sainthood was proclaimed in 1297 by Pope Boniface VIII.
In 1842 the Congregation of the Sisters of St Louis was founded in France by Abbé Louis Bautain. He was a philosopher, teacher and Priest. His great concern was to provide a Christian education for the young, and for this purpose he founded a society of priests, and later a society of sisters, all of whom became involved in some aspect of education. Bautain’s vision was of ‘a world healed and transformed by the saving wisdom of Christianity’. His constant theme was unity and the search for truth, and his guiding words were of the prayer of Jesus to his Father: ‘that they all may be one’ - the St Louis motto ‘Ut Sint Unum’. The first St Louis Sisters came to Ireland in 1859 and set up a school in Monaghan town. Other schools were opened in Middletown (1875), Carrickmacross (1888), Kilkeel (1921) and Ballymena (1924). The St Louis sisters also set up schools in Belfast, Dundalk and Dublin.
Now in 2023, the Sisters of St Louis are in the process of transferring ownership and trusteeship of St Louis schools in the North of Ireland to the St MacNissi’s Educational Trust of the Down and Connor Diocese. With fewer Sisters involved in educational leadership and the Irish Region of the Sisters of St Louis direct role in education in decline, now is the right time to make this change.
The Sisters of St Louis are committed to Catholic education and are proud of their contribution to the education mission of the Church in Kilkeel, Ballymena and throughout Ireland over the past 160 years. The St MacNissi’s Educational Trust was established in 2004 to bring together into a single body, the trusteeship of the many Catholic schools established by and associated with the parishes and Diocese of Down and Connor, (currently 160 schools.) Its purpose is to hold in trust these schools for the Catholic community and to preserve and develop the family of Catholic schools within the Diocese, at the service of the local community and wider society. The transfer in trusteeship does not have any impact on the education provided by St Louis Grammar School, Kilkeel, nor will it have any bearing on the day to day running of the school.
