This year marks the 400^th anniversary of the founding of the Irish Franciscan college in Rome. St. Isidore’s College (Collegio S. Isidoro) started its task of training Franciscans for the Irish mission in 1625. The anniversary has been an occasion of celebration, not only by the Franciscan order (Order of Friars Minor, O.F.M) in Rome, but by the order worldwide and by the Irish community at home and abroad. The anniversary also recalls the life and works of the founder of St. Isidore’s, Fr. Luke Wadding.

Fresco of Wadding with colleagues, St. Isidore’s

Luke Wadding was born in Waterford in 1588. He came of wealthy Old English stock who first settled in Wexford around the beginning of the 14^th century before moving to Waterford. At schools in Waterford, Wadding showed an early ability in classics and philosophy. Following the death of his parents in 1602, he was taken by his brother Matthew to the Irish College at Lisbon to study for the priesthood. After six months, Wadding and a fellow seminarian, Richard Synnott, decided to begin a novitiate at the Franciscan friary of the Immaculate Conception in Matozinhos, near Oporto. Wadding took his religious vows as a Franciscan in September 1605.

Luke Wadding, by Carl O Maretta

Luke Wadding spent the next thirteen years in study, ministry and teaching, mostly in Spain and Portugal. Wadding’s move to Rome was brought about when the bishop of Cartegana, Antonio de Trejo, was appointed by Phillip III to lead a special mission to Rome to ask the pope to define the immaculate conception of Mary as a dogma of faith. Wadding was appointed as the mission theologian. Though the mission did not achieve its aim, Wadding soon consolidated his position in Rome, whereas elsewhere, his dedication and intelligence were recognised and appreciated, not least by Popes Paul V (1605–21) and Gregory XV (1621–3).

The Church of Saint Isidore, in Rome, was originally intended for the use of Spanish Franciscans during the pontificate of Gregory XV. However the church was never completed and was burdened by debt. In 1625 Wadding accepted control of the church and its small friary on the condition that he be allowed to establish there a college for the training of priests for the Franciscan province of Ireland. With the help of influential friends, including Cardinal Ludovisi, he managed to clear all the debts, finished the church, and built a large college, with a large aula maxima and a library.

St. Isidore’s College, Rome – Collegio S. Isidoro, Roma – Coláiste Naomh Iosadóir, An Róimh

Wadding was a prodigious author. His chief work was the Annales Minorum, a chronological history of the Franciscan order covering the period from its founding to the year 1540, a work that took over thirty years to complete. A companion work, Scriptores Ordinis Minorum, is a set of biographies and bibliographies of all Franciscan writers that he could trace up to 1540. Wadding also wrote many theological works with a particular emphasis on Scotism and the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

Wadding’s Annales Minorum

Wadding also participated in Irish politics, sending money and supplies to Owen Roe O’Neill and supporting the Irish revolt from 1641. He asked Innocent X to send a representative to the Confederation of Kilkenny (1642-49) and as a result GianBattista Rinucinni was appointed as nuncio extraordinary. Rinuccini’s experiences in Ireland determined his subsequent views on the Irish versus English debate and was credited with establishing a pro-Irish stance in the Vatican that would prevail as late as the 19^th century.

The painting of St. Patrick at the portico of St. Isidore’s is a reminder of another of Luke Wadding’s achievements. It was through his efforts that St. Patrick’s Day was added to the Roman calendar. What was hitherto a strictly local feast day, became a day marked internationally by the Catholic Church.

Painting of St. Patrick at the portico of St. Isidore’s

2025 marks four hundred years since the founding of St. Isidore’s and this special year was celebrated by events both in Italy and Ireland. Perhaps foremost among the commemorative events was the Irish in Rome Conference, part of which took place in St. Isidore’s, whose guardian, Professor Mícheál Mac Craith OFM , was joint organiser of the event. Contributions by an international array of scholars and academics covered not only St. Isidore’s and Luke Wadding but also the broader topic of Ireland and the Irish in Italy and Rome from the 17^th century to the present.

The Irish in Rome conference programme cover

Waddding’s achievements are legion and in so many different areas that this post cannot even try to list them. However, Italian scholar Matteo Binasaco, the opening plenary speaker at the conference, gives a succinct summary of how the friar’s efforts changed the status of the Irish community in Rome:

… crucial aspect of Wadding’s life and career that must be taken into account is how he succeeded in transforming the Irish community of Rome from an obscure and poorly known group of individuals into a distinct natio amid the many foreign communities who had established in the city since the Middle Ages …

(Binasco, 2025, p. 5)

This post was written by Eugene Roche, Assistant Librarian, UCD Special Collections

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