Cross and Passion College

Cross and Passion College is a voluntary Catholic secondary school catering for male and female students aged 12–19 around the County Kildare village of Kilcullen.
Canon James Langan of Kilcullen invited the Sisters of the Cross and Passion under the Leadership of Elizabeth Prout to open a convent and schools in his parish in the early 1880s. Mr Quinn in the area donated land, first for a large house situated on extensive grounds and 10 years later gave more than enough land for a new convent, with an interest-free loan for building, if needed for education. The Sisters arrived to Kilcullen on 14 September 1878 and the Sisters began teaching in the local National School. The Convent also served as the Novitiate for the Cross and Passion Sisters. The Curriculum in those days comprised Religion, Irish, English, French, German, Italian and Mathematics. Lessons were also offered in cooking, singing, dancing, decorum, etiquette and elocution. The college grew in numbers to 68 students in 1922 when the Irish Free State came into existence. Application was made to the Department of Education. The College was among the first in the country to make Irish the common language in instruction. The College’s medium of Instruction changed to English in 1942-43. An Army hut was bought for £25 in 1926. It served as the Concert Hall and Drill Hall. On the 15th February 1929 electric light from a private generator was turned on, before official electrification came in 1937.

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