The story of the St. John of God School, known as "The Faythe" to many of the thousands of pupils who passed through it begins with the foundation of the Order of the Sisters of St. John of God in 1871. Dr. Furlong, the Bishop of Ferns, had long wished to have an order of nursing nuns in the town of Wexford. Sr. Visitation Clancy, a Bon Secour Sister and a native of Kilkenny, agreed to help him.
On 7th October 1871, two nuns with the equivalent of 7 ½p between them arrived in Wexford. The sisters of Mercy took them in until Bishop Furlong acquired a cottage for them at Sallyville on the Newtown Road. The Mercy nuns provided furniture, as did the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, also founded by Dr. Furlong.
In 1872 the head nurse of the Workhouse, now the Co. Hospital, retired and Sr. Visitation was appointed to the position. Dr. Furlong had succeeded — he had a nursing order in Wexford.
It is strange then, to find this order becoming teachers 4 years later. Nothing is written down of how it happened but the most accurate account seems to be as follows: — One of the most famous Wexford men of the last century was Richard Devereux. He was a wealthy ship owner and a generous benefactor of church and town. He had already built the school in the Faythe for the Christian Brothers who lived and taught there. This school was for boys and as the space became inadequate Richard Devereux had a new building at the Boker erected for them and they left the Faythe.
Mr. Devereux was willing to give The Faythe School to somebody else. He might have been inclined to give it to an order who were teachers rather than nurses but that was not to be. Maybe the Bishop spoke to him in favour of the order he had founded —nobody knows!
At this time the sisters of St. John of God received into their order Sr. Agnes Pearson who was a trained teacher. Mr. Devereux fell ill and was nursed by the Sisters of St. John of God and was impressed by their dedication. One day he asked some nuns from different orders to his house to explain the situation about the Faythe School. Sr. Agnes went there accompanied by the larger and more assertive figure of Sr. Philip Barron. On hearing of the vacant school she is reported to have said "We can teach too," and it was she who emerged triumphantly from the house carrying the keys. The school was presented to the Sisters of St. John of God on the 11th day of March, 1875.
The opening of the school was not without its troubles. Sr. Agnes was appointed as Principal and other nuns with little idea at all how to teach were sent to work with her. One young nun, being dispatched to the school to begin teaching asked "What do I do when I get there?" "As you are told, Sister", was the reply. The nuns actually lived in the school for some years. Usually they walked down to the school on Monday morning and returned on Friday evening. They walked in pairs, wearing long black gossamer veils over their faces. This made it very difficult to see where they were going. They were not allowed to speak to anyone on the way, or even to visit Bride Street Church as they passed.
We have no idea how many children arrived at the school on the first day because no register was kept. Many children who were attending the Presentation School turned up on the doorstep either out of curiosity or because the new school was nearer. Confusion arose as to who was to go where, eventually it was resolved by someone from the Board of Education "the man from Dublin". The Bishop took a hand in it too. The town was divided up and pupils were to attend the school in their own area.
The children's names were written down officially for the first time on 2nd January 1899, twenty-four years after the school had opened. Only girls were recorded and the first name on this roll book is 6-year-old Lucy Kelly from Batt Street. There are seventy names altogether; some of the children were only three years of age. All of the names, of course, were written in English. The most popular names at the time were Mary, Lizzie, Lillie and Maggie and that is how they are written not as Ellen, Elizabeth, and Margaret. Fathers' occupations were also recorded. Not one was unemployed. Twenty-five of the children's fathers were labourers, there were fourteen sailors and many fishermen. There was also a policeman, a butcher, baker, moulder, fitter, shoemaker, watchmaker, coachman, publican, pilot, blacksmith, telegraph man, tinsmith, a cabinetmaker and a watchman.
The Faythe School was always primarily a girl’s school, but from the beginning boys attended the school in Infants and First Class. They then went to the Christian Brothers. The boys' register begins on July 1st 1902. The first boy's name on this register is that of Nicholas Marshall. He was seven years old. He lived in Parnell St., and his father was a labourer. Ninety-three boys were registered that day. Some of them were infants of three or four. Again the addresses and fathers' occupations are recorded. This time we have a pipe maker, a watchmaker and a servant amongst them.
