Michael Collins was born at Glin Road, Moyvane, County Kerry on 13 May 1914, the third eldest of a family of eight. When he was eight years old, and his youngest brother only one, his mother died, leaving his father to rear the children on his own. Two of the children, Michael and Tim, entered the Presentation Brothers; James, a Redemptorist, became a bishop in Brazil; Pat, a Salesian Father, was Principal of Warrenstown Agricultural College; Maudie became Sister Mary Theophane, a member of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word in the USA.
Michael entered the Presentation Brothers at Mount St. Joseph, Cork on 20 February 1932 and made his final profession of Vows in 1937. He graduated from the National University of Ireland (Cork) with an honours B.Sc.. in 1940, and obtained the Higher Diploma in Education in 1941. He taught at the Presentation Colleges in Cork and Cobh and spent the last years of World War II teaching in Reading, England.
Following a request from Dr. Finbar Ryan OP, Archbishop of Port of Spain, the Presentation Brothers opened a new College in St. George's, Grenada, and took over the existing St. Mary's College in Castries, St. Lucia. Brother Canice was one of the group of three who went to St. Lucia, his companions being Br. Macartan Sheehy and Br. Lawrence Reynolds.
Br. Canice combined the duties of Superior of the community and Principal of the College. On the night of 19 June 1948 fire raged in the town of Castries, threatening to destroy it completely. Br. Canice persuaded the firefighting authorities to destroy all the old wooden buildings along one street which lay in the path of the flames, thus creating a firebreak. His initiative and leadership saved much of the town from destruction. An editorial in the local newspaper commended the Brothers for "striving to promote a spirit of initiative and cooperative action". Br. Canice's efforts both in education and in controlling the "Great Fire of 1948" were acknowledged in the King's New Year's Honours List of 1949 when he was awarded the MBE.
The number of students at St. Mary's had increased steadily and there was a growing demand for more places. The building however was old, small and in bad repair. Br. Canice negotiated the purchase of a large, vacant military barracks on a splendid site on the Vigie peninsula about two miles from the town. It was completely refurbished and the College was transferred there in 1952. It was now possible to accommodate over 300 pupils (the original student population was 80) as well as providing hostel and sports facilities. Br. Canice was an able sportsman and it was largely due to his enthusiasm and energy that the Inter-Island Tournament which schools in Grenada, St. Vincent, Dominica and St. Lucia hosted in turn was revived, having fallen into abeyance during World war II.
The Brothers also purchased a bungalow at Vigie which had been the Commanding Officers' quarters and this became the Brothers residence when their house in Castries was destroyed in a second fire in the town in 1951.
Br. Canice was appointed by the Governor of St. Lucia to the Education Board for the island and in 1955 he represented both the Archbishop of Port of Spain and the Government of St. Lucia at a conference in Kingston, Jamaica, on the setting up of the University of the West Indies. He was also vicar to the Provincial Superior, Br. Dunstan Curtin, at this time.
Br. Canice was a great community man, gentle, humble and self-effacing. He had a wonderful ability to inspire those who worked with him to share his enthusiasm and zeal. Calm and patient, he had a great sense of humour. He was a keen photographer and left a collection of transparencies recording scenes and events in St. Lucia. With his friend Fr.Jesse FMI he established a museum at St. Mary's to display numerous Arawak and Carib artifacts collected at various sites on the islands.
Br. Canice left St. Lucia for San Fernando, Trinidad, in 1956 and was appointed Superior there at the end of the year. For years he had suffered headaches from time to time, a problem he sometimes attributed to an old scalp injury he incurred in his youth when he dived into water that was shallower than he anticipated. Early in 1957 the pains became very severe and frequent. In March he left for treatment at a hospital in Beaumont, Texas, which was administered by the Sisters of the Incarnate Word, the congregation of which his sister was a member. An aneurism in the brain was diagnosed and though the surgery performed appeared at first to be successful Br. Canice died on 20 March 1957. He is buried in the cemetery attached to the convent of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word in Beaumont.
News of Br. Canice's death came as a great shock to the people of St. Lucia and many tributes were paid to him. The words of Br. Dunstan Curtin, who had been the first Provincial Superior of the Congregation in the West Indies and was a close friend of Br. Canice best summed up the loss felt by those who knew him:
"Brother Canice died young. Had he lived for a century he would have died young - far too young indeed , for the many that loved him."
Reference:
The late Rev. Br. Michael Canice Collins - an appreciation
by Br. Dunstan Curtin (1957)
A Concise History of the Presentation Brothers in St. Lucia 1947-1997 Brother De Lellis Sullivan,Golden Jubilee Magazine.
Gentlemen of the Presentation - Feheney, (Veritas 1999)
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