Sr. Carmel O’Leary died last week.
A native of Inchicore Dublin she came to Athy in 1945 to join the local
Convent of Mercy where 4 years later she was joined by her sister Marie. On receiving the Holy Habit the young Dublin
girl took the name Sr. Mary Bernard. Her
sister Marie took the name Sr. Mary Joseph in March 1950.
The War of Independence and the Civil War were just a generation
away and the strength of Irish Nationalism was in evidence when on the
following Easter Sunday 1,000 old IRA volunteers marched to Mass in St.
Michael’s Parish Church. There the
senior curate, Fr. John McLaughlin, himself an old IRA veteran, addressed the
congregation. The Annals of the Sisters
of Mercy noted that ‘after a warm welcome
to his former comrades Fr. McLaughlin upbraided them in no uncertain terms for
not having handed onto their children the splendid tradition of faith and
fatherland for which they had fought and in whose defence so much noble blood
was shed.’
Sr. Bernard was professed on 4th April 1951 and would
spend the rest of her life teaching in the Sisters of Mercy Primary
School. The centenary of Athy Convent of
Mercy was celebrated in 1952 and Sr. Bernard was actively involved, as were her
colleagues in religion, in the ceremonies which marked the occasion. The highlight was a pageant presented in St.
Michael’s School on 20th July 1952 involving a choir of 36 and 22
verse speakers. The names of the young girls
who were taught by Sr. Bernard in the Convent of Mercy Primary School and who participated
in that pageant brings back memories of times past and of a generation many of
us will remember.
‘The principal verse-speakers were Mary
Webster (Offaly St.) and Eileen Mahon (Uppr. William St.). The other speakers were Geraldine Stafford
(Duke St.), Imelda Brennan (Ballitore), Sally Hughes (Leinster St.), Pam Brophy
(Minch Tce.), Esther Hyland (Ballyadams), Mgt. Brennan (do.), and Maeve
Stafford (Duke St.). In the tableaux Our
Lord was played by Sadie Corcoran (Stradbally), Our Lady by Kathleen Mahon (Uppr.
William St.), St. Joseph by Helen Dallon (Ballitore), The Divine Child by Terry
Bergin (Kildangan), St. Ann by Marie Kelly (Glasealy), St. Joacham by Peg Foley
(Barrowhouse), Our Lady at the age of three by Maura Howard (Geraldine Rd.),
the Three Shepherds by Sheila Cahill (Kilberry), Anne Hyland (Rosebran), and
Susan Masterson (Boley); the Three Wise Kings by Moira McAnulty (Barrow
Cottages), Frances Harris (Kilberry), and Pauline Rowan (St. Patrick’s Ave.);
High Priest and Simeon by Anne Owens (Nicholastown), Prophetess Anna by Len
Hayden (St. Patrick’s Ave.), Cherubs by Olive Keogh (Cardenton) and Gertrude
Mullens (Leinster St.), Elizabeth by Collette Mulhare (Tankardstown), Angel
Gabriel by Mary Townsend (Duke St.); the Four Doctors by Olive Smyth (Offaly
St.), Sheila Millar (Larkfield), Rosie Byrne (Ballyadams) and Finola O’Flynn
(Ballylinan); the Bride by Breda Pender (St. Patrick’s Ave.), and the ‘groom by
Marie Kelly; St. John by Moira Kavanagh (Bleeding Horse), Mary Magdalen by Anna
Ryan (Goulyduff); Two Guards by Angela Rowan (St. Patrick’s Ave.) and Margaret
Foster (Kellyville);, Apostles by Betty Kelly (Cloney) Bridie Brennan
(Kilcrow), Peg Curtis (do.), Joan Campbell (do.), Alice Finn (Ballindrum), May
Bergin (Bray, Athy), Gretta Moore (Offaly St.), Carmel Brown (Ardreigh), Betty
Moran (Cloney), and Mary Foster (Kellyville).
Recalling these young girls of 64 years ago brings with it the memories
of the young women who over the years entered the Convent in Athy and spent
their lives serving the people of Athy as members of the Sisters of Mercy. Sr. Bernard was part of that ministry for
over 71 years and with her passing our local community loses another link with
the religious order which came to Athy to establish a convent just four years
after the end of the Great Famine.
Another death earlier in the week was that of Paddy Kelly, a
relatively young married man whose funeral mass in St. Michael’s Parish Church
was attended by perhaps the largest congregation I have seen for quite some
time. The attendance of neighbours and
friends in such numbers bore testimony to the popularity of the deceased and of
the wider Kelly family.
Liz Prendergast of St. Patrick’s Avenue died under tragic
circumstances a few days after Paddy Kelly.
Her funeral mass and the graveside ceremonies at her burial in Old St.
Michael’s Cemetery was marked by the beautiful uileann pipe playing of her son
Joseph. It was a moving tribute by a
young man whose musical abilities have attracted the attention and the
appreciation of those involved in the Irish music scene.
My sympathies are extended to the relatives of the late Sr. Carmel,
the late Paddy Kelly and the late Liz Prendergast.
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