Eye on the Past 752

An entry in the annals of the Sisters of Mercy Convent for 1935 reads: “During the year the creation of a row of cottages facing the Convent on the borders of the Clonmullin Road and just beyond the enclosure wall of St. Raphael’s field was begun”. A somewhat censorious tone was noted in the final entry relating to what was to be called the “Convent View houses”. “This was the work of the Urban Council. We had no voice in the matter.” In May 1936 Mother Mary Gonzaga was elected Superior of Athy Convent and with so many postulants joining the local Convent it was found necessary to enlarge the novitiate.

The following September Mary Breen and Winifred Meagher entered the Convent of Mercy. Less than three weeks later Catherine O’Hara also joined the Sisters of Mercy in Athy. All three would spend the rest of their lives in Athy as part of the once growing but now dwindling community of nuns who made up the Athy Convent of Mercy. Mary Breen took the name Sr. Enda, while Catherine O’Hara would in religion be known as Sr. Philomena.

Winifred, or Una Meagher as she was sometimes called, came from the County Tipperary village of Doon and after her first year in the Convent she received the Holy Habit, taking the name Sr. Mary Oliver in a ceremony shared with her colleagues Mary Breen and Catherine O’Hara. Around the same time in far away Australia the foundation stone of a new Church was being laid in Parramatta, New South Wales by the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr. Kelly. The Church was to be dedicated in memory of Mother Mary Clare Dunphy, a Sister of Mercy who had entered the Athy Convent as a young postulant in 1873 where she received the Holy Habit before transferring to the Callan Convent. The Convent of Mercy in Callan opened when following an invitation from Dr. Moran, Bishop of Ossory, six nuns transferred from the Athy Convent on the 8th of December 1872. When Bishop Moran later went to Sydney as a Cardinal of the Church he requested the Sisters of Mercy in Callan to open a convent in his Australian diocese. Sr. Clare Dunphy and her colleagues travelled to Australia where the one time postulant who had entered the Sisters of Mercy at the Athy Convent died in 1927.

In January 1939 Sheila Meagher, who would later be professed with the name Sr. Alphonsus, entered the Athy Convent where she joined her sister Winifred. Three years later on 18th April 1942 Sr. Enda, Sr. Philomena and Sr. Oliver made their final profession. All three would have a joint celebration of their Silver Jubilee on 18th April 1964. I was puzzled as to why the Silver Jubilee was celebrated 22 years after their final profession, but it seems the Jubilee in question referred to the taking of their Triennial Vows in 1939. The final profession occurred three years after the taking of those vows.

Sr. Oliver and Sr. Enda taught for over 40 years in St. Michael’s primary school. Indeed the former Winifred Meagher was for several years principal of the school, from which position she retired on 30th June 1982. Sr. Enda retired from the school staff on 31st February 1983. Sr. Oliver was a member of the first Board of Management appointed for the girls primary school in 1975. Incidentally it is interesting to note that when Sr. Oliver retired as principal of St. Michael’s Primary School she was replaced by her own sister, the former Sheila Meagher, known in religious life as Sr. Alphonsus. Following her retirement Sr. Oliver visited the Holy Land in 1983 accompanied by Sr. Carmel, having made an earlier pilgrimage to Rome in October 1975.

In March 1984 Sr. Oliver was appointed Sister in Charge of St. Vincent’s Hospital where she remained for five years. In 1989 Sr. Oliver, together with the two other Jubilarians, Sr. Enda and Sr. Philomena, all of whom had entered the convent fifty three years earlier were planning to celebrate their Golden Jubilee. Sadly, however, Sr. Philomena died in the local St. Vincent’s Hospital on 21st March of that year. Sr. Philomena had trained as a nurse in the Mater Hospital, Dublin, while her two colleagues, Sr. Oliver and Sr. Enda had trained as primary teachers. The remaining two Jubilarians, Sr. Enda and Sr. Oliver, celebrated their 50 years as Sisters of Mercy in April and the following month Sr. Oliver had a family celebration in the Convent of Mercy. Her extended family came from Doon in Co. Tipperary and on 26th May she was joined by nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews, as well as her two sisters and her brother, all of whom were in religious life. Sr. Alphonsus had sometime previously transferred to Arklow as Superior of the local Sisters of Mercy Convent, while Sr. Antonio travelled from Florida, U.S.A. to join her sisters, Sr. Oliver and Sr. Alphonsus in the Jubilee celebrations. With them was their brother, Fr. Roger Meagher who was a Parish Priest in Derby, England. Fr. Roger concelebrated Mass in the Convent chapel and following lunch all the guests and the Sisters of Mercy adjourned to St. Michael’s school hall where the extended Meagher family of different generations put on an entertainment.

Sr. Enda passed away in 1998 aged 81 years. Sr. Oliver celebrated her 90th birthday last week amongst her friends and colleagues at the Mercy house in Church Crescent. She has spent 71 years in the Convent of Mercy, initially as a postulant and then as a Sister of Mercy, teaching for more than 40 years in St. Michael’s Primary School. It was while a teacher and a mentor to the hundreds of young girls who passed through St. Michael’s in her time, that she gave witness to the mission directives of the followers of Catherine McAuley who commit themselves:-

“To promoting the dignity of women
enabling the oppressed to become
agents of their own liberation

to the upbuilding of the family
conscious of its many and diverse forms
and to promoting the well being of children

to being radically and unequivocally
on the side of those who are poor and marginalized.”

The Sisters of Mercy came to Athy in 1852. I have identified 144 nuns who were members of the Convent of Mercy in Athy in the intervening 155 years. There are, I believe, 19 Sisters of Mercy still with us in Athy. No longer based in their magnificent convent building which was partly built with funds collected in Athy in the years immediately following the Great Famine, the nuns now live at four different locations around the town.

Sr. Oliver, at 90 years of age, is not the oldest member of the local Mercy Sisters. That honour goes to Sr. Carmel Fallon who continues to be involved in the Wheelchair Association at both National and local level. All of the remaining nuns, like their predecessors, have made an enormous contribution to education and nursing in this town. Their legacy is to be seen in the first class schools for girls which we have here in Athy and in the good work which continues to be provided in St. Vincent's Hospital where the Sisters of Mercy served for over 130 years.

Congratulations to Sr. Oliver on her 90th birthday and with it goes our thanks to her and her colleagues in the Sisters of Mercy for the sterling work they undertook in Athy after the founding of the local Convent in 1852.

Eye on the Past 752

An entry in the annals of the Sisters of Mercy Convent for 1935 reads: “During the year the creation of a row of cottages facing the Convent on the borders of the Clonmullin Road and just beyond the enclosure wall of St. Raphael’s field was begun”. A somewhat censorious tone was noted in the final entry relating to what was to be called the “Convent View houses”. “This was the work of the Urban Council. We had no voice in the matter.” In May 1936 Mother Mary Gonzaga was elected Superior of Athy Convent and with so many postulants joining the local Convent it was found necessary to enlarge the novitiate.

The following September Mary Breen and Winifred Meagher entered the Convent of Mercy. Less than three weeks later Catherine O’Hara also joined the Sisters of Mercy in Athy. All three would spend the rest of their lives in Athy as part of the once growing but now dwindling community of nuns who made up the Athy Convent of Mercy. Mary Breen took the name Sr. Enda, while Catherine O’Hara would in religion be known as Sr. Philomena.

Winifred, or Una Meagher as she was sometimes called, came from the County Tipperary village of Doon and after her first year in the Convent she received the Holy Habit, taking the name Sr. Mary Oliver in a ceremony shared with her colleagues Mary Breen and Catherine O’Hara. Around the same time in far away Australia the foundation stone of a new Church was being laid in Parramatta, New South Wales by the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr. Kelly. The Church was to be dedicated in memory of Mother Mary Clare Dunphy, a Sister of Mercy who had entered the Athy Convent as a young postulant in 1873 where she received the Holy Habit before transferring to the Callan Convent. The Convent of Mercy in Callan opened when following an invitation from Dr. Moran, Bishop of Ossory, six nuns transferred from the Athy Convent on the 8th of December 1872. When Bishop Moran later went to Sydney as a Cardinal of the Church he requested the Sisters of Mercy in Callan to open a convent in his Australian diocese. Sr. Clare Dunphy and her colleagues travelled to Australia where the one time postulant who had entered the Sisters of Mercy at the Athy Convent died in 1927.

In January 1939 Sheila Meagher, who would later be professed with the name Sr. Alphonsus, entered the Athy Convent where she joined her sister Winifred. Three years later on 18th April 1942 Sr. Enda, Sr. Philomena and Sr. Oliver made their final profession. All three would have a joint celebration of their Silver Jubilee on 18th April 1964. I was puzzled as to why the Silver Jubilee was celebrated 22 years after their final profession, but it seems the Jubilee in question referred to the taking of their Triennial Vows in 1939. The final profession occurred three years after the taking of those vows.

Sr. Oliver and Sr. Enda taught for over 40 years in St. Michael’s primary school. Indeed the former Winifred Meagher was for several years principal of the school, from which position she retired on 30th June 1982. Sr. Enda retired from the school staff on 31st February 1983. Sr. Oliver was a member of the first Board of Management appointed for the girls primary school in 1975. Incidentally it is interesting to note that when Sr. Oliver retired as principal of St. Michael’s Primary School she was replaced by her own sister, the former Sheila Meagher, known in religious life as Sr. Alphonsus. Following her retirement Sr. Oliver visited the Holy Land in 1983 accompanied by Sr. Carmel, having made an earlier pilgrimage to Rome in October 1975.

In March 1984 Sr. Oliver was appointed Sister in Charge of St. Vincent’s Hospital where she remained for five years. In 1989 Sr. Oliver, together with the two other Jubilarians, Sr. Enda and Sr. Philomena, all of whom had entered the convent fifty three years earlier were planning to celebrate their Golden Jubilee. Sadly, however, Sr. Philomena died in the local St. Vincent’s Hospital on 21st March of that year. Sr. Philomena had trained as a nurse in the Mater Hospital, Dublin, while her two colleagues, Sr. Oliver and Sr. Enda had trained as primary teachers. The remaining two Jubilarians, Sr. Enda and Sr. Oliver, celebrated their 50 years as Sisters of Mercy in April and the following month Sr. Oliver had a family celebration in the Convent of Mercy. Her extended family came from Doon in Co. Tipperary and on 26th May she was joined by nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews, as well as her two sisters and her brother, all of whom were in religious life. Sr. Alphonsus had sometime previously transferred to Arklow as Superior of the local Sisters of Mercy Convent, while Sr. Antonio travelled from Florida, U.S.A. to join her sisters, Sr. Oliver and Sr. Alphonsus in the Jubilee celebrations. With them was their brother, Fr. Roger Meagher who was a Parish Priest in Derby, England. Fr. Roger concelebrated Mass in the Convent chapel and following lunch all the guests and the Sisters of Mercy adjourned to St. Michael’s school hall where the extended Meagher family of different generations put on an entertainment.

Sr. Enda passed away in 1998 aged 81 years. Sr. Oliver celebrated her 90th birthday last week amongst her friends and colleagues at the Mercy house in Church Crescent. She has spent 71 years in the Convent of Mercy, initially as a postulant and then as a Sister of Mercy, teaching for more than 40 years in St. Michael’s Primary School. It was while a teacher and a mentor to the hundreds of young girls who passed through St. Michael’s in her time, that she gave witness to the mission directives of the followers of Catherine McAuley who commit themselves:-

“To promoting the dignity of women
enabling the oppressed to become
agents of their own liberation

to the upbuilding of the family
conscious of its many and diverse forms
and to promoting the well being of children

to being radically and unequivocally
on the side of those who are poor and marginalized.”

The Sisters of Mercy came to Athy in 1852. I have identified 144 nuns who were members of the Convent of Mercy in Athy in the intervening 155 years. There are, I believe, 19 Sisters of Mercy still with us in Athy. No longer based in their magnificent convent building which was partly built with funds collected in Athy in the years immediately following the Great Famine, the nuns now live at four different locations around the town.

Sr. Oliver, at 90 years of age, is not the oldest member of the local Mercy Sisters. That honour goes to Sr. Carmel Fallon who continues to be involved in the Wheelchair Association at both National and local level. All of the remaining nuns, like their predecessors, have made an enormous contribution to education and nursing in this town. Their legacy is to be seen in the first class schools for girls which we have here in Athy and in the good work which continues to be provided in St. Vincent's Hospital where the Sisters of Mercy served for over 130 years.

Congratulations to Sr. Oliver on her 90th birthday and with it goes our thanks to her and her colleagues in the Sisters of Mercy for the sterling work they undertook in Athy after the founding of the local Convent in 1852.

Sisters of Mercy

In the Spring of 1843 some local people and clergy came together in the Parish School at the corner of Stanhope Street and Stanhope Place to discuss the possibility of bringing the Sisters of Mercy to Athy. The first Sisters of Mercy had been professed 12 years earlier and already a Convent had been established in the neighbouring town of Carlow. Those who played a large part in organising that meeting were Miss Anna Gould of Stanhope Place, Rev. W. Gaffney C.C., the Fitzgerald family of Geraldine House and Patrick Maher of Kilrush. It was agreed to take up a weekly collection in the town of Athy to finance the building of a Convent for the Sisters of Mercy. By the 12th of May, 1843 £150 had been collected but an approach to the Duke of Leinster for a site was unsuccessful. Undaunted the fund raising continued and in August 1844 the Parish Priest of Castledermot, Rev. Laurence Dunne, laid the first stone of the future Convent on marshy ground to the west of the Parish Church.

The building work continued throughout 1845 and 1846 but stopped in 1847 because of lack of funds. The weekly town collection was not taken up during the Great Famine, but restarted in 1848, this time under the direction of Rev. Thomas Greene C.C. in whose memory a beautiful Celtic Cross was many years later erected in the grounds of St. Michael’s Parish Church.

Dr. Paul Cullen, appointed Archbishop of Dublin in 1852, was born in Prospect in the Parish of Narraghmore in the year of Robert Emmet’s Rebellion. Understandably he took a keen personal interest in the completion of the Convent in the South Kildare town of Athy, which was located just six miles from his ancestral home. Mother Mary Vincent Whitty of the Sisters of Mercy Dublin advanced £300 to the local people to have the building completed and on 10th October, 1852 Mother Vincent, who earlier had been responsible for building the Mater Hospital, Dublin, took charge of the new Convent accompanied by two sisters. They remained in Athy for two years after which time the Sisters of Mercy in Carlow took over the Athy Convent as a branch house and sent Sister Mary Teresa Maher and Sister Mary Xavier Downey in their place. Sister Mary O'Grady Dillon and Sister Mary Joseph later joined them from the Baggot Street Convent.

Sister Mary Teresa Maher was daughter of Patrick Maher of Kilrush who was one of those responsible for bringing the Sisters of Mercy to Athy. She was also a first cousin of Archbishop Cullen. Sister Mary Vincent Whitty who opened the Athy Convent in October 1852 was the first Sister of Mercy to go on missionary work to Australia where she was later to be joined by a number of nuns and postulants from the Athy Convent.

In 1861 an appeal was made by Rev. Andrew Quinn P.P., Athy, to Rev. Mother Teresa Maher on behalf of his brothers Rt. Rev. James Quinn, Bishop of Brisbane and Rt. Rev. Matthew Quinn, Bishop of Bathurst, Australia, for nuns for their respective missions. In 1865 a postulant from Athy’s Convent, Catherine Flanagan, travelled to Brisbane and in the following year four more postulants left the local Convent in Athy for the Australian Missions. One of the many nuns and postulants who left Athy for Queensland was Sr. Mary Patrick Potter who entered the Athy Convent on the 8th of June, 1866. She and four others left for Brisbane on the 26th of February, 1868. They were the last Athy nuns to leave Athy for Australia. By then Athy had become known as the Mother House of Queensland, having sent so many Mercy Sisters and postulants to that Province over the years.

In 1879 Mother Mary Patrick Potter was appointed Superior of the Congregation in Brisbane, a position she held until her death in 1927. She established many convents and schools throughout Queensland while the building of the Mater Hospital in Brisbane was another of her many achievements.

Over the 140 years of their life in Athy the Sisters of Mercy have worked amongst the people, providing help where required and responding to the spiritual, educational and sometimes material needs of the people of the area.