Archive (237 life histories found)
'I was in a bit of turmoil, as I had so much information to consider and digest between that and my return to Belfast.'
Awaiting me in Helen's Bay, was a message to telephone Sr.M. Emilian. She wanted to see me next morning in Fruithill Park, where she was now living in the Generalate, having been elected Mother General of the Down and Connor Sisters of Mercy. She…
Tags: meeting, Mercy Order, Mission, Zimbabwe
'I got my eyes opened to the real world which existed outside the world of convent and education.'
I had some very happy years in Mercy Primary and became a bit complacent, thinking that perhaps this was going to be my niche, for the rest of my life. How wrong I was! My mother became very ill with colon cancer and for five years she suffered with…
Tags: elder care, mother, social care, training
'You need to bide your time when you come into a new place. Watch and wait for the first year and then you can begin to introduce changes.'
By that time I had been changed from Abbeyville, back to Mercy Primary School on the Crumlin Road in September 1979 where Sr.M.Emilian Moloney had taken up the post of principal after Sr.M.Bernadette Agnew retired. Sr M Emilian, Sr Frances Forde and…
'It was during my time in Whiteabbey that I decided to study part time for a B.Ed. degree.'
Immaculata School was very different from Sussex Place. Sr. Anthony Cairns was principal and she was a beautiful lady who was so caring towards me. We became great friends. There were weekly boarders in the school, girls whose homes were too far away…
'The people of the Markets were the salt of the earth and I got to know many of them very well through their children.'
At the beginning of September I was assigned to St Malachy's Convent Primary School, Sussex Place where Sr. Ann McKeever had just been appointed principal, to succeed Sr. M Vincent Donnelly who had been a legend there. I was given a Primary Seven…
'I was so excited about going forward and taking my temporary vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and the service of the people of God in works of mercy.'
I now take up my story on 14th August 1975, the day I made my first profession in the Convent of Mercy, Crumlin Road. That was a wonderful day and I was so excited about going forward and taking my temporary vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and…
Tags: Mercy Order, nun, Profession
'She was one loyal friend to me and stood by me at times when others let me down.'
I returned to Waterford in September 1974 to begin my second year of novitiate. Of the four who had been in the year ahead of us, three had made first profession in their various convents and Rosemary O'Leary had left, as had Doreen Brosnan, before…
Tags: friendship, Novitiate, nun, teachers
'My Uncle Vincent and His wife Aunt Maura came to visit me in Waterford too, and that was the last time I saw him alive.'
We went on a week's holidays to Ardmore to the Cappoquin holiday house and it was a great break for us by the sea. We had a lot of freedom there and the weather was mostly fine and so we had lovely walks to the round tower and other local beauty…
'There was no time for idleness. In fact so tight was this schedule that I asked her when were we supposed to go to the loo!.'
On arrival at Mercy Novitiate, Summerland, Ozanam Street, Waterford, I was met by a few young novices, who took my bags and helped me unload the car. Because I was wearing the black veil they thought I was a professed sister and were ever so helpful.…
'I had never been further south than Dublin and this was a big adventure for me to go so far away.'
During my first year as a postulant in the Convent of Mercy, Crumlin Road, I taught in St Malachy's Primary school on the New Lodge Sr M. Louis Donaghy and Sr.Josephen McAteer were working in Star of the Sea school on Hallidays Road at that time and…