You probably see less and less of them as the years roll on and the number of vocations seems to be in steady decline, but nuns were once a very common sight in Ireland.
Yesterday the Irish Times reported that Columban Sister Catherine Lillis who is 94 years young was presented with a special papal award for her decades long work of helping people suffering from issues related to addiction.
The article shows the petite lady all dressed in blue beaming as she receives her award.
My own home is only down the road from what was for many years a Carmilite convent which has now sadly closed.
The field on which it stands was once home to a donkey I grabbed the rear end of as a three year old causing my mother to nigh on pass out with shock when the beast kicked its hind legs in protest at the unsolicited interference.
The land which used to be tended by the Carmelits in the midst of their cloistered life is now to be plastered with over 200 houses, effectively turning the sleepy little village of Delgany into just another Dublin-adjacent housing complex.
One of my earliest memories is deciding I would like to join the order at around the age of four and being brought up to the convent to speak to one of the nuns about joining.
I can clearly remember the grill she was speaking from behind and how she advised my mother and I that it would be better if I came back in a few years as they didn’t have a habit small enough for me.
This made perfect sense to me at the time, but alas I haven’t yet gone back.
Although the nuns in Delgany mostly kept to themselves their presence was something of a comfort in a changing world and in 2009 hundreds of people flocked to the convent when the relics of their patron St. Thérèse of Lisieux were brought there on a tour of Ireland.
Many nuns serve their commitment to their faith by going out into the world and working tirelessly for the poor, for the sick, or whoever needs their aid.
It really makes you think doesn’t it? How many of us would be willing to live a life of charity and sacrifice like she has?
Of course some of you reading this may have not such nice memories of nuns. My own mother often tells me how she got an awful beating on the palm of her hands with a cane from one at school when she was small.
Horrible things were done by some, but there are many among them who dedicated their lives to charity and kindness.
Having trained in addiction counselling in the States, Sister Catherine used to work at the Rutland Centre and Teresa’s Garden in Dublin often accompany children through the harrowing experience of having to identify their deceased mothers.
I’m not sure if I can imagine how difficult that must have been, or how important.
Loreto nun Sr. Cyril Mooney (86) won international renown for her tireless charitable works helping the poor in India.
Originally from Bray in Wicklow she worked in India from 1956, eventually becoming the principal of the Loreto Day School in Sealdah, Kolkata in 1979.
Sr. Mooney allowed poorer children to access what had been an exclusive school so that soon after her appointment as principal 50% of the 1,400 students were non-fee paying according to the Irish Times.
In a 2015 interview with the paper she said, “in some schools `lower-caste’ children are not allowed to turn on the tap or touch utensils and must ask their higher caste peers for a drink of water. Or they are made to sit at the back of the class, with inevitable results,”
What an incredible impact she must have had on those children’s lives, despised by some from birth because of something completely beyond their control.
She also set up a home for over 200 kids who had no parents which is just one example of her extraordinary work.
She passed away late last month with her funeral taking place at St. Thomas’s Church in Kolkata where Mother Teresa of Kolkata lay in state for seven days before being laid to rest.
Sister Consilio who was born Eileen Fitzpatrick runs the well known Cuan Mhuire, or Harbor of Mary, a service dedicated to helping those struggling with addiction.
The Irish Mercy sister has dedicated well over fifty years to the care of those who need it and in 2017 it was reported that over 75,000 people with drug, gambling, and alcohol addiction had sought treatment at the facility.
In an interview published in Global Sisters Report the Kerry woman told of how cannabis – a drug the smell of which permeates Dublin city – has an effect on the mind ‘like nothing else,’
She spoke of the “affliction” of loneliness and how many who have done “an awful lot” for others often find themselves “abandoned” in nursing homes.
Speaking about the role of Cuan Mhuire she said she thought it could be a “home for people where they feel loved,”
“It was about the power of people reaching out and helping each other. We heal each other.”
“It wouldn’t have been a program because I hadn’t any program, but I just knew how my mother took care of visitors when they called.” she said adding, “ I had a love of people — that is what makes a difference for all of us, to love and to be loved.”
We don’t always get to see the work that nuns like the ladies mentioned above do, and there are thousands of names of little sisters whom we will never hear of..
Changing attitudes towards Catholicism mean that many of us may not really want to know or acknowledge what they still do for those in need,
Perhaps you don’t really think about nuns too much, but I think it’s fair to say those in need will miss them when they’re gone.