Category: History

Celebrating Fifty Years- St. Clare’s Auxiliary

Posted on by Diane Smyth

On 23 October 2017 more than one hundred guests gathered at Government House in St. John’s, NL to mark the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital Auxiliary.

Their Honours Mr. Frank and Patricia Fagan were hosts in the beautiful and historic residence of the Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador.  Former Presidents of the Auxiliary, past and currents members as well as a number of Sisters of Mercy and other friends were in attendance.  Refreshments were graciously served by Government House staff.   Guests and Governor Fagan and his wife mingled about the grand reception rooms.

The Governor spoke for a few minutes to commend the group on reaching this milestone and to thank them for the wonderful work that the Auxiliary  members have done and continue to do on behalf of those who seek health and healing at St. Clare’s.  With grace and hospitality he welcomed everyone to Government House and invited them to explore the rooms and enjoy the beauty and history of the building.

Sister Elizabeth Davis, Leader of the Sisters of Mercy, spoke a few words of greeting to the auxiliary and thanked them for their dedicated and generous service to St. Clare’s and to the patients and families who come there.

Then an address was given by Mrs. Joan Parker Crosbie,  the first President of the Auxiliary:

Your Honours, Mr. and Mrs. Fagan, Sisters of St. Clare’s, President of the St. Clare’s Auxiliary, Auxiliary Past Presidents of the Auxiliary and friends:

It is hard to believe that it was fifty years since the beginning of the auxiliary.  It was a very humble beginning but the enthusiasm of all the members was great.  I would be amiss if I didn’t mention all the encouragement we received from Sister Mary Aidan, Sister Fabian and all the Sisters. The auxiliary reminds me of the proud oak tree that grows from a tiny acorn.

We had a great time starting the auxiliary and many new friendships were formed.  We had a shower and members brought things to sell in the gift shop.  We had a Ball at the Old Colony Club and an auction during the Ball.  I only remember one item (to be auctioned) and that was Ray Guy’s salt and pepper cap.  The paper from inside the rim was missing as he got short-taken out in the woods.  Then there was the Sale of Work.  We took our knitting needles, sewing machine and all Sisters joined in.  They also made the wonderful fudge, which was the first thing to sell out.

I am now at an age that memories are important.  I must say that my memories of St. Clare’s Auxiliary are very happy and proud ones.  I never could imagine that it would grow to the size that it is today.

Congratulations to all the members over the 50 years that have made the auxiliary what it is today.

Appreciation to Governor Fagan was expressed by Leslie Darraugh, current President of the Auxiliary.  Some photos were taken of many of the previous presidents who were in attendance.  It was the end of a lovely and memorable event.

Mrs. Joan Parker Crosbie
Lt. Governor Frank and Mrs. Patricia Fagan
Auxiliary Presidents
Beautiful Decor of Government House

Celebration of 100 Years: Presence of Sisters of Mercy on Bell Island

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On Monday evening we attended a most impressive celebration on Bell Island at the invitation of St. Michael’s Parish.  Exactly one hundred years ago, on 19 September 1917, four Sisters (Sisters Mary Consilio, Mary Cecily O’Reilly, Alphonsus McNamara and Mary Aloysius Rawlins) crossed the Tickle and founded our community at the Front.

The people of St. Michael’s Parish invited any Sisters who could attend to join them for Mass, dinner and music. Twenty-one of us joined them for the special evening.

(Going around the table beginning on left)  Srs. Charlotte Fitzpatrick, Maureen Lawlor, Eileen Penney, Barbara Kenny, Rosaline Hynes, Ruth Beresford, Marcella Grant, Sheila Grant, Theresa Boland, Rosemary Ryan- 10 of the 21 Sisters who attended.

The crossing on the new ferry, the Legionnaire, was beautiful – calm and sunny.  The Archbishop and eight priests joined us for the trip.  We were met at the ferry by several Knights of Columbus who offered us drives if needed.  We went directly to Church and joined the parishioners and many others who had come back home for the occasion.

The bell, used at the original St. Michael’s Church and preserved by St. Michael’s High School, was relocated to the grounds of the modern St. Michael’s Parish Church (build on the site of the Immaculate Conception Church after it had burned to the ground).  Archbishop Currie blessed the bell, rang it and then invited a small choir from St. Michael’s School to lead us in O Canada and the Ode to Newfoundland. The bell has so much significance in joyfully in linking our built heritage with the geography of this Island.

We then went into the Church for Mass at which the Archbishop presided.  The sanctuary was lovely, adorned by a single vase of red roses and new white altar cloths with gold embroidery.  The School choir joined the adult choir to lead us in song.  Members of the parish led the Liturgy of the Word.  The Archbishop, in his homily, recalled some of our history on Bell Island right up to the present day with a special mention of Sister Phyllis’ pastoral presence.  He reminded us that the Ode to Newfoundland was sung for the very first time at the opening of the first Catholic school on the Island in 1901!

Parish hall beautifully prepared for the celebration
Display: Timeline showing some of the events
of the past 100 years

Read more about the wonderful celebrations on Bell Island. Download the report here

From the Postulator to the Mercy Family Worldwide

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The Mercy Family has been asked by the Postulator for the Cause of Catherine McAuley’s Canonisation, Sr Brenda Dolphin, for continued support of prayers for a diocesan inquiry into an alleged miracle of healing through Catherine’s intercession. The task of the Postulator is to guide the case (cause) for canonisation through the processes required.

In October a diocesan process of inquiry will begin in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA to gather materials about an alleged healing through Catherine’s intercession. It is hoped that the proceedings will be finished in November.

Sr Brenda writes: ‘This is the first time we have proceeded to a diocesan inquiry and while we cannot be certain that this will lead to beatification we continue to keep faith and trust in the power of God and the intercessory power of Catherine McAuley.’

She then continues: ‘We are very grateful to each and every one of you for the constant support of your prayers and for the marvellous way by which you give witness to Catherine McAuley’s fame for holiness which is very evident and continues to spread to so many places throughout the world.’

The Sisters of Mercy Newfoundland thank you for the support of your prayers for this inquiry.

We invite you to post a prayer in our online chapel

Download and share this invitation for prayer support:

English: A4 Paper Size (PDF); US Letter Size (PDF)

Spanish: A4 Paper Size (PDF); US Letter Size (PDF)

21st General Chapter Sisters of Mercy of Newfoundland, 20 – 28 July 2017

Posted on by Diane Smyth

For nine days we have met as a community holding accountability for our life in Mercy for the past four years and imagining the unfolding of our life in Mercy over the next four years. Contemplation has been the thread weaving the texture and the colour through our days together. Our profoundly centering logo has drawn us time and again into deeper contemplation as we endeavoured to explore the depths of our motto “Mercying into the future. .  . Misericordiando hacia el futuro. . .”

Two images, one from the logo and one from the motto, now invite us into the living out of our Chapter Statement.  In the logo, the simple panes of the side panels (not the ornate decoration of the earlier drafts) remind us of a time in Catherine’s life when she was uncertain, seemingly out of her depth and without the security of her faith tradition.  We are told that, denied the right to have access to any Catholic symbols or rituals, in her ingenuity she found the Cross in the window panes and door panels and the intersecting branches of trees on the lawn. I see six such crosses in the side panels of our logo – how many do you see?  In a postmodern world, in what familiar yet unexpected places will we find the Creating One, the Risen One and the Spirit of peace and justice?

The time has also come to look at the three dots embedded in our motto.  These three dots, a punctuation mark known in English as an ellipsis, are at the end of the quotation in English and in Spanish and are the link between the two phrases.  There is an invitation to graceful movement inherent in this punctuation mark – it suggests the unfinished thought, the slight pause, the intentional silence, the echoing voice.  In these coming four years, let us attend to those unfinished thoughts, let us respect the slight pauses, let us become calm in the intentional silences, and let us delight in the echoing voices.

During our Chapter days, we heard the echoing voices of four profound phrases: Who we love transforms us ~ Where we live reshapes us ~ How we create remakes us ~ What we choose changes us.

-Reflections given by Elizabeth Davis, rsm on the closing of the 21st General Chapter of the Sisters of Mercy of Newfoundland.

Cait Wims rsm, translator Chapter centerpiece

Click here to view more photos from the 21st General Chapter

Foundation of Mercy in Newfoundland

Posted on by Diane Smyth

What must have gone through the heart and mind of Marianne Creedon when Bishop Fleming asked her if she would return to Ireland to train as a Sister of Mercy!  “Go back to Ireland; enter the convent? Come back to St. John’s and start up a convent here?”  What must the bishop be thinking!!

Life was fairly comfortable now in St. John’s and Marianne had settled in well.  Her family and friends were here and she was teaching and serving the sick and the poor in various ways.  At the age of 21 she had earlier faced the unknowns of life in her move to St. John’s in 1833: the loss of what was secure and familiar in her home with the Nugents in Waterford, the risk and suffering of crossing the ocean to a new land, the leaving of all that was familiar.

Now, what was Bishop Fleming asking of her?  What was God asking of her?

The thoughts of returning to Dublin may have been exciting for the young woman; but the long voyage over the north Atlantic ocean!  This would indeed be a challenge!  Then there was the excitement of a new challenge to join a certain Catherine McAuley in a brand new religious order, an order different from other orders in Ireland.  Weren’t the Sisters of Mercy called the “walking nuns” because they visited the poor and the sick in their homes and in the hospitals?  Is God calling her to something new,  again?

Bishop Fleming must have seen great potential and giftedness in Marianne.  He must have had great trust in her leadership, her ability and her faith.  He knew of her skill to nurture the spiritual, intellectual, artistic and social life of the Catholic population in St. John’s and beyond.  Catherine McAuley, too, must also have had deep trust in Marianne and guided her to completion of her novitiate at Baggot Street where she made religious profession as a sister of Mercy in August 1841.  There seems to have been an agreement with Catherine that Marianne, now Sister Mary Francis, would return to Newfoundland to found there the Sisters of Mercy.  Likely Catherine McAuley would have accompanied the founding group but she was too sick and died a few months later.  Catherine’s successor, Sister Mary dePazzi upheld the foundress’ commitment to Newfoundland.    Francis Creedon, Rose Lynch and Ursula arrived in St. John’s on June 3, 1842 to establish the first foundation outside of England and Ireland.

Marianne was home, now as a Sister of Mercy.  She, Rose Lynch and Ursula Frayne  immediately took up the works of Mercy.  The three founding sisters opened a school on Military Road in May, 1843 and continued to visit the sick poor in their homes.  By the middle of November that same year Sisters  Rose and Ursula had returned to Ireland leaving Francis and a newly professed Mary Joseph Nugent in St. John’s to carry on the mission.  So thanks to these two the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of Newfoundland continued to grow and to flourish.  This is our story!   June 3 is our foundation day!

The Forgotten Graveyard

Posted on by Diane Smyth

The first Sister to enter our Congregation in Newfoundland and also to be the first Sister to die in Newfoundland was buried in what has come to be known as “The Forgotten Graveyard.” A number of our Sisters gathered with members of the Benevolent Irish Society (BIS) and other community members on Saturday, May 28, 2016 to dedicate a plaque in memory of the first Catholic graveyard in St. John’s as well as to honour the memory of Sister Mary Joseph Nugent. This plaque has been installed on the stone wall near the bottom of Long’s Hill.

The Forgotten Graveyard, located on the grounds on which the Kirk now stands and extended to Queens Road and west to Long’s Hill, opened in 1811 but was no longer in use by 1849. In those years over 400 people were buried there.

A fire in 1846 caused extensive damage to the graveyard. Then the typhus epidemic, which broke out in June 1847, saw many Irish people buried there – including our Sister Mary Joseph Nugent who died on June 17, 1847 having contracted typhus as she ministered to the people who were sick and dying from this terrible epidemic.  Fear that the town’s water would be  tainted from the disease caused the graveyard to be closed and Catholics began to be buried in the recently opened Belvedere Cemetery.

The Great Fire of 1892, which destroyed most of St. John’s, did further damage to the Long’s Hill Graveyard since much of the debris from the fire was dumped on the site. At that time, many bodies were moved from there to Belvedere Cemetery.  In speaking to the gathered group at the BIS event on Saturday, Larry Dohey, from The Rooms, noted that not all of the bodies were removed from Long’s Hill. Later, one of us asked him if the bodies not moved were those who had died from the 1847 typhus epidemic. And he replied “yes”. 

Now that the BIS has brought forward the knowledge of the “Forgotten Graveyard” there is a further desire to re-establish the area as a sacred space. Mr. Bruce Templeton spoke during the ceremony on behalf of The Kirk. He told the gathering that he first heard of the Forgotten Graveyard from Sister Patricia March! He further explained that when you step out of the Kirk you are actually in the graveyard.  Mr. Templeton finished his remarks by saying that the people of The Kirk and the BIS are planning to go further in making the area a sacred space once again.

 

Re-membering Catherine McAuley

Posted on by Diane Smyth

St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador

On the eve of the anniversary of the death of Catherine McAuley, 11 November, ten women named Catherine gathered with the community of St. Joseph’s Convent to remember Catherine McAuley.

In order to celebrate the 174th anniversary of the death of Catherine McAuley, the six sisters of St. Joseph’s community on Signal Hill, St. John’s invited women they knew and who had the name Catherine to a reflection and a cup of tea.  After they were welcomed each spoke of her name and its significance.  The stories were varied and some humourous – a great way to get to know each other!

Then we reflected with the help of a slideshow and songs on the life of Catherine McAuley.  We prayed for various needs in our world and ended with the video of the Circle of Mercy.  Following our reflection and prayer, the group went to the dining room for a good cup of tea.

It was a lovely evening that was enjoyed by all present- the guests seemed reluctant to leave and hoped for a similar event next year!

 

Closing St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital Convent

Posted on by Diane Smyth

“Today, sadly, we mark the closing of St. Clare’s Convent and the departure of the Sisters of Mercy from their residence in the ‘white house’, the cornerstone building of what we now know as St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital.   The Sisters of Mercy may be leaving a building but they are not leaving healthcare or the ministry at St. Clare’s.”

On March 3 a brief ceremony in the hospital chapel marked the closing of St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital Convent on LeMarchant Road, St. John’s, NL.

St. Clare’s Mercy Convent

The grand, three-storey house on the corner of St. Clare Avenue and Lemarchant Road was purchased from the Honorable E.M. Jackman by Archbishop M. F. Howley in 1913 for five thousand dollars.  Bishop Howley’s plan was to open a hostel for women who came to St. John’s looking for work.

A Presentation Sister, M. Clare English, was a keen supporter of the project and began to raise money for it.  She donated the proceeds of a rosary made of gold nuggets given to her by a prospector relative.   In September 1913 St. Clare’s Home for Working Girls was opened.   Bishop Howley asked the Sisters of Mercy to administer the home since such ministry was more in keeping with the rule of their order; the operation of such an institution was one of the ministries for which they were founded.  Three Sisters of Mercy took up residence in the ‘white house’.

Within a year, Bishop Howley had considered turning the home into a Catholic hospital but he died before any action could be taken.  Archbishop E.P. Roche built on his predecessor’s dream to establish a Catholic hospital.  He arranged for Sister Mary Bernard Gladney, one of the three sisters at St. Clare’s Home, to go to a Sisters of Mercy Hospital in Pittsburg to train as a nurse and to eventually take the leadership of establishing and running the hospital.

St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital opened in May 1922. Katherine Bellamy writes in her history:  “The little hospital soon gained a superb reputation for its care of the sick, and within a short time it was functioning at full capacity.”  Bellamy, Weavers of the Tapestry, p. 390.

Additional sisters went to the United States to train as registered nurses.  Others trained for dietetics, radiography, anesthesia and laboratory.  The sisters continued to live in the hospital in a section of the building set aside for their community life.  Surely they were on call every day and every hour!  As the years passed and the hospital grew, with new modern extensions, more room became available in the “white house” for the sisters who themselves were increasing in numbers.  The lab was the last vestige of the hospital that shared the house with the sisters!  A modern large,  new lab was built into the 1970s extension and the sisters finally had the convent to themselves!

For the past 102 years, beginning in the former Jackman home, the Sisters of Mercy have reached out with competence and compassion to all who came through the doors seeking shelter, healing and care.  The sisters were pioneers of health care in the province and provided leadership in all facets of care of the sick.  They were pioneers of wholistic care long before it became part of medical terminology.  Over the years they lead the way in comprehensive hospital care, information technology, pastoral care, palliative care, detoxification and innovative mental health care.  We celebrate that great story!

Ceremony

The ceremony (repeated in the early evening) to mark the closing of the convent recognized the contribution of the ninety-two women who lived in the ‘white house’ over the 102 years.  The participants, graduates from St. Clare’s School of Nursing, staff and former staff, sisters, physicians, administrators and colleagues, celebrated in readings, prayer and song and gathered at the end for a “good cup of tea”.

In her reflection Sister Elizabeth Davis, Congregational Leader and former CEO of St. Clare’s said:  “The ninety-two Sisters of Mercy who have called the Convent home over more than one hundred years have been primarily involved in Mercy health and healing ministries – at St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital and at St. Patrick’s Mercy Home – and in education ministry at the St. Clare’s School of Nursing.  These women have made a difference in the lives of individuals who came to the hospital for healing, in the health and health care of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, in the education of women and men working within health care, and in the shape of our province’s health care system.  In a few moments we will hear the names of these ninety-two women, we will see the faces of the ones who loved us and influenced us and shaped who we are and what this hospital is.”

Sisters of Mercy will continue to be committed to the provision of medical, spiritual and pastoral care, to visitation of sick people in St. Clare’s and in other hospitals, private homes and long-term care homes, to support people on dialysis, to encourage and support educational, spiritual and leadership endeavours within health care, to advocate for justice for people with complex needs, and to the encouragement and support all with whom they collaborate.

Gratitude

We acknowledge the contribution of the sisters who lived in St. Clare’s Convent since 1913, a home and refuge for women; and later the foundation of a hospital that would grow to be a modern tertiary healthcare facility among the present-day comprehensive services of the Eastern Health Regional system.

May the Spirit of Mercy continue to inspire all of those who continue to walk in the footsteps of these Women of Mercy.

Note:  the ‘white house’ is now the property of the Eastern Health Regional Board.

Celebrating MIA 20th Anniversary

Posted on by Diane Smyth

In Newfoundland we began the week of celebration of the 20th anniverary of the Mercy International Association on Sunday September 21.

We began with the video Circle of Mercy thus bringing Sisters of Mercy from around the world into our gathering.   Sister Elizabeth Davis, congregational leader, welcomed the group giving a backdrop for the celebrations.  We enjoyed a slideshow of The Face of Mercy which included photos of many of the people in the room and which had been sent to Ireland to be part of the photo display during this week of celebration.

Sister Sheila O’Dea then led us through the liturgy that a committee had prepared for the celebrations at Baggot Street, Dublin on September 26.  The prayer was beautifully woven with readings, images, reflection and chants.  The refrains were written by some of our own sisters.  Bill Brennan, a well known local musician, had composed a piano piece, Country Rose, that was listened to as part of our reflection time.

The theme of our liturgy was Caring for our Environment.  The opening action invited all of life from the four corners of creation to the centre of our room as we turned to each of the directions.  Various symbols were brought to the centre of the room.  Water was one of the key symbols, which was later blessed.  Each of us asked to approach the water prayerfully and playfully to bless ourself or others with the water.  At the end of the liturgy we each turned to the various directions to bless all people and creatures in our cosmos.

Of course we all enjoyed wonderful refreshments following the liturgy.

Since many of our sisters could not attend this gathering we celebrated the event at McAuley Convent on September 22.  We began in the chapel with the liturgy as prepared for the worldwide celebration.  It was so moving to see so many of the sister residents and staff of McAuley Convent participate in the various components of the service and to participate in the refrains.  We then had a “good cup of tea” before watching the slide show “the Face of Mercy”.

As the week continued many of our sisters joined in the worldwide celebrations as

they were livestreamed from BaggotStreet chapel.  We were so pleased to be able to join in the celebrations “live”  through the world wide web, even thought some of them were in the early hours of the mornign for us.  We were so delighted that Sisters Patricia March and Monical Hickey as well as Anne Curtis, one of our colleagues, could be present among the group in Dublin for the celebrations and to represent us there.  We were so pleased to contribute to the celebrations on September 23 and to contribute to the liturgical celebration used on September 26.  We were especially pleased and excited when Patricia told the story of the formal opening of Mercy International Centre and are grateful to her deep love and commitment to Mercy.

We thank the committee who met often to prepare the litugical format and to carry out the various local celebrations.  We thank the sisters who worked to prepare to celebrate at home and to manage the technology that brought us into the chapel at Baggot Street!  We are especially grateful for the group who planned this international celebration of the twenty years of world wide Mercy.

 

New Book Released in St. John’s – Standing on Their Shoulders

Posted on by Diane Smyth

Today over forty sisters joined Charlotte Fitzpatrick, rsm in the release of her recently printed book, Standing on Their Shoulders: Stories of the “Irish” Sisters of Mercy in Newfoundland. It was a beautiful sunny day in the midst of winter in St. John’s as the sisters gathered at the former St. Bride’s College, in the Kilbride area of St. John’s and on the feast of St. Brigid, February 1!

Sister Elizabeth Davis, Congregational Leader, connected the celebration of the revered Irish saint, our links in the communion of saints and in our Irish Mercy heritage. She thanked Charlotte for her research and for the collation of the stories of sixty women who were among the early members of the Sisters of Mercy in Newfoundland. She thanked her for bringing their lives into our current memory and for immortalizing them in her 160 page book. After her speech Elizabeth led the group in a beautiful blessing of Charlotte.

Then Charlotte spoke to the group about her experience of writing the book and how moving it was to discover the stories of these Irish women who came from Ireland, across the inhospitable north Atlantic ocean, to live and minister as Sisters of Mercy in Newfoundland for the rest of their lives. She visited the gravesites of many of these generous women with a prayer asking what they would like her to say about them! Charlotte read excerpts from the book to introduce aspects of their life story and to whet the appetite to read more. Some of those present knew some of the Irish women described in the book and shared their memories. Charlotte recognized with awe that Sisters of Mercy today are surely standing on the shoulders if these great women of courage and of Mercy.

Afterwards Charlotte autographed books for the sisters and all enjoyed a “good cup of tea.”

Charlotte Fitzpatrick rsm reading to the group
Closeup of Sr Charlotte reading from 'Standing on Their Shoulders'
Elizabeth Davis rsm speaking
Book signing