Today, 21 September, is the feast of St Matthew. It was on this day in 1883 that the brig, 'Ariel', under command of Captain William Staunton, sailed into St John's harbour with four Irish ladies, and the Bishop of Newfoundland, Michael Anthony Fleming, on board. The four Irish ladies were Presentation Sisters who had volunteered to accompany the Bishop from their convent in Galway. Sisters M Bernard Kirwan, M Xaverius Lynch, M Xavier Molony, and M Magdalen O'Shaughnessy, would go on to establish in St John's the first Presentation House in North America, in fact, the first outside Ireland. Sr Bernard Kirwan, who was the Superior, was therefore the foundress of the Presentation Sisters in North America.
We, as graduates of St Patrick's Convent Schools, owe our education, and much else, to these four brave and selfless Irish Nuns who left their homes for a distant land 189 years ago.
So thankful!
ReplyDeleteMe too, Anonymous.
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