As the pupils and staff of St Patrick's Convent Schools left the building in June of 1999, they witnessed not only the closing of the school. They witnessed the close of an era. For over one hundred years St Patrick's Convent Schools had held such an important place in the Parish of St Patrick's as well as in the whole community of Riverhead, i.e. St John's West. With the locking of the doors on that June Day in 1999, St Patrick's Convent Schools ceased to exist, save in the hearts and memories of its former pupils. To commemorate our School, I am going to post pictures that I have received over the years . I will post several times each month from now until the end of June. If you have any that you would like included please send them to me at mcallistersmith@gmail.com and I will add them to our collection. Here is the first batch. Happy browsing.
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| The First School |
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| An early picture of Sisters and pupils of St Patrick's Convent School |
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Mother M Bernard Kirwan PBVM, Foundress of
the Presentation Foundation in Newfoundland |
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| The old St Patrick's Convent |
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Mother M DeSales Walsh, Born Tralee, Ireland 1866, died Presentation Motherhouse 1968.
Former teacher at St Patrick's Convent and twice Mother General of the Presentation
Sisters in Newfoundland. |
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| From an Irish Stamp depicting Nano Nagle, Foundress of the Sisters of the Presentation, PBVMs |
I have a question. The picture of the sister in front of the Christmas tree, Sister M. DeSales Walsh. What was her name as we would know it? All the sisters go by their birth names now and I don't recognize them.
ReplyDeleteHi Heather that is a good question. I know exactly what you mean. I have that problem too but in reverse! I am older than you so I knew all the Nuns by their religious names and when people speak of them by their birth names I haven't a clue who they are talking about. However, all the Sisters in the photos in this post were well before your time so you wouldn't have known them at all. They all lived in the days before Vatican Council II and it was after that the Nuns were permitted to go back to their birth names if they wished. Mother DeSales Walsh died in 1968 and, being 102 years old, I can't imagine she would return to a name she hadn't used since she was 16 years old when she entered the Presentation Convent. I can tell you her birth name though. She was Margaret Walsh, born February 1866 in Tralee, Ireland. When she died in St John's on 1 March 1968, she still went by the name of Sr M DeSales. In future posts I will use both names if I know them. Thanks for taking the time to ask. I hope you enjoy the rest of the pictures that I will post. All the best to you and your family, Heather.
DeleteMother DeSales was principal of St.Patricks when I went there
ReplyDeleteHi anonymous. Mother DeSales was principal when I was there too. However, it wasn't the same Mother DeSales. The Mother DeSales in the picture was Mother DeSales Walsh, an Irish girl born in 1866 in Tralee. The Mother DeSales you knew was Mother DeSales Goff or Gosse, I am not sure which , a Newfoundlander and much younger than Mother DeSales Walsh. Her grave is in the little cemetery beside St Patrick's Church. I don't know if access is still available to that now though.
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