HAPPY PRESENTATION DAY

Today, 21st November, is Presentation Day.  Because St Patrick's Convent School was founded by the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (PBVM) I thought a post about Presentation Day and the founding of the Presentation Sisters in Newfoundland would be appropriate.  The Newfoundland Convent has the distinction of being the first Presentation House outside Ireland and also the first in North America. 

 

Painting of the Presentation of Mary into the Temple.  This
painting is the work of a member of the Presentation
Community at the Motherhouse, Cathedral Square.

Just in case we may have forgotten what 'Presentation Day' actually is, I am posting an excerpt from "The Church's Year of Grace" by Pius Parsch. 

 

"Presentation of Mary
Sacred Scripture contains no text concerning the event commemorated in today's liturgy. For something of a historical background one may consult the apocryphal works, particularly the Protoevangel of St. James (ch. 4:1ff). After an angel had revealed her pregnancy, Anna is said to have vowed her future child Mary to the Lord. Soon after birth the infant was brought to the sacred precincts at which only the best of Israel's daughters were admitted. At the age of three she was transferred to the temple proper (7:2). According to legend, here she was reared like a dove and received her nourishment from the hand of an angel (8:1)."In the East, where the feast, celebrated since the eighth century, is kept as a public holiday, it bears the name, 'The Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple'. It was introduced at Rome by a Cypriotic legate to the papal court of Avignon in 1371. In 1472, Sixtus IV extended its observance to the whole Church. Abolished by Pius V, it was reintroduced some years later (1585)."

 

The following video is another of the excellent videos by my friend Ed O'Neill.  It is a very interesting video about Mother Bernard Kirwan and the founding of the Presentation Sisters in Newfoundland.  In the video, Ed interviews the late Sr Perpetua Kennedy, visits the Presentation Convent in Galway from where Mother Bernard and her little band of pioneers set out, and also visits Mother Bernard's grave in Port Kirwan, Fermeuse, on the beautiful Southern Shore of Newfoundland.  Please take the time to watch the video.  You will be glad you did!

 

 

Thanks again, Ed, for allowing me to repost your video.  And a very Happy Presentation Day to everyone.

A GET TOGETHER!

This is an e-mail I received from Doreen Walsh Noseworthy.    Unfortunately, I can’t be there but all you lucky ladies who are able to attend should get in touch with DOREEN BY FRIDAY, 15^TH NOVEMBER.  I wish I could be there and I send “hello” & “love” & “best wishes” to all my St Patrick’s friends.  Have a great time, everyone!

 

The original School, Convent Square,  & part of the 'new' Convent

Doreen's e-mail:

“Hi everyone! A few of us got together last week and thought it would be nice if we could get some of the crowd together for lunch someday soon. I know this will not include those of you who are at a great distance, but it's easier to send the email to everyone on the list.....we may be getting older, but still not too stunned (ha!).

We have decided on lunch at PAPA'S RESTAURANT, ROWAN ST., CHURCHILL SQUARE, AT NOON, ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH. We have a dining area all to ourselves - The Red Room. However, I WILL NEED THE EXACT NUMBER OF THOSE ATTENDING NOT LATER THAN FRIDAY, NOV. 15TH. We have been getting a lot of requests for an event like this so we're hoping to see many of you there. IF YOU ARE AWARE OF ANYONE WHO IS NOT ON THE MAILING LIST BUT WOULD LIKE TO GO, PLEASE CONTACT THEM AND PASS ALONG THE INVITATION.

Hope this message finds all of you well. Looking forward to seeing many of you next week.

Cheers to all,

Doreen”

 

Contact Doreen at;  <dgnoseworthy@nf.sympatico.ca>

"WE WILL REMEMBER THEM"

In 1921, the new St Patrick's Convent School opened on Deanery Avenue.  The school was dedicated to the memory of the men and boys of St Patrick's Parish who had lost their lives in WWI.  Today, as Remembrance Day dawns once again, we dedicate this post to all those who have paid the supreme sacrifice, not only in WWI, but in all the wars and conflicts that have cursed the earth ever since. 

 

 

The Plaque from  the Deanery Avenue School

 

 

This little newspaper clipping found in a very old scrapbook tells of one parishioner of St Patrick's who gave his young life in WWI. 



From a 1918 newspaper

 

Private Jack Pynn was the son of Daniel and Margaret Pynn of 329 Water Street West. Private Pynn was only 17 years old when he died of wounds on 31st October 1918, just eleven days before the Armistice was signed.  Far from his home in the shadow of St Patrick's, young Private Jack Pynn rests in Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, France.

 

"They shall grow not old,

as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them,

nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun

and in the morning
We will remember them."

(Robert Laurence Binyon)

CUBS ON PARADE

1st St Patrick's Cub Pack on Parade in 1953

This lovely picture, courtesy of Doreen (McAllister) Heffernan, was taken in 1953, probably on 1st July.  It is the 1st St Patrick's Cub Pack on parade and it shows the leaders, Mrs Rose McCormack and Miss Doreen McAllister.  Following close behind are John McCormack, Tommy Greene and Gerry Meaney.  Behind Gerry is another Meaney, (Basil perhaps?). 

Tommy Greene's creation for the 2010 St Patrick's Reunion

Sadly, Mrs McCormack and John McCormack have passed away.  I think Gerry still lives in St John's and I don't know about the other Meaney boy.  (If you know, please let me know.)  Little Tommy Green grew up to be a very talented maker of beautiful cakes!  He also had the good sense to marry a St Patrick's Convent Girl, Florence Furey.  The above photo shows one of Tom's delicious cakes, made by him for the 2010 St Patrick's Convent School Reunion.   

 

Thanks for this photo, Doreen.  It gave me much pleasure and I am sure it will do the same for many other readers of this blog.

 

DRAWN FROM MEMORY

This post will bring back some memories for a lot of people.  I am posting a  sketch of St Patrick's Convent School, Deanery Avenue.  Many of us were pupils at this school, which was built as a memorial to the boys and men of St Patrick's Parish who gave their lives in WWI.     This beautiful drawing was done, from memory,  by a former pupil of St Patrick's, Kay Simms McCormack .

One of eleven children, Kay Simms was born in 1932 to Bill and Louise Simms, prominent and well respected members of St Patrick's Parish.  Many will recall the concerts at which the dancers and singers were accompanied on the piano by Mrs  Simms.  In the 1930s and 1940s Kay and her three sisters, Dot, Betty and Jennie, all attended St Patrick's Convent School.  One of Kay's brothers, Ray, also attended St Patrick's where he took Commercial.  It seems the norm that friendships forged as children at St Patrick's last a lifetime. Kay is no exception as she still cherishes the friendships and keeps in contact with some of her school friends. 

A SKETCH OF THE DEANERY AVENUE SCHOOL,
DONE FROM MEMORY BY KAY McCORMACK

Kay loves to sketch but her niece, Betty Simms,  tells me that she is also a very talented painter.  For this lovely additiion to our School Blog I am very grateful to my good friend Betty Simms and to her amazing Aunt, Kay Simms McCormack.  Long may you continue to paint and sketch, Kay, and we would be delighted to see more of your work.  Thanks very much and may God bless you.

DO YOU REMEMBER MISS LEE?

OK Friends, I need your help on this one so please put your thinking caps on.  I have received the following e-mail from Wanita and I am wondering if any of you have any information on "MISS" Lee?  I remember a Miss Howard who married a man named Lee but I am not sure if she continued teaching at St Patrick's after her marriage.  So any scrap of information you can contribute would be very welcome. 

Miss Howard (Mrs Lee) is on the right of this photo, which was taken in 2010.  Could this be Wanita's "MISS" Lee?

Wanita's e-mail:

"Your blog is wicked and I have to get back and spend some time on it. There is always more new (old) information on it.

I am wondering if you might be able to help me with this. Do you or any of your readers remember a Miss Lee who taught 1957-1959. Would anyone know if she is still alive or if she married or where to find her? Or what her first name was?

Any information on her would be greatly appreciated.

Let me know if you can help with this request?

Thanks girls,

Wanita"

 

I leave this with all of you St Patrick's Girls out there and I hope someone will come up with some information for Wanita.  Thanks everyone.

HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY

Sincere Congratulations to Sister  Mary Mark Kennedy who recently celebrated her 100th Birthday.    Sr Mark will be remembered with affection by the many girls who knew her in the late 1950s early 1960s  when she was Principal of St Patrick's. 

 

HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY SR MARK! 

 

Sr Marie Furey (a St Patrick's Girl) 
and Sr Mark Kennedy, 2009

 

MISS JENNY HAYES

I post here an interesting note that I received some time ago from Brenda Murphy Sheir. 

Brenda said:
"How about Miss Hayes, God love her! She used to sell the scribblers with the holy pictures on them and also the holy picture cards. She was a very kind lady to my family and I am sure to other families. I started St. Patrick's I believe in 1958 as I was born in Oct. 1953. I graduated in1966. Spent 67, 68, 69 and finally Business Course at Holy Heart in 1970. I was the oldest of 6 girls who all went to St. Patrick's, Brenda, Allison, Karen, Mary Lou, Connie and Geraldine Murphy. We grew up at 554 Water St, just below Patrick St. What a wonderful neighbourhood to grow up in. My first girlfriend was Patricia Lee from Deanery Avenue and later we were joined by Isabelle Fleet who grew up on Plank Road. The families were all united and I am so blessed to have grown up where I did and have been educated at St. Patrick's and brought up in the Catholic faith at St. Patrick's. Some of my school chums were Brenda Peddle, Diane Darcy, Sharon Dinn, Marilyn Murphy, Janet Bradbury, Cookie Martin, Theresa Prim, Mary Graham, Regina Whelan, Pamela Mulcahy, Allison Wakeham just to quickly name a few. God bless each and every one of the girls and teachers that I spent kindergarten to grade 8 with.
Love to you all.

Brenda Murphy Sheir"

 

It is a lovely e-mail and I am sure most of us, if not all, remember Miss Jenny Hayes.  She operated the little shop on Water St and she was so kind and patient with all the girls and boys who crowded into her shop.  She was often assisted in the shop by her friend, Marian Fitzpatrick, who was also very nice.  At lunchtime the shop was full of Holy Cross boys and St Patrick's girls who lived too far away to go home for dinner.  (The schools had no cafeterias in those days.) There the girls and boys all sat, on chairs or upturned Coke boxes, and ate their lunches from brown paper bags. Miss Hayes would be busy serving the children who called in for their two cents or five cents worth of candies.  Remember thos big glass jars, full of all kinds of delicious candies, some two for a cent.  Some were even more than TWO for a cent.  And who could forget those delicious snowballs that you could get for just five cents?

The white car is coming out of Patrick St and the
little shop operated by Miss Jenny Hayes was about
the third building up from there. 
Sorry I don't have a better picture but if
anyone has one to share, I'd be grateful

The Bus Stop was just up a little from the shop and, in bad weather, Miss Hayes allowed the bus-riding school children to wait inside her shop until their bus came.  Miss Jenny Hayes truly was a good and kind lady. 

Thank you Brenda for reminding us of Miss Hayes.  If anyone has any memories of Miss Hayes, we would love for you to share them with us.  Also, if any of the friends that Brenda mentioned are reading this, please get in touch.

GRADE SIX, CIRCA 1950

Cindy Stone has sent me this lovely picture on behalf of her mother-in-law, Lillian Hynes Stone.  Lillian said that it is her grade six class picture and it was taken about 1950.  Lillian has also given us the names of the girls in the picture.  Notice that the girls are all wearing white tams.  Some are wearing or holding white gloves also.  Does anyone know if this was the full school uniform or would this have been a special occasion?  The only school hat I ever remember wearing  was that brown and blue beanie at Holy Heart so  I would appreciate anything you can tell me about the white tams and gloves.

GRADE SIX, CIRCA 1950

FRONT ROW, R-L:

B Mason, B Broderick, L Lavigne, J Murphy, F Murphy, H O'Brien, M O'Brien

SECOND ROW:

C Dwyer, A Cahill, B Curvin, C Dawe, M O'Brien, S Howell, F Cook, A Green, J Connolly, C Walsh, A Kavanagh, M Lou Ryan, H Doran

THIRD ROW:

J Snow, C Breene, H Hearn, D Ryan, M McDonald, M Voisey, R Whelan, L Hynes, N Collins, M Antle, J Kilfoy

FOURTH ROW: 

M O'Brien, B Nugent, T Robinson, G Adams, C Nolan, C Hearn, M Crane, C Whelan, M Healey 

Lillian, thank you very much for sharing this  picture with us.  Please know that your support is greatly appreciated.   Thanks also to Cindy for sending the picture.

*A LITTLE REMINDER:  IF YOU CLICK ON THE PICTURES, MOST OF THEM WILL ENLARGE.

THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT!

Just thought this picture would help dispel any gloom & doom regarding the future!

 

 

THE ORIGINAL SCHOOL RING

I am really pleased to be able to post this picture of an original St Patrick's School Ring.  This one belongs to Doreen Heffernan and she tells me that it was bought about 1948.  I had a St Patrick's School ring but mine was the newer version.  Unfortunately, I lost mine.   Some of you will remember the updated ring.  You may even have one.  If you do, I'd love to see a picture of it.  If you would like to share a picture of it, please send it to me at mcallistersmith@gmail.com 

 



An original St Patrick's Convent School Ring,
circa 1948

Many thanks to Doreen for letting us photograph her ring and thanks to Lynn for modelling it!

ST PATRICK'S REUNION 2008, PART 3

I hope you have all read Parts 1 and 2 of this post.  If not you can do so by clicking here and here. Today's post features pictures from the final day of the 50th Anniversary Reunion for the class of 1958.

On Sunday 3rd August 2008, the 50th Anniversary Reunion celebrations drew to a close.  As they had done so often in their school days, the girls gathered once again at St Patrick's Church for Sunday Mass.  Joan said that the 11 o'clock Mass was celebrated by Fr Wayne Dohey who, in his lovely homily, acknowledged and welcomed them.  After Mass the school friends regrouped for Brunch at  Cabot Club, The Newfoundland Fairmont.

In the foreground;
Patricia McCarthy Philpott, Rita Kielly
and Joan Connolly Alston

Joan Predham Janes, Carmel Madden O'Mara
and Emily Bishop Monahan
(Sadly, these ladies have since passed away)

Madeline Adams Thomson, Eleanor Sears Vatcher,
Patricia McCarthy Philpott and Mary Morey Matheson

Most of the Class of 1958, at The Fairmont Newfoundland

Joan Reynolds Fogarty, the lovely lady
who has made this post possible

Thanks to Joan Reynolds Fogarty, we have this  wonderful pictorial record of the happy 50th Anniversary Reunion of the Class of 1958.  Friendship is a powerful thing. Its pull brought Yvonne Stephenson Meissner home from Claremont, Ontario, Mary Morey Matheson from Rothesay, New Brunswick and Irene Viscount McCrate from Maple Ridge, British Columbia.  I am sure it seems like only yesterday you were all sitting in the desks at dear old St Patrick's.    Although they loomed large at the time, Mother John, Sr Immaculata,  Homework and Rubber Bags were really only minor worries. Now they provide grist for the mill of nostalgia. 

Do any of you remember the School Song?  I have never heard it sung but I think the refrain is a fitting way to conclude this post.

"St Patrick's, St Patrick's,

You're Home away from Home.

St Patrick's, St Patrick's,

No matter where we roam,

You teach us and reach us

And down across the years

We'll think of you with happy smiles,

Only sometimes with tears.

We'll think of you with happy smiles

And sometimes with tears."

Joan Reynolds Fogarty, thank you very much for sharing this lovely celebration with us.

ST PATRICK'S REUNION 2008, PART 2

Following an exciting night of renewing old acquaintances and meandering down Memory Lane, the Class of 1958 met again the next evening, Saturday 2nd August.  This time the venue was the B I S where the celebrations continued with dinner and entertainment.  Dinner was an excellent hot and cold buffet and the first-rate entertainment was provided by the ladies themselves.  (If anyone reading this post has the grave misfortune of  being  unacquainted with any St Patrick's Girls, I hasten to inform you that St Patrick's Girls are multi-talented!)  

 

SATURDAY NIGHT:

EVENING DINNER AND ENTERTAINMENT AT THE B I S

Catherine Corbett Stanley and Yvonne Stephenson Meissner

 

 

The late Carmel Madden O'Mara as Sr Immaculata
(note the infamous Rubber Bag)

 

Madeline Adams Thomson

 

 

Brenda Casey Grouchy, Carmel Madden O'Mara (deceased), Mary Bulger Corcoran, Mary Morey Matheson,
Irene Viscount McCrate, Joan Predham Janes (deceased)

 

 

Betty Fitzgerald Pye and Judy Fitzgerald Squires

 

 

For Part 1 see yesterday's post at this link.  For Part 3 of this Reunion, remember to look in again tomorrow.   Once again, thank you Joan for these great pictures.  I would guess that the entertainment provided much hilarity! 

 

ST PATRICK'S REUNION 2008 - PART 1

In August 2008 St Patrick's girls from the class of 1958 held a 50th Anniversary Reunion.  The Reunion was a weekend event, beginning on Friday 1st August with a Meet and Greet with Wine and Cheese at the Botanical Gardens.  Joan Reynolds Fogarty attended the three day event and she has very kindly shared photos of that celebration with us.  As I said, it was a three day event and today I am posting the pictures from the first day, the Friday night Meet and Greet.  I think you will enjoy these pictures as much as I have so be sure to look in again tomorrow for more photos of the 2008 Reunion. 

  

FRIDAY  NIGHT:
MEET AND GREET WITH CHEESE AND WINE AT THE BOTANICAL GARDENS

 

THE 50th ANNIVERSARY CAKE!

 

 

Betty Antle Coffen, Kathleen Dobbin Benson,
Yvonne Stephenson Meissener, Mary Morey Matheson

 

 

 

Rosemary Ashley Healy, Carmel Madden O'Mara (deceased), and  Patricia Connolly Leonard

 

Mary Bulger Corcoran, Joan Connolly Alston,
Joan Predham Janes (deceased), Joan Ryan Cobb,
Mary Fitzgerald

 

 

Mary Fitzgerald, Bonnie Beck Byrne,
Rita Kielly, Catherine Corbett Stanley

 

Barbara Parsons Macleod

Madeline Adams Thomson

Thank you, Joan. Without the help of people like you I could not keep this blog going so I am very grateful to you for your help and support.

CHILDREN OF MARY

Did you know that the very first Sodality of the Children of Mary in Newfoundland was established at St Patrick's?   It was established there in 1876 by two Sisters from the Riverhead Convent, Sr M Patrick Kielly and Sr M Aloysius Caulfield, and the Parish Priest, Rev John Ryan.  

 

 

This beautiful certificate, signed by Fr Bradshaw, belonged to Rosemary Stanford.  In 1954, seventy-eight years after its establishment, Rosemary was received into the Sodality of the Children of Mary.      

 

Rosemary Stanford's Certificate

 

The Act of Consecration on Rosemary's Certificate

The beautiful picture on Rosemary's Certificate

 

Many thanks to Enid Stanford O'Brien for sending us her sister's certificate.   It is a lovely reminder of life as a pupil of St Patrick's Convent, Riverhead.