The Year of Consecrated Life: An Ennis Parish Camino
Pilgrims from all over the world have walked the Camino de Santiago or ‘the way of St. James’
to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. To mark the Year of Consecrated Life and
to honour and acknowledge the various religious congregations who have ministered in the
parish over the years, the Parish of Ennis, Co. Clare, had its own ‘Camino’ – road, journey, walk
– on the first Sunday in June last. Our journey, in glorious sunshine, was from Corrovorrin in
the east to Cahercalla in the west of the town – nothing like the distance from Oviedo to
Santiago. Pausing along the way at points associated with each congregation and listening to a
flavour of each one’s history, it took us all of three hours; the sense of heritage if not the scenery
en route evoked a great sense of evolving history, community, change, challenge, generosity,
gratitude and a marvelling at the extraordinary ‘providence’ in the unfolding of God’s plan and a
richness of giftedness and charism.
Assembling at Corrovorrin
The starting point in Corrovorrin was at the grave of Sisters Baptist Tobin and Augustine Breen,
two Ursuline Sisters who had died in 1831 and 1835 respectively. Local historian, Mr. Larry
Brennan, gave an account of the Ursuline ministry of education in Ennis. In January 1829 four
professed sisters led by Mother Angela Luby, a novice and two postulants, together with six
boarding-school pupils, had taken up residence in Lifford House, Corrovorrin, with the intention
of providing education for girls in the town. The house had been purchased by the priests of
Killaloe Diocese in the name of Rev. Thomas McInerney, Parish Priest of Feakle, Co Clare. By
the end of March of that year there were 160 pupils; by 1837 there were fourteen professed
sisters teaching over 200 pupils. However, financial difficulties were the subject of a court case
at the Galway assizes in 1935 arising from which the sisters left for Thurles in 1839. In that
same year, the Presentation Sisters in Galway responded to Bishop Patrick Kennedy’s appeal
and four sisters, led by Mother Joseph Power, took over from the Ursulines to continue the work
of education of Catholic girls in the spacious, four-storey Lifford House. They too were quickly
faced with financial difficulties and returned to Galway in 1841, a move regretted by the people.
In more recent times The Little Sisters of the Assumption lived in Corrovorrin. Five members
of that congregation came to Ennis in 1971 at the invitation of Bishop Michael Harty and the
prompting of the late Sr. Eucharia Keane, a pioneering Mercy Sister who had left education to do
social work and was instrumental in setting up what was to become Clare Social Services. The
Clare Social Service Council was set up in 1968 as an umbrella organisation to oversee the
response to the many emerging social needs throughout the county. Bringing with them much
relevant experience and a cheerful, compassionate as well as efficient and professional approach
to social work, the Little Sisters made a very significant contribution towards putting Clare
Social Services on a sound footing. Now known as Clarecare it is still a very strong service
organisation in Co. Clare. The Little Sisters of the Assumption lived at Nos 1 & 2 Corrovorrin
Crescent which the Sisters of Mercy purchased from them when they left Ennis in 1985. Mercy
Sisters, involved in various ministries, continue to live at Corrovorrin Crescent. A gathering
hymn, Bind us together Lord, was sung and a prayer to St. Ursula recited by the hundreds of
people taking part in this parish walk, and we moved on to St. Joseph’s hospital.
Pilgrims at the ‘Workhouse’ gate
Here, Mary Killeen rsm, herself a lifelong staff-member, told the story of the Sisters of Mercy
and the Ennis Workhouse. Later known as the County Home, the Workhouse was opened in
1841, one of 160 such institutions constructed and run in accordance with the Irish Poor Law Act
1838. All were very dismal places, accommodating large numbers in cramped and appalling
conditions; by the 1880s the Board of Guardians was finding it difficult to staff the Workhouse
and to counter the management irregularities that had crept in.
When the Board was presented with the resignation of the Matron at a meeting in 1884 they
turned to the Sisters of Mercy and asked to them to take up nursing and management posts; five
sisters, led by Sr. Regis Corcoran, took up residence in April 1885, in a section of the
Workhouse specially prepared for them. The following year another sister joined them; three
sisters were nurses and were paid ‘£30 per annum without rations’. There were 478 residents
and the running-cost allowance was £0-1-11 per person, per week. A chapel was added to the
complex and that was where the sisters came together to recite the Divine Office and say the
rosary; the residents were curious and many of them also turned up for prayers. The annals tell
us that a man remarked one evening: ‘I never in all my life heard such prattling as the nuns had
in the chapel. I couldn’t make out a word they were saying’. They were reciting the Office in
Latin!
Over the years the number of staff, both lay and religious, increased and much effort was made
to improve conditions for the residents, culminating in the phased demolition of the old and the
building, in the 1960s of a modern, well-appointed hospital by the Health Board and Clare
County Council. This project was spearheaded by matron, Sr. Aquinas O’Dwyer. The County
Home was renamed St. Joseph’s Hospital. A spacious church was added in 1972 to serve
hospital residents and the local parish community. Improvements continued and St. Joseph’s is
now a full Geriatric Hospital with physiotherapy, occupational therapy and rehabilitation
services and Alzheimer’s Unit. The last Sister of Mercy on the staff retired from St. Joseph’s in
December 2009 leaving a facility that could not have been imagined by the pioneers of 1885.
She was happy that the Mercy contribution over a span of 124 years had been a truly Gospel
ministry to very special people and in the knowledge that the work goes on. The Mercy Prayer
for the Sick was distributed and recited by all and to the soft strains of Lay Your Hands Gently
upon Me the pilgrims resumed their walking.
Listening to Br. Seán McNamara
The next ‘station’ was the Irish Christian Brothers’ Monastery and schools on New Road
where Brother Seán McNamara traced the history of the Brothers in Ennis. Their founder,
Brother Edmund Ignatius Rice, was invited by Bishop O’Shaughnessy in 1826 to send brothers
to Ennis. In January 1827 Brothers Jerome O’Connor and Ignatius Barry arrived and set up their
first school in an old corn store, later moving to Chapel Lane and by 1833 to a new building on
the site where the old section of the current primary school still stands. Due to financial and
other difficulties the Brothers withdrew from Ennis in 1840 only to return in 1854 at the request
of Dean John Kenny P.P. In August 1868 the foundation stone of the present Monastery was
laid and the brothers moved from what Dean Kenny described as ‘a miserable thatched cottage’
to take up residence on New Road in December 1869. Records show that pupils of the CBS
were entered for the Intermediate Board examinations in 1882. In 1937 a secondary school was
completed. The Brothers have given unbroken service to Catholic education in the Parish of
Ennis since 1854; today the schools are part of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust. A hymn – To
Do Your Will is my Desire – a prayer of thanksgiving for Brother Rice, and walking resumed.
This time we walked along by the River Fergus, over the Club Bridge and by the ruins of the old
Franciscan Abbey, now a flourishing tourist attraction in the care of the OPW, round the corner
to Francis Street and the Franciscan Friary where we were welcomed by Fr. Jim Hassan
OFM. A native of Derry, Fr. Jim had only very recently arrived in Ennis. The Franciscans are
thought to have come to Ennis in 1240 – the date is not known for sure – and were given
hospitality by Donnachadh Cairbeach O’Brien who had moved the royal seat of the O’Brien’s
from Limerick to Ennis. Friars then settled wherever they were made welcome, gathered some
followers and a new group moved on. To quote Fr. Patrick Conlan OFM ‘they did not bother
much about paperwork or canonical permission but allowed themselves to be guided by the
Spirit’. Another O’Brien, named Turlough, built the old Franciscan Abbey on the banks of the
river Fergus; it was the burial place for generations of O’Brien’s as well as the foundation of the
town of Ennis. Through turbulent times the Abbey served as a venue for the assize courts, a jail
and as apartments for the Privy Council of Elizabeth I. Following the Cromwellian desecration
the Abbey fell into ruin; it became the property of the Church of Ireland Parish of Drumcliffe
and eventually the Board of Works took charge of it in 1969 when it was graciously gifted to the
Franciscan Order by the Church of Ireland.
The story of the Franciscans in Ennis is fascinating; it is one of suppression and revival,
persecution and survival, living in the Abbey, hiding-out in the countryside or fleeing to the
Continent until Catholic Emancipation in 1829 made it safe to re-establish openly. Above all,
the Franciscan story is one of men of incredible courage and tenacity; of great and unique
characters who braved all adversity, sustained by the common thread of faith in their God and
commitment to the people. The present Friary, formerly Willow Bank House, was acquired on
behalf of the Friars in 1853 and they transferred there in 1854 – the same year that the Sisters of
Mercy came to Ennis and the Christian Brothers returned. The present Friary church opened in
1856. The Friars continue to have an active pastoral and cultural role in the local community
and are much loved and appreciated in return.
From the Franciscan Friary, singing Christ be Beside Me, the pilgrims wended their way the
short distance along Francis Street to the Poor Clare Sisters Monastery, dedicated to Our Lady
Queen of the Universe. Here they were warmly welcomed by Sr. Gabrielle in the Sisters’
beautiful Chapel where there was standing room only by the time everyone had squeezed in.
The Poor Clares are contemplative nuns founded by St. Clare and St. Frances of Assisi in 1212.
The Rule of St. Clare was approved by Pope Innocent 1V on the day before St. Clare’s death in
1253. They first came to Ireland in 1629 and suffered many setbacks in the ensuing centuries. In
March 1957 the late Bishop Joseph Rodgers laid the foundation stone for the Poor Clare
Monastery in Ennis and the Sisters arrived there from Cork on 7 October 1958. They now
number eleven and come from various parts of Ireland but have put down strong Clare and Ennis
roots. The sisters see themselves as a voice before the Father for all the people of God. They
spend their time in union with God through the Liturgy of the Hours and Contemplation, with the
Eucharist as the centre of their day. They share with each other in community a family spirit of
joy, mutual encouragement and support. In Ennis the Poor Clare Sisters are treasured as an
integral part of the parish and local community in the same spirit of mutual support. The
Monastery is a symbol of life dedicated to God in a particular ministry of prayer. The Sisters
hope that it is a beacon of hope and love for all.
In the Chapel of the Poor Clare Monastery
Singing Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God we arrived at the Templegate Hotel plaza, site of the
original Mercy Convent. Here Canice Hanrahan rsm briefly told the story of Catherine
McAuley and the founding of the Sisters of Mercy in Baggot St., Dublin in 1831. To make the
link with the Ennis chapter of Mercy history she drew attention to the tall, plain cross beside the
Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, Ennis, which commemorates the Parish Mission of November
1853. At the mission a meeting of parishioners, chaired by Bishop Vaughan, resolved to invite
the Sisters of Mercy to open a house in Ennis ‘for the promotion of Catholic education in this
and the adjoining parishes’. Dean John Kenny, P.P, was dispatched to Limerick to make the
request of Mother Elizabeth Moore. Led by Mother Vincent McMahon, four sisters arrived the
following May and took up residence at Row House which had been rented by Dean Kenny in
Arthur’s Row, off O’Connell St. They immediately opened a primary school with an enrolment
of 400 girls. The Christian Brothers had already returned to Ennis in response to the same
committee earlier that year.
The early years were ones of expansion as the original group was joined by many young women.
By 1860 a second-level boarding and day school was added. Land was acquired from Edward
Gore, convent and schools were extended, an orphanage, a knitting enterprise, a bakery, a centre
for the making of Altar Breads for the diocese of Killaloe and a commercial laundry were
opened. In 1941 the second-level school was moved to College Road making way for further
expansion of the primary facility. This in turn moved to the magnificent, state-of-the art Holy
Family School on Station Road in 1965. The secondary school, Coláiste Muire, was transferred
to the trusteeship of the CEIST Trust in 2007 and more recently, the two Holy Family schools to
the Killaloe Diocese. The old convent was sold in the early 1990s and a new, more compact
building provided on Bóthar na Trócaire.
Requests to the Ennis community for new foundations were responded to positively; between
1872 and 1878 forty-five sisters left for missions in the USA, New Zealand and Australia. Nearer
home the sisters answered calls to Ennistymon, to the workhouses in Ennis, Roscrea and Corofin
and to open a school in Killaloe. In the twentieth century the Sisters opened a secondary school
was opened at Spanish Point, two elementary schools in California, a community in Shannon and
two centres for further education in Kenya, East Africa. Sisters also served for some years in
healthcare in Iceland. Dean Kenny, Bishop Vaughan and all those who attended that Parish
Mission meeting in 1853 could not have imagined the fruits it would bear. Sisters of Mercy
endeavour to follow the example of Catherine McAuley in living their lives in the service of
others in union with Christ in prayer and in imitation of his own compassionate service of those
in need of love and healing. Copies of Catherine McAuley’s prayer, The Suscipe, were
distributed and recited by all.
‘Erected by the Ennis Sculpture Initiative in appreciation of the Sisters of Mercy’
We made our way along the typically narrow streets of the town through Chapel Lane, site of the
first church in Ennis, Lysaght’s Lane where the Franciscans once took shelter and Garraun na
Cille, now a car park but once a public cemetery. We sang Faith is flowing like a River and
prayed for all those interred in that unlikely part of town.
St. Clare’s Close off the Turnpike, was our next stop. Here the role of the Brothers of Charity
and the Sisters of Mercy was remembered for their pioneering assistance towards meeting the
special educational needs of young people from throughout the county. A school, named St.
Clare’s, was set up on a voluntary basis by Ennis and District Soroptimists and Dr. Joe Solan,
Medical Officer, in the old Turnpike Dispensary. The first pupils came from Our Lady’s
Psychiatric Hospital and from the special Unit in St. Joseph’s Hospital, known as St. Senan’s,
run by Sr. Carmel Scanlan rsm, for young people with disabilities. The school was recognised
by the Department of Education and opened in 1967 by Dr. Patrick Hillery, then Minister for
Education. The first teacher and principal was Mrs Eileen Jones with Sr. Eileen Killoury as
deputy principal. It was not possible to sustain the level of voluntary work involved in
transporting pupils daily from around the county so the Brothers of Charity, responded to the
obvious need and opened two residential facilities in Ennis where young people could live
Monday to Friday each week while attending school. This improved the quality of life for pupils
and families alike. The Brothers later extended their ministry to sheltered workshops; St. Clare’s
moved in 1986 to new purpose-built premises on the Gort Road. Margaret McNamara
remembered happy and fruitful days in St. Clare’s School on this old site and thanked the local
community who helped in making it such a success. The Dispensary was demolished and
replaced by a small cluster of houses named St. Clare’s Close. The final lines of Margaret’s
poignant prayer were: ‘Blessed are those who give without hope of return, they will give people
an experience of God’.
The longest leg of our pilgrimage was from St. Clare’s Close to the green area off Woodhaven,
Kilrush Road where we honoured The Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart. The
congregation was founded in Australia in 1866 by St. Mary McKillop and Fr. Julian Tenison
Woods. Mary, an Australian woman who was born of Scottish parents, became Australia’s first
canonised saint in October 2010. Mary McKillop visited Ireland in 1874 seeking the support of
Irish girls for her mission of education in Australia and New Zealand. In October 1875, fifteen
young women gathered in the Carmelite chapel in Ranelagh, Dublin, where, in the presence of
their parents and families, they took part in a ceremony of dedication after which they left for the
long voyage to Australia, never to return. Over the ensuing years over 700 women, of whom 84
were from Clare, followed in the footsteps of those pioneers and helped nourish the flame of
faith in that far distant land. In 1996 the Irish-born Sisters of St. Joseph were given the option of
returning to their homeland, bringing with them their missionary experience. Forty one sisters
now live and minister in Ireland, three of them in the parish of Ennis: Srs. Anne Boland,
Margaret Hanrahan and Betty Curtin. The Sisters of St. Joseph have made a significant
contribution to the pastoral and catechetical life of the people of the parish, particularly for those
from other countries who have enriched our community and Church.
Here too we honoured the La Sainte Union Sisters who were founded in Northern France in the
1840s and from there spread to England, Ireland – their first house was in Banagher, Co. Offaly
– to the Americas and more recently to Tanzania, Cameroon and Haiti. In 2002 two sisters
brought their own unique ministries to Ennis and live in Tobartaoscain: Dympna Bonfil is a
gifted artist and works as an art therapist with the Mental Health Services while Rita Gilroy is a
volunteer with the Clare Intercultural Network and also facilitates group therapy. Their presence
brought a new dimension to the ministry of religious in the parish.
Next we paused at the gateway to Cahercalla Community Hospital where Fr. Peadar O’Loughlin
traced the history of the Missionary Society of St. Columban, or the ‘Columban’s’ as the
Society is popularly known. Fr. Peadar is himself one of three Columbans now living and
ministering in retirement in his native Ennis. Co. Clare has a particular link with the founding
days of the Columbans. The Society was first known as the Maynooth Mission to China and
came about through the inspiration of Fr. Edward Galvin of the Diocese of Cork who had an
interest in evangelisation in China. While serving temporarily in Brooklyn, New York, he met a
Canadian priest working in China and got permission to return there with him in 1912. Four
years later, even more fired with zeal for a mission to China, he came back to Ireland and found
a like-minded companion in Fr. John Blowick of the staff of Maynooth Seminary. Together they
set up the society, naming it after St. Columban, the 1,400th anniversary of whose death is
celebrated this year. They received formal approval from Rome in 1918 and a house, along with
one thousand acres of forested land on the banks of the Shannon at Cahercon, Kildysart, Co.
Clare was purchased for £14,000.00 by the fledgling Society, with the blessing of Bishop
Fogarty. The property had been part of the Vandeleur Estate and became the first Columban
Seminary when eleven students and nine diocesan priests moved in. In 1922, an auspicious year
in Irish history, six priests were ordained in Cahercon and all embarked on the mission to China.
By 1926 the Cahercon Seminary was too small and moved to Shrule, Co. Galway. The building
and properties were handed over to the newly formed Missionary Sisters of St. Columban. Since
the founding of the Society Fr. Blowick had spoken repeatedly of the urgent need for women
collaborators in the mission to China; his appeal found an echo in the heart of Lady Frances
Moloney an English-born widow who shared his vision for a mission to China. She was
amongst the first group of postulants to take up residence in Cahercon, and became Mother Mary
Patrick who spent ten years in China before being recalled to lead the young congregation. She
remained in Cahercon until her death in 1959, by which time the Columban Sisters had moved
their headquarters to Magheramore, Co. Wicklow. The new congregation was formally
recognised by the Holy See in 1947.
Feeling a bit tired, but with the end in sight, we sang Spirit of the Living God and prayed to St.
Columban for help and protection for the missionaries of to-day as we made our way up the treelined avenue to the welcome seats and the old familiar smell of burning incense in the chapel at
Cahercalla Community Hospital, originally established and run by the St. John of God
Sisters. Here Sr. Carmel Keogh, the only remaining John of God Sister in the parish, had the
last word! In 1950 the St. John of God Sisters were invited by Bishop Fogarty to open a nursing
home in Ennis. O’Gorman House and out-houses were acquired from the St. Flannan’s Trust
through the then president of St. Flannan’s College, Canon Maxwell. The house was converted
and opened as St. John of God Nursing Home in 1953. An extension was added in 1960 and the
Chapel officially blessed and opened in 1968. A new convent was completed in 1979. A sixbed hospice was added in 1990 and since then hospice services have been extended.
By the mid 1980s the John of God Sisters realised they would not be in a position to continue to
offer the level of service required in Cahercalla indefinitely, and they began a lengthy process of
discernment and negotiation as to its future in order to retain it as an ongoing healthcare facility
for the area. The eventual outcome was that the hospital was acquired by the people of Co. Clare
as a Community Hospital and placed in trusteeship. A smooth transition to new ownership was
achieved in 1996. Patients were undisturbed and staff contracts were honoured; a number of
John of God Sisters continued to work there until 2007. A wonderful legacy of quality
healthcare was passed on. In our final prayer we asked that ‘our caring and compassion bring
the face of Christ to the people of the world’. The singing of the Tantum Ergo, the Benediction
of the Blessed Sacrament, the incense… the wonderful cup of tea and our pilgrimage had ended.
We had walked the walk, met friendly, supportive people, and listened to fascinating pieces of
history at our various ‘stations’. Sincere thanks to Fr. Tom Hogan, P.P., and to the organising
committee, who made it all possible. At each station a small, wooden cross was presented by Fr.
Tom to the person who spoken on behalf of that paticular congregation; each cross had its own
unique image colourfully painted on it by local artist Harry Guinnane.
Example of Cross presented to the Religious
Reflecting on this Parish ‘Camino’ I am reminded of Pope Francis’ Letter to all Consecrated
People as he announced this Year of Consecrated Life. He set out three aims for the year: to
look to the past with gratitude; to live the present with passion; to embrace the future with hope.
In our walking and praying we had indeed looked to the past with gratitude. We had recognised
in the origins of each congregation the hand of God who had called the founders to follow Christ
more closely and to respond creatively to the needs of the Church. For every founder the Gospel
was the absolute rule. To live the present with passion I must take to heart the words of St. John
Paul II when he said: ‘The same generosity and self-sacrifice which guided your founders must
now inspire you’. The difficulties and challenges that face us as people of consecrated life today are many: aging, declining numbers, the global economic crisis, globalisation, threat to the
environment, the shocking displacement of peoples, isolation, social irrelevance… In the midst
of all the uncertainties I am called to practise the virtue of Hope, fruit of my faith in the God who
tells us: ‘Be not afraid…for I am with you’.(Jer.1:8). Let us ‘radiate the joy of living the Gospel
and following Christ to the full’! (Pope Francis: Letter to all Consecrated People)
Canice Hanrahan rsm.