Mercy Foundation to Ballina
Mail coach with Sisters from Sligo going to Ballina to open a new foundation (artwork by Sr. M. Canice Burns)
The story of the Mercy Order in Ballina is one of which we are very proud. It is a story of difficulties overcome, of challenges faced, of sufferings endured. It is also a story of magnificent achievements.
On the 14th of October, 1851, the horse-drawn mail coach from Sligo drew up in Pearse Street, Ballina. Among the passengers who alighted were six members of the Mercy Order from Sligo, three Professed Sisters, two Novices and one Postulant. They were met and welcomed by Rev. Patrick Malone, the Administrator of the Cathedral in Ballina. He had requested Sisters to come and work among the people and help to educate the children. At that time Ballina was a declining town, the population had dropped from 7,000 to 5,000 people, the result of famine, emigration and fever. Many people lived in very poor conditions.The Sisters lived in Pearse Street in an unfurnished house, where the Allied Irish Bank now stands. Mother De Sales McDonnell was in charge. Later they moved to Primrose Hill on the outskirts of the town, where they lived for four years. They visited the homes and gave instruction to children and others. On November 21st, the two Novices were professed in the Cathedral in the presence of Bishop Feeney. At the ceremony, a collection was taken up to help defray expense of furnishing the Sisters’ house. In December of 1851 the Principal Teacher of the Girls’ School in the town retired and the Sisters were given charge of the school in Teeling St. which then was the only Boys’ school in the town. In the early years, the Convent still operated as a branch of Sligo but on September 8th, 1854, it became independent with Sr. Paul Dillon from Sligo, as Superior. She is remembered as the Foundress of the Ballina Community. For more information, please click here.
The Workhouse
The work of the first Sisters in Ballina was not confined to educating the young. From the start, they visited the poor in their homes and assisted them in every way they could, even by offering them small sums of money. Two of the Sisters visited the Workhouse every Sunday, giving religious instruction and praying with the people. For more information, please click here.
St. Joseph’s District Hospital
The hospital provided wonderful service to the people of Ballina and the surrounding areas, through the various clinics in operation – X-Ray Departments, Speech Therapy, Physiotherapy, Psychiatry, and a Hospice Unit for Palliative Care. For more information, please click here.
St. Augustine’s Community Nursing Unit
Down the road on the banks of the winding river Moy stands St. Augustine’s Community Nursing Unit, which opened in 1981. For more information, please click here.
For information on the provision of education in Ballina, please click here.
Belmullet
The great work the Sisters were doing in Ballina was soon recognised and their services were in demand for other parishes. In 1894, the Parish Priest of Binghamstown, where the Belmullet Workhouse was built, Venerable Archdeacon Munnelly, asked for Sisters to take charge of the Workhouse and the Workhouse school. In 1894, three Sisters took up residence in Belmullet, Sr. M. Benignus Stapleton as teacher, Sr. M. Assisi Scally as Matron and Sr. M. Vincent Madden as housekeeper. As well as improving conditions each day in the Workhouse, these Sisters did heroic work during the 1918 ‘flu epidemic, risking their own lives to look after those who were infected. At the abolition of the Workhouse System in 1921 the patients were removed to Castlebar and the Sisters opened a school in the building. But during the Civil War in 1922, the army occupied the main building, so in 1923 the Sisters were recalled to Ballina. Fortunately, they took with them the Stained Glass Window, the Chalice and the Crucifix from the Workhouse Chapel for safe keeping. In 1974 the Stained Glass Window was inserted into the window in the newly built Aras Deirbhle – a Community Nursing Unit attached to the hospital, which was under the Directorship of Sr. M Vianney Nealon, where it remains today, a treasured reminder of the faith and culture of a suffering people.
The Crucifix from the Workhouse
For more information, please click here.
Ballycastle
There was also a branch house established in Ballycastle on July 1914, when four Sisters went to reside in the old Coastguard’s Station there, which had been bought for them by the Bishop, Most Reverend Dr. Naughton.
They were Sisters M. Patrick Hennigan, Gertrude Noonan, Malachy Ryan and Bernard Eyre. Sr. Patrick was in charge. The two teachers in the Girls’school in the Glen left their positions at that time and Very Rev. M. Canon Munnelly P.P invited the Sisters, Srs. Gertrude and Bernard, to take charge of the school which they did. For more information, please click here.
Carrowcullen House – Skreen Convent
On the death of her husband Anthony, Mrs Guilfoyle did not wish to continue living in her home in Carrowcullen. She offered the house, land and money to Rev. Mother in Ballina. Bishop Naughton allowed her to accept the offer as a convent, which she did. In October 1921 Sisters Mary of the Angels Ryan, Rosarii Wright and Teresita Lavan went to live there. For more information, please click here.
San Diego
In 1969, in their first Mission outside Ireland, four Sisters were missioned by Reverend Mother Dympna Linnane to San Diego in beautiful California, to administer and partly staff a Parish Grade School, from which Dominican Sisters had withdrawn. For more information, please click here.
To see more information on other ministries in Ballina, please click here.
The Convent Building in Ballina
The Convent cost €20,000, which was a huge sum of money. In 1873, the new Bishop Dr. Conway, allowed Fr. Irwin to go to America to raise funds for the convent. For more information, please click here.
Elections
The system of electing to Office changed in Mercy Convents throughout Ireland, in keeping with Canon Law, in the early 1970’s. Killala Diocese adopted the change and in 1974 Sr. M. Ursula Doherty was elected at Chapter, to become Superior General for six years. For more information, please click here.
Celebrating 150 years
On October 14th, 2001, Rev. Michael Flynn PP was the chief celebrant of a specially concelebrated Mass in St. Muredach’s Cathedral in thanksgiving for 150 years of Mercy service in Killala Diocese. Bishop Thomas Finnegan presided and priests from across the Diocese concelebrated the Eucharist. Monsignor Patrick Gallagher was the Homilist. Srs. Martina Barrett and Kathleen Friel represented the Provincial Leadership Team as well as Sisters of Mercy from across the Province. For more information on the celebrations and closure of Ballina Convent, please click here.
Sisters of Mercy to be Remembered
The contribution of the Mercy Sisters was acknowledged with great celebration in April, 2009.
Speaking to a packed Cathedral in Ballina, Bishop John Fleming was chief Celebrant of Eucharist, to mark the closing of the Mercy Convent. More than 30 priests concelebrated. The Bishop said that he wished “to acknowledge and place on record, the enormous contribution made by the Sisters of Mercy during 157 years of unbroken, faithful service to the Diocese of Killala.” Sr. M. Elizabeth Manning, Provincial Leader of the Western Sisters of Mercy, citing the closure of the Convent in the context of declining vocations, with no vocation in Ballina in years, said that while the record was one of service and commitment, she also asked for forgiveness for failures in the past.
Fr. Brendan Hoban PP Ballina, said that the contribution of the Sisters of Mercy to Killala Diocese, should be acknowledged “for the work they did and the sacrifices they made. No journey was too far, no hill too high, no door ever remained shut, if by opening it, God’s Will might be done.”
The Mayor of Ballina, Mr. Willie Nolan, was present in the Cathedral for the Mass. Ms. Michelle Mulhern, a past pupil of St. Mary’s Secondary School, recalled the values that characterised the education the Mercy Sisters provided. Academic excellence, she said, was stressed, but students were challenged to develop their talents and potential.
During the Eucharist, music and singing were provided by St. Mary’s Secondary School, under the direction of Regina Deasy, with Organist David Caulfield, Instrumentalists, Anne and Andrew Sheeran and students from St. Muredach’s College Ballina.
At the close of the Eucharist, Peter McLoughlin, Chairman of Kilmoremoy Parish Council, said that a Bell-Tower would be built at St. Patrick’s Parish Church, to commemorate their contribution, and that a stained-glass window would incorporate emblems of the area of Mercy works, Education, Health and Support.
The Bell Tower
Markings at the base of the Bell Tower, represent each and every one of the Sisters who gave much to the Diocese of Killala over the years. Ní neart go cur le chéile!
For more information on individual Sisters from Ballina who carried Mercy afar, please click here.
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