by Paddy Townley, Drogheda    Ireland  11.12.2021

The Teddy Boys: I have a memory of Mother Mary Martin. It was one evening the Teddy boys had a big fight downtown. There were about 10 Teddy boys, and they were taken to Casualty in the Hospital by six Guardai (policemen). The guards had to keep them in the front hall and separate them forcibly into two groups. Things looked bad as the Teddy Boys were fighting still. At this time Mother Mary Martin came in the door.

She wanted to know what the commotion was all about. One of the guards told Mother Mary Martin that they were dangerous and to keep clear of them. Mother Mary asked the Sister who was in charge of Casualty to ring the convent and bring over to the front hall the burco boiler full of tea, along with cups and scones. This arrived with two novices to serve them. In the meantime, Mother Mary Martin was chatting with the boys and in a short time had all of them talking to one another and drinking tea out of the burco boiler.  “What did she say to them”???
Visit to the Mortuary: One day I was bringing a body to the mortuary with a nurse. There were always special starched sheets there for covering the deceased person. At this time, I had with me Mother Mary Martin and the Matron of the day, Sr. Monica Prendergast. Mother Mary Martin said to me that she would like to show me how to properly cover the deceased. She told me to go to the left-hand side of the body, then showed me how to lay out the corpse with the starched sheets. She showed me the way to fold the sheet and she said it is in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy spirit. The deceased is a mother, father, brother, sister, son or daughter, or a baby.  No matter who it is, they should be treated with respect as the deceased is the house of the blessed sacrament.
Hospital Building – Oratory all of glass:  Mother Mary Martin, long before she became Mother Mary, went to Oxford to visit her brother, Desmond. He was studying to be an architect there. They sat on the bank of the River Thames having tea and conversing about life and family. During the conversation, Mother Mary Martin said to Desmond, “I am going to build a hospital.”  He said “where?”  Mother Mary Martin said that she didn’t know.  “What kind of hospital?”, he asked. Her reply was “a hospital where we can train doctors and nurses for missionary work.”  Desmond then asked, “who is behind you?” Mother Mary Martin said, “there is an inner voice telling me. When it is being built, Desmond, I want glass on all sides of the oratory so that doctors, nurses and all the workers can say a prayer to the blessed sacrament when they are passing or coming onto their shifts. They will feel the presence of the Sacrament.”  She then said,” Desmond, I want you to build this hospital”, and he replied that he would “help her in any way he could.” All this came to pass.