by Sr. Jo Anne Kelly, MMM                           Ireland                                    12.07.2025

In our mission we had a big hospital and so we also had a big community. The main house was not big enough for all of us so some sisters slept in a low small house beside it. Our dining room in the main house opened out to the garden, and outside the dining room door we had Polly, our parrot, in his cage. Polly was very popular and learnt many words from us and mostly we enjoyed him. If there was any fuss or commotion one of our sisters had a habit of saying “God save us”. She was from the North of Ireland. Polly picked up the words and the accent.

Polly also picked up sounds. From his perch he could hear the bathroom toilet flushing upstairs. He learnt to copy the sound. In the beginning we thought it funny but one day we had special visitors in for dinner and Polly began flushing over and over again. So Polly got moved to outside the smaller house.

In that house there was one big room which we used as library and also sitting room. We had some good books there accumulated over the years and some other small treasures. We also had a gramophone and a selection of long playing records, also gathered up over the years. . The sister who was most often on call at night slept in the bedroom next to the library. I will call her Brigid. She was accustomed to being called any hour of the night especially to the maternity hospital.

One morning at 2am Brigid was woken up with a flashlight in her face and a man pointing a gun at her. He said “Don’t shout or I will kill you” She was so terrified that she jumped up screaming and shouting at the top of her voice, screaming so hysterically that she frightened the man. As she made for the door, he fled through the library and out through the window he had broken to get in. Brigid came out still screaming. Once out, we in the big house heard her and rushed down. Night staff from the hospital also came. When she settled somehow we went to the dining room and made tea and talked and talked.

Later we went over to see what happened. Outside, under the broken window was a bag of books and records and other things ready to be carried away. The man had got away as fast as he could and, in fact, we lost nothing except the window glass. He couldn’t have been a very serious robber, maybe hungry or in need.

However, since someone had kindly called the police, there had to be an investigation. So next morning a big crowd gathered outside the small house, some officials, many to sympathize, others just out of curiosity and everybody wanted to hear everything. The talk and discussions went on for ages as new people arrived.

Eventually one man decided to make a speech. There was a lull in the conversation and a few of us who were standing near the door, heard Polly, saying in his best Northern accent .”God save us”