Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No: 3
D.O.B. 15.11.1909
First Profession: 15.12.1937
Died: 11.11.2008 Aged: 98 years
Brigid (Bridie to her family) O’Rourke grew up in the small townland of Glenague in the Glencar Valley of Co. Leitrim. According to an article she wrote in 2002 for the Leitrim Guardian, she had a very happy childhood in a loving, spiritual family. She attended the local primary school but there was no secondary school in the area and her parents could not afford to send her and her sisters to boarding school.
Sister Ancilla Domini was born Kathleen O’Reilly in Bruskey, Co. Cavan in 1914. She received her early education in Cavan and joined the Medical Missionaries of Mary in 1951.
Her first assignments were in catering and hospitality in MMM houses in Ireland, beginning with three years in Drogheda. She next spent twelve years in catering in Rosemount, the MMM house of studies in Dublin. She was noted for her kindness to the students. No matter what time they arrived back from lectures, she gave them a warm welcome and had a hot meal ready. Following this she worked for nineteen years in the kitchen in Drogheda.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No. 166
D.O.B. 01.07.1917
First Profession 07.09.1949
Died: 01.09.2003 Aged: 86 years
Born and educated in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Mairead O’Quigley came from a family of ten children; five boys and five girls. After school, Mairead stayed at home for two years helping to look after the family before moving to Dublin where she trained as a nurse and fever nurse. She worked in several Dublin hospitals before entering MMM in 1946, aged 29.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No: 393
D.O.B. 01.03.1910
First Profession: 03.05.1957
Died: 28.09.1999 Aged: 89 years
Rose O’Neill, from Tyrone, entered MMM on 8 December 1954. A qualified nurse, she had been working for many years in St. Patrick’s College, Armagh. The title of matron in its best sense described her.
Congregational Register No. 645
D.O.B. 24.02.1941
First Profession 04.10.1965
Died: 25.12.2000 Aged: 59 years
Mary was born in Dublin, an only girl with two brothers, Denis and Shane, who were close to her throughout her life. After secondary school in Holy Faith, Glasnevin, Dublin, she did a clerical course and then worked for a time in an office. Mary entered MMM when she was twenty-one. She knew MMM firsthand from her parents’ involvement in the sale of work.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No: 201
D.O.B. 16.04.1928
First Profession: 08.09.1950
Died: 31.08.1986 Aged: 58 years
Catherine Bernard, from Kilteely, Co. Limerick, entered on 11 February 1948.
Catherine, known for a while as Sr. M. de Sacramento, was stricken with periods of ill health from shortly after first profession. She had major surgery early on and spent a long time in recuperation in Killybegs, Co Donegal.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No. 188
D.O.B.17.03.1929
First Profession 08.09.1957
Died: 29.04.2010 Aged: 81 years
Sr. Anne was born in Castleisland, Co. Kerry in 1924. She came from a family of ten. All pre-deceased her except her sister Margery.
Anne joined the Medical Missionaries of Mary in 1943. After profession she trained first as a radiographer in UCD and Jervis Street Hospital. She then qualified as a midwife in Drogheda.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No: 425
D.O.B. 15.03.1927
First Profession: 28.10.1958
Died: 02.05.1989 Aged: 62 Years
Patrice, baptised Brigid Patricia, was originally from Co. Kerry but was living in Dublin when she entered MMM on 4 April 1956.
Sister Clair (Fidelis) was born Annie Clair in Cork in 1928. She grew up and was educated there and joined MMM in 1951. After profession she qualified as a general nurse at Saint Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin. After a year of nursing in the IMTH (Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital) and helping on the hospital switchboard, she completed midwifery training in Drogheda.
Clair’s first overseas assignment was to Nigeria in 1958. She worked in Saint Luke’s Hospital, Anua, before returning to Ireland in 1961 to train as a nursing tutor. In 1964 she returned to Nigeria and then taught nursing in Nigeria for three more years, first in Afikpo and then in Anua.
