Congregational Register No. 69
D.O.B. 03.11.1923
First Profession 08.09.1944
Died: 10.08.2005
Aged: 81 years
Mary Quinn came from Waterford. She was one of six sisters and one brother. She made up her mind before her eighteenth birthday that she wanted to be an MMM and never wavered from that point on. She entered MMM in January 1942, not long after her eighteen birthday, and took the name Sr. Mary Redemptoris.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No: 396
D.O.B. 09.02.1934
First Profession: 08.09.1957
Died: 12.09.1989 Aged: 55 years
On 8 December 1954, Margaret Teresa, from Co. Tyrone, joined MMM in Drogheda.
For many years she was known as Sr. M. Nives. Her gifts lay in the culinary department and nothing in that line seemed to be trouble to her. Her ministry was spent mainly in Ireland: in Clonmel, Drogheda and Dublin, where she attended the Grafton Academy for two years. She also spent three years in Abakaliki, Nigeria.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No.150
D.O.B. 12.10.1889
First Profession: 09.09.1948
Died: 06.02.1978 Aged: 88 years
Sr. Elizabeth (of the Sacred Heart) was 55 years old when she went to Drogheda on 1 October 1945 as an aspirant. However, she was to give 33 years of her life to MMM.
She had been housekeeping for many years previously for her brother, a priest in Co. Roscommon.
She was a very generous and able worker and was a great asset in MMM’s founding years.
Nationality: Irish
Congregation Register No: 154
D.O.B. 04.06.1927
First Profession: 09.08.1948
Died: 18.09.1966 Aged: 39 years
Rita Brigid Quigley, from Buncrana, Co. Donegal, entered MMM on 1 March 1946 in Drogheda. She was one of the many who cycled to and from Rosemount to various Dublin hospitals for general nurse training.
Sister Leonora was born Mary Nora Quealy in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford in 1936. She completed her early education there and trained as a nurse in Saint Patrick’s Hospital before joining the Medical Missionaries of Mary in 1959.
After profession she worked for two years as a staff nurse and ward sister in the hospital in Drogheda. She was then assigned to Rome, where she worked in the Clinica Moscati for two years. She returned to Ireland and trained in children’s nursing in Belfast. Leonora also cared for Mother Mary before her next assignment to Kenya in 1969.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No: 107
D.O.B. 14.05.1920
First Profession: 08.09.1946
Died: 06.05.2008 Aged: 87 years
Joan Maria Purcell was born in Dublin and considered herself a ‘true blue.’ She was educated by the Sisters of Charity in Gardiner Street and had the Dublin sense of humour, a great interest in politics and a capacity to connect with people from all walks of life. There is nothing on record to indicate what first attracted Joan to MMM, but she entered in 1943 and took the name Sr. M. Teresa.
Sister Johanna was born in 1924 to a farming family in Blackwater, Co. Wexford. She had a twin brother who died at birth. She did her early education with the Loreto Sisters in Wexford and joined MMM in 1944. After profession Johanna trained as a nurse-midwife. In 1952 she was assigned to Angola, where she served for two years. Then she was a staff nurse and night superintendent for eight years in the IMTH and the maternity hospital in Drogheda.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No: 359
D.O.B. 31.08.1919
First Profession: 03.12.1956
Died: 27.02.1997 Aged: 77 years
Maeve, later to be known for some time as Sr. Marius, was from Cork and came to MMM as a qualified doctor on 27 September 1953.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No: 51
D.O.B. 04.10.1922
First Profession: 06.01.1945
Died: 21.01.2007 Aged: 84 years
Mary Rose Pierse was born into a farming family in Ballinonig, Tralee, Co. Kerry, Ireland. She had four brothers, two of whom became priests, and one sister. Mary Rose was educated by the Presentation Sisters in Tralee and did her leaving certificate, which she passed with honours, at the Loreto School in Killarney. In May 1941, when she was nineteen years old, she left her family to travel to Dublin and join the relatively new Congregation of the Medical Missionaries of Mary.
Sister Andrew was born Helen Joyce Phillips in Conway, Michigan in 1929. The third of eight children and the only girl, she grew up in a Protestant family in rural northern Michigan. In his eulogy at her funeral Mass, Brent, her nephew, explained that in her early years there were limited opportunities for women. It was not until World War II that women had an opportunity to enter the workforce. After the war women were expected to return to being homemakers to ensure that jobs were available for returning veterans.
