Íte (M'Íde, Ita, Ida)
Íte (M'Íde, Ita, Ida) (d. 570/77), foundress and first abbess of Killeedy (Co. Limerick) and a saint in the Irish tradition, is traced to a lineage of the Munster Déisi. Her father is named as Cenn-fáelad, and her mother as Necht. Tradition claims that she was first called Derithea, or…...
Joyce, Margaret Alice (‘Poppie’; Sister Mary Gertrude)
Joyce, Margaret Alice (‘Poppie’; Sister Mary Gertrude) (1884–1964), Sister of Mercy and musician, was born 18 January 1884 at 41 Brighton Square West, Rathgar, Dublin, second eldest of ten surviving children (four sons and six daughters) of…...
Kearney, Mother Kevin
Kearney, Mother Kevin (1875–1957), pioneer Ugandan missionary sister and foundress of Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa, was born 28 April 1875 in Knockenrahan, Arklow, Co. Wicklow, the third and youngest daughter of Michael Kearney, a farmer, and Teresa Kearney (née…...
Keenan, Alice (Sister Mary Liguori)
Keenan, Alice (Sister Mary Liguori) (1836–1914), Sister of Mercy and educator, was born in the parish of St Paul's, Dublin, daughter of John and Mary Keenan and sister of Sir Patrick J. Keenan (qv), education commissioner of…...
Lalor, Mother Teresa (Alice)
Lalor, Mother Teresa (Alice) (c.1769–1846), foundress of the Visitation nuns in the USA, was born in Ballyragget, Co. Kilkenny. While visiting Philadelphia in 1797, she and two widows, Mrs McDermott and Mrs Sharpe co-operated with Rev. Leonard Neale…...
Lassar
Lassar (6th cent.?), foundress and first abbess of Cluain Laigen (Clonlyon, parish of Kilmore, Co. Meath), and saint in the Irish tradition, can be traced to Cenél Lóegaire, a dynasty affiliated to the Uí Néill. She is said to have been a daughter of Fergus son of Fedelmid, a…...
Liadain
Liadain (early 6th cent.), foundress and first abbess of Cell Liadain (Killyon, near Birr, Co. Offaly) and a saint in the Irish tradition, was, according to hagiographical convention, the widowed mother of St Ciarán (qv), founder of Saigir (…...
Lynch, Brigid
This is a co-subject for the entry on Lynch, Clementine (Mary Scholastica). View the original entry....
Lynch, Clementine (Mary Scholastica)
Lynch, Clementine (Mary Scholastica) (1754–99), fifth abbess of the Ypres Benedictine convent, was born 16 June 1754 (place and parentage unknown). She entered the abbey school of the Benedictine nuns in Ypres, Flanders (then in the Austrian Netherlands) on 9 July 1764. She was…...
Lynch, Mary Concepta
Lynch, Mary Concepta (1874–1939), artist and Dominican nun, was born Lilly Lynch in Dublin, daughter of Thomas Joseph Lynch, a renowned Dublin illuminator who had a studio in Middle Abbey St. and later at 31 Grafton St.; nothing is known of her mother. Her father was at the…...
MacCarthy, Mary (Mother Mary Stanislaus)
MacCarthy, Mary (Mother Mary Stanislaus) (1849–97), Dominican nun, educator, and poet, was born in Dublin 26 December 1849, eldest of nine children of Denis Florence MacCarthy (qv), poet, and Elizabeth MacCarthy (née Donnelly…...
Maher, Anne (Mary Columba)
Maher, Anne (Mary Columba) (1777–1855), Dominican prioress, was born Anne Maher on 25 July 1777 at Dunore, near Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow, one of ten children of James Maher, farmer, and Mary Maher (née Silk); she was a first cousin of the mother of Cardinal…...
Martin, Helen (Mary Gabriel)
Martin, Helen (Mary Gabriel) (c.1610–1673), founder and first abbess of the Poor Clare convent in Galway, was born in Galway. Although her exact parentage is unknown, the Martins were one of twelve Old English catholic mercantile and gentry families of Galway city,…...
Martin, Máire (Marie, Mary) Helena (‘Mother Mary’)
Martin, Máire (Marie, Mary) Helena (‘Mother Mary’) (1892–1975), founder of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, was born 25 April 1892 at Glencar, Marlborough Road, Glenageary, Co. Dublin, eldest among twelve children of Thomas Patrick Martin, partner in T. & C. Martin, a…...
McAuley (McGauley), Catherine Elizabeth
McAuley (McGauley), Catherine Elizabeth (1778–1841), educator, social worker, and religious foundress, was born 29 September 1778 at Stormanstown House, Drumcondra, Dublin, one of three children (two girls and a boy) of James McGauley and his wife Elinor (née Conway). McGauley, by…...
McCaffrey, Mary Ellen
McCaffrey, Mary Ellen (Sister Mary Xavier ) (1854–1923), Sister of Mercy and social worker, was born in Monaghan, daughter of Arthur McCaffrey and Catherine McCaffrey, who also had another daughter and two sons. She emigrated to the USA, where she entered St Catherine's convent of…...
McCarthy, Janie
McCarthy, Janie (c.1890–1964), resistance worker and language teacher, was born in Bohereengowan, Killarney, Co. Kerry, the fourth of eight children, two boys and six girls, of Jeremiah McCarthy, mason, and Mary McCarthy, both of Co. Kerry. She appears to have been educated…...
McConnell, Frances Elaine (Primrose)
This is a co-subject for the entry on Beckett, George Francis. View the original entry....
McGroarty, Julia (Susan)
McGroarty, Julia (Susan) (1827–1901), nun and educator, was born 13 February 1827 in Inver, Co. Donegal, second daughter and third among ten children of Neil McGroarty, farmer, and his wife, Catherine (née Bonner). In spring 1831 her family emigrated to the USA and settled in…...
McKenna, Ellen (Sister Mary Augustine)
McKenna, Ellen (Sister Mary Augustine) (1819–83), Sister of Mercy, American civil war nurse and teacher, was born 24 December 1819 in Traugh, Willville, Co. Monaghan, eldest among three daughters and two sons of James and Mary Anne McKenna. Ellen was educated at home, then at Miss…...
Mitchell, Isabel Deane (‘Ida’)
Mitchell, Isabel Deane (‘Ida’) (1879–1917), presbyterian missionary in China, was born in Belfast, fourth in a family of three daughters and two sons. Her father, the Rev. Deane Knox Mitchell (1840–1939) was minister of Crumlin Road presbyterian church (formerly a missionary…...
Moloney, Frances Isabella Sophia Mary (Sister Mary Patrick)
Moloney, Frances Isabella Sophia Mary (Sister Mary Patrick) (1873–1959), co-founder of the Missionary Sisters of St Columban, was born 18 April 1873 in London, daughter of Henry Owen Lewis , landlord and later MP for Carlow (1874–80), and Frances Owen Lewis (née Elsegood). The…...
Monaghan, Cathleen (Sister Mary Aquinas)
Monaghan, Cathleen (Sister Mary Aquinas) (1919–85), Missionary Sister of St Columban and physician, was born 30 August 1919 in Cartron, Cappataggle, Loughrea, Co. Galway, second child among two sons and seven daughters of Bartholomew Monaghan, farmer, and Ellen Monaghan (née O'…...
Monsell, Harriet
Monsell, Harriet (1811–83), founder of the Sisterhood of St John the Baptist and anglican saint, was born in Dromoland, Co. Clare, eighth child of Sir Edward O'Brien (1773–1837), landowner and MP (Ennis, 1795–1800; Co. Clare, 1802–26), and his wife, Charlotte Smith (d. 1856) of…...
Moore, Georgina (Sister Mary Clare)
Moore, Georgina (Sister Mary Clare) (1814–74), Sister of Mercy, foundress, Crimean war nurse, and teacher, was born 20 March 1814 in the Church of Ireland parish of St Ann's, Dublin, youngest among three children (one son and two daughters) of George and Catherine Moore, both…...