Nuns from Sisters of St Clare to depart Kenmare after more than 160 years

St Clare's convent in Kenmare, Co Kerry. Picture: archaeology.ie

The nuns from the Sisters of St Clare order in Kerry are to depart Kenmare after more than 160 years.

The departure is being greeted with great sadness after parishioners at Sunday mass were told the Sisters "regrettably" no longer had the numbers to maintain a presence.

A letter from the nuns to parishioners read: "As a congregation, we are sorry to be bidding you farewell and we very much hope that the legacy we leave, after sixteen decades among you, will be something you continue to value as a parish and community.

"We will carry Kenmare with us in our hearts and prayers always. We ask that you do the same for us. I offer you, and all your people, some words of blessing attributed to St Clare: 'Go raibh an Tiarna libhse i gconaí agus sibhse i gconaí le Dia'."

Tributes have been flowing in after the unexpected news which has surprised many.

Poverty

The nuns first arrived at the invitation of Archdeacon Fr John O’Sullivan to a town impoverished after the Famine and a particularly cruel landlord and agent. As well as being educators, they established a lace-making industry to help lift the Kenmare out of dire poverty.

Kenmare Lace, the needlepoint lace industry established by the nuns, took the Victorian world by storm and Britain's Queen Victoria herself had several pieces.

Nora Finnegan of the Kenmare Lace and Design Centre said the nuns themselves were very talented lace makers but set about educating themselves in design and art with lecturers arriving from the Dublin and Cork Schools of Art. This was in order to better establish the industry.

Museum

Ms Finnegan is calling for a museum to celebrate the legacy of the nuns in the area, a call supported by Kenmare parish priest Fr George Hayes.

Fr Hayes said the prevailing emotion over the nuns' departure was one of sadness and shock.

Some parishioners "had no sense the presence of the nuns had been coming to an end,” Fr Hayes told Radio Kerry on Tuesday.

Although not directly involved in education for some time, "the very presence of the nuns in the town had been invaluable" and should be celebrated, he said.

He added that they had arrived at a time of immense poverty and deprivation and their belief was if you educated people it set them free.

Even in relatively recent times, they provided hot chocolate and food in the school.

“These were women of vision. They had tremendous care for the poor,” Fr Hayes recalled.

The full text of letter to the parish of Kenmare from the nuns:

A farewell message to the parishioners of Kenmare — from the sisters of St Clare 

Just over 160 years ago, Sisters of St Clare first came to settle in Kenmare. Seven nuns from the Convent in Newry, Co. Down arrived in the beautiful town — in response to an invitation from the parish priest of the day, Archdeacon John O’Sullivan, who desired the presence of a new religious community within Kenmare.

Local Kerry and other Munster women gradually joined our founding nuns and the ‘Poor Clares’ — as we were then known — soon became a significant presence in your locality. Throughout the decades which followed, our sisters dedicated themselves to serving the wider community in this part of the country as best they could. In the words of St Francis, "They did what was their’s to do".

As in so many other settings, their primary public role was in the education of the young. They did this through the establishing of schools and, also, through the teaching of certain crafts. 

The elaborations upon Kenmare Lace, for which the town became renowned, were an example of this latter aspect of their teaching. While, within the more conventional world of education, two of the schools they founded — St John’s National School and Pobalscoil Inbhear Scéine — still serve the young people of Kenmare, educating them to high standards.

Regrettably, as a religious congregation, we no longer have a membership sufficient to maintain a presence in Kenmare and, in consequence, the remaining sisters will shortly be leaving your parish and our convent will close. 

This is a source of deep sadness to us, given the long association we have had with Kenmare and its people — an association we always greatly treasured. As a congregation, we are sorry to be bidding you farewell and we very much hope that the legacy we leave, after sixteen decades among you, will be something you continue to value as a parish and community.

We will carry Kenmare with us in our hearts and prayers always. We ask that you do the same for us. I offer you, and all your people, some words of blessing attributed to St Clare:

“Go raibh an Tiarna libhse i gconaí agus sibhse i gconaí le Dia”.

Blessings from the sisters of St. Clare.