Unearth the cold burial practices of the nuns who ran Laundries

This week, I visited a grave at Glasnevin Cemetery, which is maintained by the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, the order that ran Magdalene Laundries at High Park and Gloucester/Sean McDermott St. For 11 years I have made this journey, but this occasion was different, because I witnessed the grave being opened by the grounds staff. This shock was followed by the realisation another former Magdalene woman had died while in the care of the nuns.

Remembering these deceased women is central to our ethos in Justice For Magdalenes Research. I looked up this woman’s death notice. It read: “The death has occurred of [name, location]. Peacefully. Reposing in [location] today, Monday, from 4pm. Funeral mass tomorrow, Tuesday, at 11.45am, followed by burial in Glasnevin Cemetery”. The notice is so devoid of emotion it begs the question of whether this woman mattered at all to the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, the order of nuns responsible for her institutionalisation.

Comparing this announcement to previous death notices for the Sisters themselves, one cannot help but note the differences. Unlike the cold, factual piece above, the Sisters’ death notices stated how much the deceased would be missed, their work, their ages and — perhaps most tellingly — they reveal that the Sisters were buried in their “community cemetery”, while the former Magdalene women were buried in Glasnevin, separately.