The bishop of Kerry, Dr Bill Murphy, as unveiled a monument to mark
the contribution of the Presentation nuns to the town of Listowel, over
160 years.
The sculpture was unveiled in the town square, opposite St Mary’s
Church, at a ceremony attended by Presentation nuns and the mayor of
Kerry, Cllr Pat Leahy.
The monument was designed by Padraig Tarrant, a
Kerry born sculptor, who now lives in New York and inscribed by Jimmy
O’Shea, a local stonemason.
The project was initiated by North and East Kerry Development and the North Kerry Literary Trust.
The Presentation nuns established their first community in Listowel
in 1844, following an initiative nine years beforehand by the then
bishop of Kerry, Dr Egan and Parish Priest, Fr Darby O’Mahony, who set
about establishing a convent.
Though it took almost a decade for the
bishop’s plan for a community of nuns in Listowel to come true, the nuns
promptly opened a national school and convent provided 30,000
breakfasts to starving children in the area when the Great Famine struck
three years after it opened.
Indeed, it was said that the nuns were so selfless in helping the
destitute that some of them died themselves from overwork and
under-nourishment.
In the 1850s, a purpose-built primary school was set up by the
community largely thanks to sponsorship from local landlord Lord
Listowel.
In 1952, the Presentation community opened a secondary
school, which was subsequently expanded in 1985.
However, three years ago, when the lack of vocations had shrunk the
community to six sisters, the order was forced to close its convent in
Listowel and rationalise its presence in Kerry.
The schools continue of
course, and though the town no longer has a convent, one Presentation
sister works voluntarily in the parish and a second works in the order’s
primary school.
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