A Derry nun who was one of the country’s most talented iconographers has died t the age of 85. Sr Aloysius McVeigh, who was a native of Dungiven and a member of the Mercy order, was a teacher and artist but was best known for the icons she painted which adorn several churches.
St. Patrick's Church and the Holy Family Church in Derry and St. Eunan's Cathedral in Letterkenny are among the many churches where her work is to be seen.
From an early age, she loved painting and was one of the few Derry people to study Fine Art at Yale University in the US.
After joining the Mercy order, she spent many years teaching in St. Eugene's Primary School, St. Patrick's College and St. Mary's College in Belfast.
Over 30 years ago, Sr Aloysius’s artistic talent became famous when she created Derry's most famous icon, 'Our Lady of Derry.'
The last thirty years of her teaching were devoted completely to art and after that she became artist-in-residence at the Playhouse arts centre in Derry
Sr Aloysius died at the Foyle Hospice and was buried after Mass at Derry’s Long Tower Church which was preceded by a procession of symbols, including an icon.
Her colleague Sr Perpetua told the congregation that icons and the late Sr Aloysius “became synonymous in the last decades of her life”.
“With gratitude we honour the skill of her craft, we honour the icon that she herself became."
Retired bishop Edward Daly called Sr Aloysius a "creative genius" with a "powerful imagination."
He said that in the last weeks of her life, she looked back on her happy childhood as Bridie McVeigh, on the 68 years she spent as a nun and a teacher.
"She particularly loved the girls in St Mary's in Creggan where she spent 20 years of her life,” the bishop remarked.
“She spoke endlessly about them and was overjoyed when a group of girls from the school, recently visited and sang around her sickbed”.
Bishop Daly said the late nun’s "magnificent” icons were treasured and that in each of them "she did something beautiful for God."
"Sister Aloysius will live on in her many art works in churches, religious houses, private homes and public buildings - symbols of her great gifts and skill".+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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(Source: CIN)