The remains of some 3,000 people who died at a Thurles workhouse during the Great Famine in 1845 were rededicated this week. A memorial garden at the workhouse that later became a community hospital in Thurles under the stewardship of the Sisters of Mercy is the location for some 3,000 unmarked graves which were rededicated at a special mass.
Speaking at the mass, local curate Fr Jimmy Donnelly urged people to pray for those who had died during one of the bleakest periods in Irish history.
He added, however, that the community hospital has been “a place of solace, comfort and care for the many thousands who have come through its doors since the 19th century.”
Speaking at the event Mercy Sister Mary Barry, who is just one of two Mercy sisters still working in the hospital, said that the new grave site "would now be a focal point where we can come and pray and remember.”
She added, "The hospital's humble roots as workhouse during the famine era were very tough. It was initially a grim institution. Nevertheless it saved thousands from starvation during the famine years.
“Over 15,000 starving people were assisted within one week in 1848 and as many as 3,732 were housed in the workhouse and its auxiliaries in July 1850,” she said.
In 1877 four Sisters of Mercy set out from Doon in County Limerick for Thurles with a mission to save lives and transformed the old workhouse into a community hospital where it has thrived ever since.
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