Tributes have been paid to a County Waterford born Mercy nun whose student work inspired a WB Yeats poem.
The late Sr Redemptoris (Winnie) Cummins (99) who passed away
recently after a long illness, was one of the country's oldest nuns and
is credited with initiating the provision of second level education by
the Mercy Sisters in Waterford City.
She entered the Convent of Mercy in 1933 and received the religious
name, Sr Redemptoris.
She made her Final Profession in 1939 and
dedicated her long life of service to education.
She was a graduate of
University College in Cork and Carysfort College of Education in
Dublin.
During her time as at student in Waterford City, she met many famous
people and addressed Dr Maria Montessori who visited her school in
1926.
In 1927 she welcomed WB Yeats to her classroom.
Yeats later recorded this visit in his famous poem 'Among Schoolchildren.
In a Statement this week Jim Hegarty on behalf of the associates of
Féile na Scoileanna in Waterford City, which Sr Cummins helped found,
said that they “were deeply saddened to learn of the death of one of its
mainstays.
Sister Redemptoris Cummins was one of the founding members
and for almost fifty years was such a staunch patron.”
Sr Cummins was laid to rest at Saint Mary's cemetery in Ballygunnar in Waterford.