There is another outstanding religious aspect to the Quinn family that historically has been very well recorded but in terms of knowledge among present day descendants, not a great deal is known about it.
How much the Sisters knew about it we must examine further. As in all the letters they had written to relatives over the years, many of which are still in existence, there has been only one reference found that would indicate that they had knowledge of their earlier and very important relatives.
This was found in a letter written by Sr. M. Kieran to her sister Sr. M Berchman in October 1929. In it she refers to a visit to the Convent by the Bishop of the diocese and goes on to say; “It will interest you to know that he has Dr. Quinn’s Buckles that he brought from Dublin. Is it not a link with the past”. So who was this Dr. Quinn? He was one of three brothers who joined the priesthood and all records of them show that they were born in Rathmore, Eadestown Co. Kildare, the sons of Matthew and Mary (nee Doyle) both of whom came from the Baltiboys area of Blessington Co. Wicklow. They were the tenants of a substantial farm of about eighty acres in Rathmore.
Matthew was born around 1780 in one of the three Quinn houses on the divided farm at Ballinahown, Baltiboys, Blessington, Co. Wicklow.
There are firm indications that Matthew was a brother of John Quinn, who was born around the same time and who was Henry Quinn’s father. Assuming this to be correct it would make Matthew a grand uncle to the nuns and his sons would be their first cousins once removed. All three of the Quinn families were cousins to each other in one way or another.
Matthew is also linked to the greater Quinn family by references made in a biography recorded in 1890, in the state of Nebraska in the U.S.A for a John Quinn, whose parents were Miles (1793-1867) and Elizabeth (nee Cullen), one of the families that resided in Ballinahown. In this we are told that three of his father’s cousins were priests in the Catholic Church, and that one of them was vicar general at Kingstown (Dun Laoire) and two of them were consecrated as bishops and sent to Australia on missions.
Another son Michael inherited the farm at Rathmore on the death of his parents. His son, also Michael, eventually emigrated to Australia and as he never married the name of Quinn related to this family died out.
In order to establish the relationship between the Nuns and the Bishops it is important that we take a closer look at the three line passage, written by Sister Kieran in that letter to her sister in New Foundland. Written in October 1929, this letter was never intended to make its way to Ireland, but due to a set of circumstances, one very significant page of it did however arrive here.
In the Spring of 1930, Sister Berchman used the back of the page to send a note to her niece May, along with the addresses of the two Sisters in Australia. Sister Kieran was telling her sister about the visit of the Bishop to their Convent in Bundeberg and having said Mass in the church, hopes were high that his prayers would bring much needed rain, as had happened after his visit to the Roma parish. He was Bishop Joseph Shiels, an Irishman and Bishop of the diocese of Rockhampton, from 1913 to 1931. In a conversation with the Bishop, Sister learned that he had Dr. Quinn’s Buckles, most likely from his shoes, and she set about relaying this interesting titbit of news to her sister, on the far side of the world.
She began by saying;
It will interest you to know….
This would be especially so because both of them knew well who Dr. Quinn was, as she identified him by use of his proper title.
He has Dr. Quinn’s Buckles that he brought from Dublin.
This relates in time to when he was appointed first Bishop of Brisbane and arrived in Australia in 1861,all of 68 years earlier, at the age of 42.
Is it not a link with the past ?
What past could she be referring to, only their own and the connection of their grandfather John, who was the Bishops uncle, making the Nuns their first cousins, once removed. The fact that three of the sisters joined the Mercy Order is not surprising either, because both Bishop Quinns played a major part in the Mercy Order Foundation, preparing them for work on the missions and in the establishment of the Mater Hospital in Dublin. They also brought several Mercy Nuns with them to Australia where they worked tirelessly in establishing schools and hospitals in the emerging dioceses of that vast country.
Individual stories of the Quinn religious are available below:
Philip J Brennan, October 2009