Sr. Irene Pinto, Class of '49

by Antoinette DeSouza

It is with great sadness we announce that Sr. Irene Pinto passed away on May 12, 2007. in Ireland. Irene, daughter of the late Jeronimo Zacharias and Rosa Angelina Pinto and brothers of the late Fr Innocent Pinto S.J. and Fr. Tony Pinto SDB , is much missed by his surviving sisters Sr. Irene, Linda and Angela and brothers Dominic, Eric, Bonny and Claude.

Irene was born in Goa in 1933. She studied at Dr. Ribeiro Goan School and after graduation in 1949 trained as a teacher at the Highridge Teacher training College from 1950 - 1951 and then taught at the Catholic Parochial School from 1952 - 1961.

In 1961 she joined the International Congregation of The Sisters of Mercy in Carysfort, Dublin, Ireland to become one of the first non-Irish postulants. She taught for two years in a Dublin school and took her Diploma in Education there. She took her Perpetual Vows on the 29th November 1966 and returned to Kenya in 1967 to teach in various schools including Huruma High School, Mbooni T.T.C., Mercy Commercial School and at St. Joseph's girl's High School. In her latter years her health suffered and after the sudden loss of her brother Fr. Tony in Kenya she returned to Ireland in August 2006.

Amongst her many accomplishments, Sr. Irene help initiate the St. Emmanuel's Chapel, Kibwesi, Kenya and the Perpetual Adoration Chapel in Makadara Nairobi. She finally retired from teaching in 2001. She was then based at Regional cum Noviciate House at Villa Maria, Westlands where she helped to prepare the new Sisters of Mercy noviciates for their vocation. She was also an active member of the Legion of Mary wherever she taught.

Hospitality was Sr. Irene`s outstanding gift. She always had a warm welcome for all and loved celebrations. She had an incredible memory for remembering birthdays, feast days, anniversaries, especially Goan Feast days where she loved to speak and sing hymns in Konkani. She loved visiting friends and family.

Above all, Sr. Irene was a woman of prayer. She had a great devotion to The Blessed Sacrament and to Our Lady. It seemed fitting that her last earthly journey was to the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock in Ireland where she took ill with pneumonia and rushed to hospital where she passed away on 12th May 2007.

May she rest in peace