The Jesus and Mary Congregation

The Religious of Jesus and Mary, abbreviated as R.J.M., form a Roman Catholic religious congregation of women dedicated to the education and service of the poor. The order was founded in Lyon, France, in October 1818, by Claudine Thévenet.

Thévenet had survived the siege of her native city by the forces of the French Revolution, seeing two of her brothers executed before her eyes in 1794. This inspired a resolve in her to dedicate her life to the relief of the suffering in the world. Some 20 years later, her work came to be guided by a local Catholic

priest, Abbé André Coindre, who was committed to establishing institutions to educate and help the children of the poor in the city.

Thévenet then established a small house of refuge called La Providence to care for the children of the city. She was joined in this work by a group of women who formed a society, of which she was elected as president. In 1818 Coindre suggested to her that she should commit herself to the consecrated life under

Ignatian spirituality, which she accepted. With the members of the society she had founded who also wished to follow that path, she established a small convent in the working-class neighborhood of La Croix-Rousse. They soon needed to expand and moved to a house in the Fourvière sector of the city.

The congregation received the approval of the Bishop of Le Puy-en-Velay in 1823 and of the Archbishop of Lyon in 1825. Their Constitutions were approved by Pope Pius IX on 31 December 1847. The object of this congregation was to give girls a Christian education conformable to their social position. For thispurpose the Sister would have boarding schools and academies.

In France, before the expulsion of 1901, they were at Lyon, and at Le Puy-en-Velay, Rodez, and Remiremont. Owing to the religious persecution in France at that time, the General Motherhouse was transferred to Rome in September 1901.In 1842, Lyons sent a community of Sisters to India, where 12 communities were established, including ones at Bombay, Poona, Lahore, Simla and Agra.In 1850, the first house in Spain was founded at Sant Andreu de Palomar near Barcelona; then followed other foundations, at Valencia, Barcelona, Orihuela, Sant Gervasi, Alicante and Murcia. In 1902, Spain sent a colony to found houses in Mexico City and at Mérida, Yucatán.

The congregation soon spread to many International Countries such as India and England.

Many Irish women joined the congregation in England and wished that a foundation would be established in Ireland. This hope was realised when the Bishop of Killala agreed to opening a house in Errew, Crossmolina in 1912. A boarding school and a day school was established and the sisters also taught in the local national school. However as the foundation grew the premises at Errew were unsuitable and a larger house with more potential was purchased near the town of Crossmolina in Gortnor Abbey.

Mother Regis O’Connor (Irish), Mother Gonzaga (Austrian), Mother Bertha (Austrian Cook), Mother Rasphael Musgrave (English) and Mother Sebastian (Irish) pioneered the venture. A French nun, Mother Henrietta Baudowin arrived in 1915. They purchased Gortnor Abbey in 1916 and set about converting it into a Convent boarding school.

Rev. Mother Stanislaus Ryan opened a Novitiate and began the first-storey building of the school in 1919. The second and third storeys were erected soon afterwards. Mother St. John McPhillips (Cork), Mother Fidelis Donegan (Cork) and Mother Patricia Gallagher (Crossmolina) were the first nun students in University College Galway in 1924.

Mother St. Veronica was headmistress of the Secondary School until 1928 when she was replaced by Mother St. John Phillips. A new extension in 1944 incorporated a Domestic Science room, extra dormitories for boarders, classrooms, cloakroom and music room. A new chapel, a dining hall and bedrooms for boarders were added in 1961.

Later, a new school was built on the grounds of the Convent with government aid and local contributions. In earlier years the Convent catered for girls only but in 1973 it opened its doors to boys as well. A phasing out of boarders took place during the 1980’s

Today Irish sisters continue to work in Pakistan, Africa and Haiti as well as on the home mission. Their aim is as always to make Jesus and Mary known and loved by means of Christian Education.

Cemetary in Gortnor Abbey

For a considerable time now the Sisters of Jesus and Mary had considered the possibility of providing a route for community funerals that did not have to pass through the school grounds. All through the generations while the nuns actually lived in Gortnor Abbey and up to present day, everyone was involved in the ceremonies. Each funeral was treated with respect and care and the participation of everyone at Gortnor Abbey and of loyal neighbors made each funeral service a community service.

Sometimes funeral times disrupted sports and other activities but nobody ever complained. However they felt an alternative route and new arrangement was needed in the future to provide a worthy resting place for those who gave their lives so generously in Gortnor Abbey.

The first RJM Sisters’ funerals to take place in Gortnor Abbey were those of Sr. Celestine Doherty(1903-1925) and Sr. Magdalen McGovern(1890- 1927). Those Sisters’ graves were in the Cemetery Field, but were situated one on either side of the arch-way on entry from the orchard. Each grave was marked by a Yew tree.

As time passed the dampness of the site caused worry so the two Sisters’ remains were removed to their present location where they rest together near Calvary.

Sr. Celestine Doherty was born in Foxford and entered the RJM Novitiate in Ipswich, England, in 1913.

Sr. Magdalen McGovern, a native of County Cavan, entered the Gortnor Abbey Novitiate in 1923. The Yew trees that marked their original graves continued to grow.

Sr. Joachim Geary, a native of County Limerick, made her vows in 1926. Sr. Joachim Geary, Sr. Teresa Ann Hanahoe and a group of RJM Sisters, soon set out for the Indian Mission. En-route they visited Lyons, where both sisters became ill. They decided to return to England. Sr. Teresa made a quick recovery and soon set off to begin her 58 years of missionary work in the Indian Subcontinent.

However, Sr. Joachim was seriously ill and came back to Gortnor Abbey to be cared for in the cottage in the community infirmary. She died on November 28th, 1928, and her grave is just left of the Calvary. Several members of Sr. Joachim’s family attended the G.A. Centenary celebrations.

By now moves were being made to set aside space for a proper Community cemetery but funds were scarce. When Mother Stanislaus Ryan, first Provincial of Ireland, died in July, 1930, the moment had come and her grave is marked by the Cavalry, as the inscription shows.

Also remembered on the same shield is Mother Regis O’Connor, a Crok woman, who was the saintly Superior in Gortnor Abbey. Mother Regis had gone to England for surgery and sadly died. She is buried in Kensal Green, London.

Mother Stanislaus was a great educator who was greatly loved and respected by all. She had a weekly meeting for young mothers after Sunday Mass, an event few would want to miss.

Many years after Mother Stanislaus’ death an older member of the community related that when the news of her death reached her friends in the Parish, crowds gathered at Gortnor Abbey and the women were allowed to go upstairs to where M stanislaus was laid out to touch her with their medals, so that they could keep some relics. Mother Stanislaus was a Kilkenny woman.

Her sister, named Sr. Casimir also became an RJM. Early in her religious life Sr. Casimir went as a missionary to India, and she is buried there.

Of the next generation of her family five nieces became Religious of Jesus and Mary:Sr. Claude Walsh, who died in India, Sr. Casimir Walsh, who was a well loved Superior in the House of Studies, Galway and lies in Gortnor Abbey Cemetery; Sr. Columba Ryan and Sr. Claude Ryan and Sr. Francis Ryan who is buried in Gortnor Abbey.

To the immediate right of the Calvary is the grave of Patricia Broderick. Patricia’s parents were in India and worked for the British Government there. Their two daughters- Patricia and her older sister Mary- were bordered in Gortnor Abbey where their aunt Sr. Bruno Broderick, a beautiful woman who could spot a tearful eye in any distance, supervised the dormitory and was every borders Mammy. Patricia got ill and died very quickly, to the heartbreak of her aunt and the great sorrow of all.

Several times in the course of its history, the extent of the cemetery has been increased. As this went on, the Calvary, once the center-piece, was often in a lopsided position. It was eventually decided to purchase a statue of The Risen Christ to place near the other end!

Sr. De Lourdes did the transaction when she went home to Cork on her annual holiday with her family in summer 1980. The statue was duly delivered and erected. Sr. de Lourdes celebrated her Golden Jubilee of profession that year as did her childhood friend Sr. Stanislaus Kelleher.

Sr. Stanislaus was in Ireland on holidays, home from a troubled and dangerous life in Beirut where she worked in the Jesus and Mary School at a time when Lebanon was ravaged by war. When the Jubilee celebrations were over Sr. Stanislaus was ready for Cork. She would have wished to have the company of Sr. Lourdes. It seemed like a great idea to Sr. Lourdes- she could go back to Cork to pay for the statue… and off they went in high glee, armed with the cheque. That was August 1st 1980, the day of the Buttevant train disaster and both Sisters were sadly among the dead. The funerals were duly arranged in Gortnor Abbey.

The new statue was already in place, leaving just one space between it and the last occupied grave. So thank Providence, Sr. Lourdes is laid to rest immediately to the left and Sr. Stanislaus just to the right, of the statue of the Risen Christ. RIP.

One week later, someone who found the uncashed cheque in the crash debris sent it back to Gortnor Abbey by post.

All Religious were expelled in France in 1901 and their property confiscated These Sisters were scattered around Europe. Trunks, packed with RJM documents were sent by train to Rome, but were never seen again. Two of the French Sisters, Sr. Henriette Beaudoin and Sr. Henry Crennan were among the group who made their way to England. Later they were both part of the pioneer community who came to Errew in 1912. Both are buried in Gortnor Abbey cemetery.

When the Allies bombed Dresden during WWII, there were forty-four RJM sisters in three communities in that city. When the alarm sounded the City Air Raid shelter was already crowded so the sisters ran back to their own house and took refuge in the basement. When all was over every Sister was safe but, when they came up from the basement into open air, their convent was no more.

The nuns were scattered throughout Germany, finding refuge and work where possible, throughout Germany. They had great difficulty getting out of the Country but two years later they finally were together again as the last of the group made her way to Rome.

One of those sisters, Sr. Gonzaga Kipferling came to Errew in 1912 and worked there and in Gortnor Abbey until her death. She too is buried in Gortnor Abbey.

The hoarding in the cemetery lists RJM sisters who entered Gortnor Abbey since 1919 when the Irish Novitiate was opened. But there are long lists too of Irish women who became RJM in France, India, Italy, England, USA.

An article in The Bengal Catholic Herald, confirmed the arrival in Bombay of “Six Nuns, five of them French and one English” destined to found the first Jm mission in Agra.

The travellers continued their journey by boat around the South of India and up the Ganges, the Herald edition, of December 03’, 1842, announced their arrival in Agra. The “English” woman was from Cork, and was the first of a long line of Irish women who worked as Sisters of Jesus and Mary in India and Pakistan. (many were born to Irish parents living and working in India).

Some of those names are listed in the Cemetery, but, as in the case of France and Germany, records of many RJM Provinces are incomplete.

Information courtesy of Sr. Veronica Heffernan, Crossmolina Chronicle December 2021

The Buttevant Rail Disaster was a train crash that occurred on 1 August 1980 at Buttevant Railway Station, County Cork, in Ireland, 220 kilometres (137 mi) from Dublin on the main line to Cork. More than 70 people were injured, and 18 died, in one of Ireland's worst rail disasters.

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2015/0730/718273-buttevant-train-crash/

The accident:

At 12:45pm the 10:00am Dublin (Heuston) to Cork (Kent) express train entered Buttevant station carrying 230 bank holiday passengers.^[1] The train was diverted off the main line across a 1:8 temporary set of points into a siding. The locomotive remained upright but the carriages immediately behind the engine and generator van jack-knifed and were thrown across four sets of rail lines. Two coaches and the dining car were totally demolished by the impact. This resulted in the deaths of 18 people and over 70 people being injured.

The accident happened because a set of manual facing points were set to direct the train into the siding. These points had been installed about four months previously and were not connected to the signal cabin.The permanent way maintenance staff were expecting a stationary locomotive at the Up platform to move into the siding and had set the points for the diversion to the siding without obtaining permission from the signalman. Upon seeing that this had been done, the signalman at Buttevant manually set the signals to the Danger aspect and informed the pointsman to reset the points.

The train was travelling too fast to stop in time.The derailment occurred at around 60 mph (97 km/h).

Local doctor Finnbarr Kennedy was nearby at the time of the crash, waiting to cross the line, and was able to give aid to those injured.

Aftermath

This event, and the subsequent Cherryville junction accident, which killed a further seven people, accounted for 70% of all Irish rail deaths over a 28-year period. CIÉ and the Government came under severe public pressure to improve safety and to modernise the fleet. A major review of the national rail safety policy was held and resulted in the rapid elimination of the wooden-bodied coaches that had formed part of the train.

The passengers who were most severely injured or killed were seated in coaches with wooden frames. This structure was incapable of withstanding a high-speed crash and did not come near to the safety standards provided by modern (post-1950s) metal-body coaches. The expert bodies that reviewed the accident discovered that the old timber-frame carriage bodies mounted on a steel frame were totally inadequate as they were prone to complete collapse (the "accordion" effect) under the enormous compression forces of a high-speed collision. While the steel underbody remained structurally intact, other carriages could "mount" the frame, completely compress and destroy the wooden frame body.^[5]

The more modern steel-framed carriage bodies remained intact due to their greater structural rigidity. On this basis, the decision was quickly made to purchase a new fleet of modern intercity coaches based on the British Rail Mark 3 design. The Mark 3's longitudinally corrugated roof can survive compression forces of over 300 tonnes. These coaches, of an already well-proven design, were built by BREL in Derby, England and, under licence, at CIÉ's own workshops at Inchicore in Dublin between 1983 and 1989.

Commemoration

On 8 August 2005, a commemoration marking the 25th anniversary of the accident was held at the station. A bronze sculpture in the shape of two crossing train tracks was unveiled alongside a plaque commemorating the names of the victims.

List of names of people who died in the Buttevant train crash:

1. Eileen Redmond, aged 66, Leinster Terrace Wexford

2. Patrick Larkin, aged 77, of 18 Parkview West, Templemore, Co Tipperary

3. Sr. De Lourdes O’ Brien, aged 68, of Convent of Jesus and Mary Gortnor Abbey, Crossmolina, Co. Mayo

4. Sr. Mary Stanislaus Kelleher, aged 63, of Convent of Jesus and Mary Gortnor Abbey, Crossmolina, Co. Mayo

5. Bruce Woodworth, aged 36, of Carrighoun, Old Court, Rochestown, Cork

6. Seamus Coffey, aged 27, of Monalea Estate, Tallaght, Co. Dublin

7. Timothy McCarthy, aged 56, of Hansboror Road, Wellington Road, Cork, who was the train guard.

8. Sr. Margaret Mary O’ Donoghue, aged 68, of Sister of Providence in the Rosinian Convent, Leicester, England

9. Margaret Devlin, aged 29, of St. Josephe’s Villas, Athlone, Co. Westmeath

10. John O’Connor, aged 50, of Greenfield Avoca Avenue, Blackrock, Co. Dublin

11. Mark Barron, aged 18, of Palmerstown Avenue, Palmerstown, Co. Dublin

12. Patrick Alan George, aged 25, of 22 Rue Docteur Mazel, Grenoble, France.

A native of Middlesex, he had been attached to the staff of the Institute Lauclangeview, Grenoble, for three years

13. Albin Zainer, age 50s, of 1050 Brandmayergasse, Vienna

14. Maria Anna Zainer, wife of Albin Zainer, age 50s, of 1050 Brandmayergasse, Vienna

15. Gertrude Bertha Unterberger, aged 71, of Box 690, R.D., 4 East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, USA

16. Virgil John Livingston, aged 70, of 13030 Mitchwin Road, Mitchwin Road, Dallas, Texas, USA

17. Samuel Samuel Owen Corke, aged 60, of 81 Warick Place, Priors park, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England

18. Winifred Meaher, of Templemore, Co. Tipperary, was originally listed as critically injured and became the 18th fatality of the crash.

Information courtesy of Wikepedia