Many thanks to Una Kavanagh (Blair) who sent on this image which will bring back many Kindergarten memories.
The story goes that Sister Hildegarde spotted the “Weather House” on the Gypsum Lorry at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, sometime in the very late ’50s or very early ’60s and asked Úna’s father if the school could have it when the company no longer needed it.
Needless to say, ‘The slightest wish….’ The result is a piece of Green history
GER: |
When did you go to St. Stephens Green? |
| ROS: | I went when I was three. It must have been about 1940 and I left in 1954, about 14 years. |
GER: |
So you went to the Junior School? |
| ROS: | Yes |
GER: |
What was your first impression of the School? |
| ROS: | At three? I liked it! |
GER: |
Did you enjoy it? |
| ROS: | I was a late baby so my Mother had more time and had been teaching me at home and I was a bit cocky, something that never went away, because I knew all my letters and I could spell before I went in. I loved the Green. What was your next question? What did I think of it? I absolutely adored it. Because tell you the truth, I’m a romantic about memories. I can’t remember one bad thing. Except perhaps, my sisters had been at an Irish junior School and they were older than me and they had gone into the Irish School, Scoil Brigid run by the famous Miss Gavin Duffy. In those days it was the Irish School and the English School. So I was automatically sent to the Irish School as they had been there. And, of course, I couldn’t cope at all because I had been in the Junior School and my Irish was very basic. But I felt the Irish School had a terrible attitude to the English School. Somehow they thought that it was bad for Ireland. Well, I had to cross the white Corridor and go the English School at the end of that year. I felt like a traitor. That was upsetting. There was only one other thing that upset me, the whole years, which is nothing to do with the School at all. There was, what I would call now my adulthood, a girl who was a “clique former”, at one stage when I was about twelve. We were in a class where the classrooms had big long rows and I realized at the end of the summer that she was dropping me. We were going into a class where the desks were in twos and I remember being terrible upset but luckily I made other friends. I was able to spot them from then on, people who would pick you up and then drop you which is something that happens quite early on, particularly in girls’ schools, I think. But it was a lesson to be learnt because it is something that happens through life as well. They are called Empire Builders later in life.I was totally happy. I think I was a bit spoilt by the Nuns because I was there so long. I worked relatively hard in School and I adored music. And as you know, there is loads of it in the Green. I played the double bass for four years in the School orchestra and I played the Piano for the last two, in fifth and sixth year and that was a huge joy to me. I was never very good at games but I used to be stuck into the goal in camogie because I was big and I used to stand there and live in terror. But no, I was never very good on the games side. I was better at the thing that I earn a living from now. I was good at drawing and at music. There weren’t any plays then. |
GER: |
There was no acting at all? |
| ROS: | No, no acting, no drama. Music was the big push then. Mother Benedicta was the music Nun and she was quite comical in her way, but she was very dedicated and Mother John Bosco was too and would spend forever with you, always at your beck and call if you had a problem and she could play jazz as well! |
GER: |
What do you think was the best aspect of the School for you and do you have any favorite memories? |
| ROS: | A general feeling that I was looked after. That I was being, for the most part encouraged in anything that I wanted to do. Except that in those days, only two from my class went to University. It was very much the thing to do to go and do shorthand and typing and to find a nice man and get married. Those days, I think, have changed. But careers were never really on the agenda at all. The great thing was to go into Guinness’s and that was a “very good job” where you could get a nice young man who you could get married to. The only thing I could ever spot in the Nuns which was a total foible, I don’t know whether it’s still there, but there was a bit of snobbishness about them. A little bit of “Ladies of Loreto” which does nobody any harm anyway if its things like good manners. I can remember, though, derogatory remarks which, even at an early age – my Marxist tendencies, you know – “You’re behaving like a child out of the National School”. I knew this was a very bad thing to say. That would be my only faintly bad memory of any of the Nuns. The Lay teachers, like all human life; some good; some bad; some wonderful. But you see, there were so many Nuns then and they naturally were more dedicated. They had more time and they were great teachers. I had a wonderful teacher who just fired me in so many ways. And this was Mother Edmund, who taught me English and filled me with the love of the language.I’ve mentioned this before, I think, so you would need to check that it’s too boring. The best memory for life was that Mother Raphael, who was very hot tempered, the mistress of study, burst into the classroom when I was in about Third Year in the senior School; and in front of everyone, she lambasted me because I was a bit of a tomboy and I was always up to larks. She said I was always sliding down the white corridor, I made more noise than a herd, I was always shouting and this and that and the other in front of the whole class. Well I nearly died. About fifteen minutes later she came back in and apologized to me in front of everybody. She said she was just in bad humor and she went into class wanting to pick on somebody and she picked on Rosaleen and she was sorry. And that was again a huge lesson in life. It meant an awful lot to me. And looking back on it she was probably in some sort of hormonal trouble at the time, is something that you don’t think about when you are fourteen. |
GER: |
Did you play in many of the yearly concerts? |
| ROS: | Yes and I sang in the Choir. I was a second alto, I could also sing soprano but they needed second altos more. My voice never really settled. I did music for my Inter and my Leaving.We weren’t taught ambition, but we were taught to enjoy poetry and enjoy ourselves. But ambition, no. For example in my age group, the women who have made, in inverted commas, “a mark for themselves” in society, that I do say in inverted commas, because I absolutely believe that making a mark for yourself, the most important mark you can make is rearing a happy household and a happy family and being the centre of that whether you are a man or a woman. But people who have actually gone into the public eye from my age group, much more of them came out of the Dominican Schools and Mount Anville. |
GER: |
So that was a characteristic of the Loreto Schools? |
| ROS: | To a certain extent. They saw their job as bringing out people who would be happy in their lives and who would be happy being a wife and mother. But not just a sort of silly wife. The sort of wife and mother who had enjoyments in her life in a social and cultural way as well. |
GER: |
Did the School encourage and help you in your career?
|
| ROS: | Well as an actress no, but I sort of knew that I wanted to be an actress. But I had also wanted to be a hairdresser, and architect, a dress designer and to have a good time. But what I actually did was Economics and politics in U.C.D. |
GER: |
Do you think the school has changed at all? |
| ROS: | I can’t say, except that I know all the Schools have changed. But I was, say in the first five or so in the class and it was easy for me. I was blessed by a certain amount of intelligence and a certain amount of talent; I mean the music and that. But I would imagine that the whole education system would be geared, I would hope, to the ones who are down a bit, who have other gifts which are not so obvious in the curriculum. I think, I hope that has happened. Although I have to say, the Green wasn’t the worst at that. There were other Schools that were much more geared towards the academic, the top five, the A class. The B class got overlooked. But I do think those things change, and I think inspired teachers always look after people too. But not all the teachers are inspired. I sent my only daughter to Loreto so that’s something I suppose. You only go back to the shop if the goods have been good.I think the most difficult task facing young women today is how to combine work and motherhood. Most girls now have two children, so the mothering years are not as many as they use to be. Somehow this problem should be addressed in girl’s schools. If it’s a matter of education for life in this life most women are going to be leading. Ignore it at your peril!!! |
School life was quite different in those days. During the twenties my grandmother and two of her sisters attended The Green. My mother, aunt and uncle followed in their footsteps. I could nearly say that going to Loreto, Stephen’s Green has been a tradition in our family.
Since that time, changes have occurred. The main difference is the uniform which was a navy dress with a white collar. Our unique wine uniform was to replace the navy tunic. When the wine hockey uniform was introduced in the late Twenties, this design was to replace the navy tunics.
Another difference was the number of nuns who taught in the school. There were hardly any lay teachers. The nuns were known as ‘Mothers’. A ‘Mother’ was an educated ‘Sister’. After six years of being a ‘Sister’, you were addressed as ‘Mother’.
My grand-aunt Phyllis Furlong recalls her days at The Green. Some of the nuns who taught were Mother Philomena – Music; Mother Bernadette – Games; Mother Claire – Domestic Science (Home Economics); Mother Sebastian (French); Mother Isidore – German and Mother Melissa – Irish. The Mother Superior at that time was Mother Louise and Mother Monica was also Mother Superior for a while. The lay teachers then were Miss Daly – who taught in Kindergarten ; Miss Geraghty and Doctor Larchet – Choir ; Terry O’Connor – who was a pupil there and later a brilliant violinist conducted the orchestra ; and Kitty Cusson – who taught Irish. Mother Bernadette was also in charge of the Junior School and Mother Lawrence was in charge of the Boarders.
That was also another difference, the Boarders. There were about ninety Boarders and their dormitories were on the top floor. There was a stairs leading to the Chapel and the dormitories (for pupils and nuns), and there was a long rope at the side of the stairs. Pupils were forbidden to go up the stairs to the Chapel and the dorms. Sometimes they dared each other to pull the rope and ring the bell!
Every day my Granny would get the bus from Rathgar along with her other sisters. School commenced at 9. a.m. and ended at 3. p.m. with an hour’s lunch break. They had school on Saturday which consisted of classes in the morning and drill until 3 p.m. (Drill was just games) Netball was the popular game at that time until hockey was introduced.
The subjects were not as vast as our subjects today. They did English, Maths, Irish, History, Geography, Music, Domestic Science, Religious Knowledge (as it was called) and some languages. Everyone was brought to visit the Chapel on the First Friday of the month as there was Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.
A tradition of the School was to be made a Child of Mary. This was considered an honour, and you were only nominated if the teacher thought you were worthy of the honour. If this was the case, an ‘x’ was put beside your name, and over the course of the year you had to graduate through different stages – the purple ribbon (Holy Angels), then to the red ribbon and finally the blue ribbon. Some girls wore a blue gown during the ceremony in the Chapel, where they were presented with a medal on which their name and the date were inscribed.
There is still a monthly meeting of the ‘Children of Mary Sodality’ which many Past Pupils attend. The Loreto Past Pupils Union is another very active group which, amongst other things, raise money to help different charities.
An important part of the religious activities were the retreats. They were held frequently during the year, but the main retreat was held at Hallowe’en and was usually held over a weekend. Unlike our retreats they were far stricter, and girls were forbidden to talk to each other. Everybody gave each other holy pictures in remembrance of the retreat.
In April, a concert was always held by the Senior girls. It consisted of the choir and orchestra, and sometimes if pupils were good enough to perform, they could do an item. The Junior School did an operetta at Christmas.
Some famous people who went to our school at this time were Mary Jo Lavin, an established and well known writer, and Terry O’Connor, a musician.
The Loreto nuns ran a hostel for university students at No. 77. During the Second World War refugee children came from Poland and stayed at the school. These children were very talented and only spoke a little English. Also, due to all of their hardships and suffering, they tended to be more reserved than the Irish children. The children had never been to the sea, so Loreto girls and their families took them out to Dun Laoghaire.
As the years progressed, things gradually changed. On Tuesdays and Thursdays the original navy uniform with the white collar was worn, and on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays they alternated to the burgundy wine tunic. Thankfully, Saturday school disappeared. The grounds at Dartmouth Square were used for hockey practice. The Child of Mary tradition continued up to about twenty years ago.
By Suzanne Delargy.
September 1943 – the second world war at its height in Europe – two weeks after my ninth birthday, I set off with my eight year old sister for The Green. The decision that we should go to boarding school was probably influenced by the fact that my mother was a non-Catholic, and she and my father wanted to ensure that we would get a sound Catholic education. The choice of school was inevitable as my only aunt went to The Green as a boarder in 1914.
When the day came I was excited, probably because I had some notion about boarding schools being somewhat like ‘St. Trinians’. Dressed in our wine uniform, complete with blazer and beret, we said goodbye to neighbours – in those days there were no mid-term breaks and Christmas was a long way off. Then, with mother, we set off from Wicklow to Dublin.
There were only seven Junior School Boarders – known as ‘The Kinders’.
From the outset we realised that the nuns were intent on making our school days very happy ones. They ‘mothered’ us in every way, while at the same time maintaining a healthy disciplinary code. I can vividly recall being very lonely leaving home for each new term but, in the activities of school life, the days passed quickly and happily. I can still remember the excitement of getting our cases / trunks from the trunk house as the end of term loomed. Boarders had no access to telephones. We wrote home every weekend and were in constant touch with the family as my mother wrote to us every day for nine years – and there was Saturday post too!
Then, as now, the Christmas Junior School play was a big event. We were always involved – my sister often playing the principal part – and that meant plenty of singing, dancing and rehearsals. Bean de Valera wrote an Irish play for us each year and came on Saturday mornings to help with the production. She was a gentle old lady and, even as small children, we realised that she was someone very special. Each year there was an Irish play and an Opera on the programme.
Because of the War, food and clothing were rationed. Everyone in Ireland was issued with a ration book which contained coupons for food and clothes. Years later I discovered that the boarders’ rations of butter and sugar were supplemented by the fact that the nuns cut back on their rations so that we could have more. What goodness! There were about 100 boarders. Our numbers rose to 110 when French and Polish refugees joined us. They were the lucky ones who could afford to escape the hazards of war by coming to school in Ireland. Many of them remained on for some years after the war ended, having integrated easily and become proficient in English. In 2000, one of them, Anne Lucien Brun, editor of a Paris daily newspaper, called to see me. We were able to contact several of her class friends for an unexpected and happy reunion.
Music and games were central to our school life. At that time there were only three secondary schools in Ireland that had a ‘Senior Orchestra’, because the prescribed programme was so difficult – The Green, Louis Monaghan and Dominican Wicklow. To become a member of the Orchestra was the dream of everyone learning an instrument. My joy was great when, as a First Year, I joined the second violins. I can still remember the speed of the Mozart Rondo and the haunting beauty of Beethoven’s No 1 Symphony. A Mendelssohn and Schumann Piano concerto, the Overtures of Rosamunder, The Marriage of Figaro and The Unfinished Symphony are some of the pieces we tackled over the years. Every March a ‘Green Concert’ was put on. This was a very special time. Dress was formal, and music critics from each of the daily papers attended. We awaited their next day critiques. One such that I can recall ended with, ‘If all the schools in Ireland are doing so much for music as Loreto, then the future of our choirs and orchestras is secure.’
Occasionally we went to concerts given by some world-famous musicians on tour in Ireland, and once Radió Éireann broadcast the Bach Mass in B Minor live from our Concert Hall. Because there were many special Liturgical events during the year, the boarders’ choir had a wide repertoire of four-part motets. I recall the joy of participating in that beautiful singing and am grateful for the musical appreciation that my years in The Green have given me. We were afforded a wealth of music. For this I pay tribute to Sr. Cecily Morris and Sr. John Bosco Curran. Feis Ceoil, then as now, was an important event. One famous Green entrant was Moira Briody, a gifted pianist with a golden voice. One year Moira won five of the most coveted trophies in the Feis – The Thomas Moore Cup, The Plunkett Greene Cup, The Leider Cup, The Wallace Cup and The John Mc Cormack Cup. Moira was the Boarders’ pride. She took her achievements with such ease – put the trophies on the sideboard in the hall and went to the study. Later Moira had her own music programme on Welsh Television.
The school election for Sports Captain was another big event. Voting was taken seriously as the Captain had an important leadership role. It was her task to assist in the team coaching and to encourage teams to keep our motto alive – ‘Modest in victory, generous in defeat.’ There were only four Netball and four Hockey League teams and so competition for places was keen. Getting ‘out’ to matches was a high point for boarders, even though we were not supposed to go into shops going to or from matches. (However, we often managed a visit to the Palm Grove Ice Cream shop in Grafton Street!)
I well remember 24th February 1951. On that day The Green won the Rose Bowl, (my sister and I were on the team), Ireland won the Triple Crown in Rugby, and my father died suddenly RIP.
It was in the area of games that our division into the Irish School and the English School was most felt. Pupils in the Irish School were taught all subjects through the medium of Irish. They had separate dormitories, a separate side of the refectory and actually played against the English School teams in the Games League. This was because they were not permitted by Department of Education regulations to speak English and we could not guarantee that Irish would be spoken to them if they combined with us on teams. It was during my term as Games Captain that the change came about.
Irish and English School Boarders joined forces as ‘The Green’ and then, with combined strength, we certainly were a force to be reckoned with in the League!
Rag Day in UCD (then situated in Earlsfort Terrace) always created a buzz! Groups of students in weird dress, would invade the school and one year they disrupted everything. The following year, the Mistress of Schools decided that day pupils would leave for lunch half an hour earlier than usual. With great contentment she locked the doors at noon, saying that that would prevent any Rag visitors. At 12.30 when we went into the refectory, two tables were occupied by UCD students, scantily clad in raffia skirts, partaking of the boarders’ bread! A day pupil had informed her student brother that the school was ending earlier, the UCD students came earlier and, actually, Mother Frances Raphael had locked them in instead of out! The crack was mighty!
On weekdays we wore navy dresses with white colours. Weekends, formal occasions and games saw us dressed in the same colour as today’s uniform. Our daily timetable – Mass at 7.30 each morning; class times more or less the same as now; study 5 – 7 pm, followed by Rosary in the Chapel ; Tea at 7.30, followed by half an hour’s recreation.; Another hour’s study ; Bed at 9.30 ; Lights out at 10.00 pm. Can you imagine no talking during study, on passages, in dormitories? (We always managed the annual ‘midnight feast’!) No television, no radio, and still we survived happily and healthily.
The ‘Children of Mary’ were the overall school leaders. These did more or less the same work as is done by present-day School Committees. There was a whole gradation of ‘ribbons’. The First Years, who were accepted as Sodality members, wore narrow purple ribbons ; Second Years, wide purple (St. Joseph’s) ; Third Years wore narrow green ; Fourth Years, wide green (Holy Angels) ; Fifth Years, narrow blue and then the final achievement – The Child of Mary Medal. The Reception of Children of Mary was a very special occasion, liturgically and partywise.
Memories bring me on and on but I must end. I loved my school days in The Green and consider it as one of the great blessings of my life that I was educated there. I learned much from the warm companionship of the boarders and the prayerful dedication of the sisters. My parents’ sacrifice of parting with us during term was well rewarded.
Before ending, I want to mention that when I returned to The Green as a member of staff in 1977, I discovered that the wonderful school spirit which was such a rich experience in my school days was still strong. I know it is the same today. Praise God!
Sr. Phyl Doyle
Entrance Hall
In September 1938 at the age of five years and nine months, I started school in the ‘Babies’ class in The Green. My mother Una Byrne (Begg) had been a pupil in the Secondary School in the 1920s.
In June of that year, she brought me to meet Mother Clare, who had taught her piano and violin. We also met Mother Rita, who was in charge of the Junior School. It was then known as the Kindergarten and Preparatory College. I was shown around the classrooms. We came down the lane with all the presses for the coats and shoes belonging to the ‘big girls’. The Junior School cloakroom was on the right-hand side, opposite the steps leading into the concert hall. There was a cloakroom for the small boys on the left, then a tiled lobby and a short passageway leading to the babies’ classroom on the left. The ‘Big Room’ had three classes – 2nd Class was in the centre, 3rd Class was nearest the door, with 4th class at the top. The Entrance Grade room was accessed through a door in the top left hand corner. The 1st class was taught in the lunchroom.
The Side Garden
Kindergarten
Miss Mulholland [!] was my first teacher. There were seven or eight boys in the class including the identical twins Paddy and Jimmy O’Connor, who delighted in confusing all of us by swapping their names. I took to school like a duck to water. Reading, in both Irish and English, and sums were no trouble. Unlike the beginners of today, we were given homework from the start.
A real leather school-bag was bought in a shop in Anne’s Street which specialised in bags, cases and briefcases. I had a wooden pencil case with sliding top which doubled as a ruler, a pencil, rubber and pencil parer. My navy blue overall, with detachable white collar, was bought in Todd Burns, a large department store in Mary Street. There were also regulation socks and indoor and outdoor shoes to be got there. Text books were bought from Brown & Nolan on Nassau Street. Copy books, with the school name and crest, were available from Mother Rita’s press in the top right-hand corner of the ‘Big Room’.
My father was diligent in helping me with my homework and was very proud that I had a flair for sums. I skipped from babies to 2nd class. I found this a little difficult, as I had to pick up
The Refectory
multiplication and division for the first time, while the other class members were doing it as revision. Miss Meagher was an excellent teacher.
In 3rd class I had Mother Rita for all subjects except Irish, which was taken by Áine Concannon, a native speaker from the Aran Islands. I had a reasonable fluency as my father always spoke what he knew of the language to us as children. This endeared me to Miss Concannon, who could be quite cross with those who may not have had the same interest in the subject. We had weekly tests in 3rd class. The results were put up on the wall. The pupil gaining the highest aggregate marks wore a large silver medal for the week, with DUX written on it. It hung from a red ribbon.
In 4th class we had Miss Patricia Carton. Every Friday we had weekly spelling, and towns and counties contests. The class chose two girls as captains, who in turn picked their teams. As a team member spelt a word incorrectly or matched the wrong town and county, she had to sit down. The side with the most surviving members at the end was the winner. A weekend free from homework was the prize.
Entrance Grade was taught by May Lillis with Sr. Anne O’Keefe, who was a young nun not yet fully professed. She was appalled at my hand writing and insisted that I do several lines in a headline copybook each evening as part of my homework.
The Chapel
First Holy Communion
I made my First Holy Communion on 23rd May 1940. We were prepared by Mother Rita with regular visits from Fr. Robinson, a curate in St. Andrew’s Parish, Westland Row. He heard my first and second confessions. Unlike nowadays, pupils were allowed to receive First Communion in their parish church or elsewhere. I was very fortunate that my first cousin once removed, Sr. Fedelis (Carmel Begg), was an Irish Sister of Charity in Stanhope Street Convent. She was a Green Past Pupil. Her community invited me to join them for Mass at 7am on the morning of Corpus Christi and receive my First Holy Communion in their chapel. This was a privilege I shall never forget. I wrote about it a few years ago for my family.
I received the Sacrament of Confirmation in St. Andrew’s Church, Westland Row on the 25th February 1943 from the hands of Archbishop John Charles McQuaid. We were almost five hours at the ceremony which included a catechism examination beforehand. Thankfully I was not asked a question! Miss Carton came with us as the nuns were not allowed to leave the convent at that time.
My mother had to save coupons so that she would have sufficient to buy me a new dress, coat, hat and shoes. Clothing was also very expensive. When coupons were introduced I thought that money was no longer needed! About a fortnight after Confirmation I was out in the rain in my new shoes. The soles disintegrated as they were made out of cardboard which looked like leather.
A Reception Room
There was a Junior Choir. Piano lessons were also available for an extra quinea per term. Miss Foley was my teacher. I sat Preliminary, Primary and Grade I, Royal Irish Academy of
Music Local Centre Examinations. The examiners were Dr. John Larchet and his wife Mrs. Madeline Larchet. The Local Centre was in the front parlour where there was an upright piano of ebony wood with mother of pearl keys.
When I went into the Senior School I was in the choir. The secular music examiner from the Department of Education was Eamonn Ó ‘ Gallcobhair. Dr. Weaving came from the RIAM and Fr. Moloney, who later became the Parish Priest of Rathgar, was the Diocesan music examiner. Choirs and orchestra were entered for the annual Feis Ceoil. While Mother Cecily prepared the performances with hours of hard work, Terry O’Connor, a famous past pupil musician, was the conductor for public concerts within the school and for our visits to the Feis.
I was thrilled years later when I took up my newspaper one morning to see a picture of Mother Cecily, in full flight, conducting a prize-winning orchestra from The Green at the Feis Ceoil. Liberation and recognition at last!
Fourth class brought me into contact for the first time with various sodality ribbons. There was the narrow green, then the broad green in Entrance Grade; the narrow and broad red in 1st and 2nd year, narrow and broad purple in 3rd and 4th year, culminating in the narrow pale blue in 5th year and the broad Child of Mary ribbon and medal at the end of 5th year as we were about to enter our 6th and final year.
The Grounds
Games
I played tennis on the grass courts at the rear of the school. Miss O’Kelly was the coach. There was a hard court used as a play ground by the National School by day and by the boarders for tennis in the evenings. She also looked after the hockey which was played in Dartmouth Square. When I went to the “A” school I played camogie. Our coach was Neillí Mulcahy, who later became one of Ireland’s well known dress designers. She was the youngest daughter of General Richard Mulcahy, TD, who became Minister for Education in 1948.
The 2nd World War broke out in September 1939. From the latter end of 1940 until 1946 all private motor cars were off the roads.
The Concert Hall
Buses, trams and trains were curtailed. The bicycle came into its own. I cycled to school most of the time while I was in Secondary School. Fuel was very scarce so there was little central heating. I was a day pupil but times were really hard for the boarders and the nuns. Food was rationed and coupons were necessary to purchase clothing and most food.
In spite of the hardship two plays were staged annually at Christmas while I was in the Junior School. Sinéad Bean de Valera was the author of the one-act play in Irish. She came in for about a fortnight before the actual public performance to help with the production. I have great memories of this very special woman whom I had the privilege of meeting many times in later years. There was also a three-act play in English with courtiers, a jester, king and queen, etc., produced by Ena Mary Burke, our elocution teacher.
We were allowed to invite a certain number of guests to see the plays which were staged over three nights. The gilt-edged formal invitations were like gold dust to us students. Each evening at the end of the performance one of the priests attending would make a speech in praise of our efforts and those of our teachers. A photographer from The Irish Press and Irish Independent newspapers would come along to record the occasion.
Sitting the Loreto Entrance Examination was my first experience of tests with a printed question paper. Each year after that there was a formal Loreto exam, except in 4th and 6th year, when we sat the Intermediate and Leaving Certificate Examinations of the Department of Education.
The Library
Secondary school was a very different regime. I chose to go to the “A” school, Coláiste Mhuire Loreto, where all the subjects except Christian Doctrine, were studied through the medium of Irish. There was also a range of new subjects. Arithmetic was joined by Algebra and Geometry. Irish, English, French and Latin were the languages,with a choice between Art, Domestic Economy and Science. I chose the latter. The teachers I remember were Misses O’Keeffe (sister of Sr. Anne), Cussen (sister of Mother Monica), Gretta O’Kennedy, Maureen O’Leary, Ring, Jo McIvor and Teresa Costello. The nuns were Mothers Frances Regis, Francis Raphael, Columbanus, Angela (Quill) and Joannes. All very special people in their own way. Mother Angela, who taught junior mathematics, went to the convent in Ballarat, Australia after her final profession.
I owe my knowledge of written Irish and my introduction to the works of Máirtin Ó ‘Cadhain to Mother Regis. Her love of the language and her interest in politics endeared her to me. Mother Columbanus had an extraordinary spirituality. She taught me English and Christian Doctrine in 3rd and 4th year. The subject for the Diocesan examinations for those years was the Mass, along with apologetics, social science, St.Luke’s Gospel and ordinary catechism questions.
The only two medals I ever won were for 1st place in the Christian Doctrine exams in those years. I still have them and will treasure them until the time comes to pass them on as a keepsake to the next generation. She was far ahead of her time in her own understanding of faith. Her devotions to the Little Flower, St. Thérese of Lisieux, brought her eventually to leave the Loreto sisters and join the Carmelites where she went to Eternal Life some years ago. As I write, the relics of St. Thérese are making a special visit to our country. I live in a parish which is under the care of Carmelite priests. St. Thérese will visit us for 24 hours on the 5th and 6th of May. Mother Columbanus will be very much in my mind during this time.
Mother Joannes for me was the mathematical genius. She also taught science. I was good at these subjects and have very happy memories of her classes. The first phone call I received when my eldest son, Cillian, died at Christmas 1998, was from Mother Joannes.
A Reception Room
In the Senior School we had an annual 3 day retreat conducted by the Jesuit Fathers. They were very learned men whose talents may not have been really appreciated by us at the time. I have dozens of holy pictures from fellow students in memory of the various retreats. I take them out and look at them from time to time and say a prayer for these girls wherever they may be.
We had the Mission Committee which was responsible for organising the making and selling of the crepe paper roses on Mission Sunday. The very small buds cost a penny whereas the fully blown ones were bought for sixpence. We subscribed to the missions in other ways also. I have a small certificate saying that I am a godmother to two black babies, as they were then known, Michael Laurence and Mary Catherine. I also have a certificate as a member of the Mission Field Brigade of which St. Thérese was patroness. My duty was to pray for the welfare of priests and for vocations.
I will always be grateful to Fr. Sean McCarron, S.J., who was a regular visitor to the Green. He was the director of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart. I became a juvenile member, a probationer and finally a full member in March 1949. I still have my three pins and the certificate signed by Mother Seraphia. She was one of the sisters who perished in the fire. Being and remaining a member of the Pioneers has been no great sacrifice for me as I have never tasted alcohol or felt the need to do so.
The Terrace
However, by saying the Heroic Offering, which it was called when I joined, morning and evening, I have in a small way helped to convert excessive drinkers. I firmly believe in the power of prayer. When I hear someone speaking on the radio or television about their addiction and how suddenly they got the urge to seek help, I know that the thousands of Pioneers worldwide are helping their less fortunate brothers and sisters.
I left The Green in June 1949 after sitting my Leaving Certificate and National University Matriculation examinations. When in the Senior School we were given a prayer to recite ‘for the choice of a state in life’. Some cynics said that it was designed to encourage us to join the Loreto Order! I said the prayer daily and when, after two years of studying Arts and Commerce in UCD, I decided to marry, I felt it was an answer to my petition. Although I was not quite nineteen I was confident that I was making the right choice. Fifty years later I know that it was God’s plan for me. The prayer books containing the Marriage Rite and Mass were given to me and to my husband, Aodhagán, by Mother Francis Regis with our names printed in writing special to nuns in those days. Mother Joannes sent me a Loreto Manual also with my name and the date in the ornate lettering. During my last year I was Head Girl of the day pupils. Eithne McGovern was head of the boarders.
The White Corridore
I say to the pupils of today that the points system is necessary for entrance to 3rd level courses but it is also a good idea to pray that you make the right choice. I come across many disenchanted people who opted for or were pushed into a profession because they got the required points. The academic subjects were important and were well taught when I was in The Green.
However, for me the general ethos in the school was the most important thing. It complimented that of my home, in creating a fully-rounded person prepared to do our best for the common good, to face suffering and disappointment in the knowledge that we are on a journey to a place where we expect to hear the words “Well done, you good and faithful servant. Come into the Kingdom prepared for you”.
Written by Anna Brioscú (née Byrne ) President of the GPPA – 1995-’97, reproduced here with her kind permission.
