A special word of thanks to Sr Therese Nwosu, Sr Celine Gallagher and the members of the Holy Rosary Congregation for their kind help.

The First Twenty-Five Years

For 60 years Killeshandra has been home to one of the world's greatest missionary endeavors. For 60 years young women left Killeshandra to bring education, health care and, most important of all, the Christian message to the African peoples. Through their courage, their total commitment, their dedication, they have made an enormous contribution to the development of many third world countries. The full extent of this contribution may never be fully appreciated or recognized. For these brave women, their journey began in Killeshandra. They were members of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, and their convent, the mother house of the order, was situated a few miles outside of the town. At its peak the order was the largest missionary congregation for women in Ireland. Throughout the length and breadth of Ireland the sisters were simply and affectionately known as the 'Killeshandra nuns'. To tell their story is to tell the story of some of the bravest and most dedicated women ever to leave these shores.

Their story begins on a verandah of a mission house in Calabar, Nigeria. It was June 1922. Among the group was Bishop Joseph Shanahan and among the concerns they discussed that evening was the fact that their efforts to educate and bring religion to the people of Nigeria was only touching one half of the population, the men. Women were not being adequately catered for by the missionary movement. The bishop had approached various Societies without success. They were reluctant to become involved. In those days Africa seemed far away, and life there was seen to be crude and uncultured, not a fitting place for young Irish ladies. So the group came round to the conclusion that the only answer was to form a new missionary congregation for women. Shanahan moved fast and by the following October, at a meeting in St Mary's College, Rathmines, Dublin, the enterprise was launched. The response was immediate and enthusiastic. A small number of women volunteered to join. By October 1923 they had come together as a community in the Dominican Convent, Cabra.

Among the members of that early community was Agnes Ryan, the daughter of Dr Ryan of Bailieboro, Co. Cavan. She too had trained as a doctor and had answered Bishop Shanahan's call for women to join the new congregation. Bishop Shanahan then contacted the bishop of her native diocese, Bishop Finnegan of Kilmore, and he readily offered the hospitality of his diocese. Drummully House, the residence of the Lough family on the outskirts of Killeshandra, was bought for £6,000. Shanahan then asked the Dominican Sisters in Cabra to undertake the training and formation of the young ladies who had joined. On 25 February 1924 Dr Shanahan and a few Cabra sisters arrived in the house and began to prepare it for its new role as a convent. On 7 March the first postulants arrived at the new convent. They were Agnes Ryan, later Sr Therese (Bailieboro), Sr Brigid Ryan (Abbeyleix), Sr Peter Shannon (Enniskillen), Sr Joseph Burns (Killeshandra) and Sr Dominic O'Dwyer (Loughrea). The Cabra Nuns who came to train them were Mothers Xavier, Aquinas and Ursula.

Two priests, Fr Whitney and Fr Mellett, were given the task of raising funds for the new congregation. They traversed the entire country preaching, giving lectures and making appeals. It was largely through their efforts that Killeshandra became a household name throughout the land.

The First Group of Holy Rosary Sisters Set Out for Africa

The first group of missionary sisters leaving Killeshandra, Jan 1928

By 1928 the first members of the order arrived in Nigeria. Shanahan's dream had been fulfilled. This would be but the beginning of a truly marvelous endeavor. The small group of five sisters arrived at Onitsha where they began their mission by setting up a small school. Not only did the sisters offer general and religious education but they also gave classes in child welfare, in marriage training and in domestic science. The experience of these early years would give the congregation a new insight into what was needed for the missionary life. As a result, sisters who had not a profession before entering the convent were sent to centres in Ireland, England and Scotland to be trained as teachers, doctors, nurses, midwives - specialists in every branch of knowledge that would help to bring them into touch with the day-today lives of the people among whom they worked. By the time the order was celebrating the Silver Jubilee of its foundation there were seventy sisters working in various parts of Nigeria. The one convent and school in Onitsha had multiplied into a network of 11 convents, 102 schools attended by 17,000 children, 3 hospitals, 20 maternity homes, 30 dispensaries, 4 teacher-training centres. By that time the school in Onitsha had a roll of almost 2,000. The sisters had also helped to establish a novitiate for a new Nigerian congregation of sisters.

Their missionary work was not confined to Nigeria alone. In April 1940 a group of sisters had arrived in the Transvaal region of South Africa, establishing their first house and school at Edenvale. Another group did likewise at Vereeniging. By 1949 the sisters had established a new 180 bed hospital at Edenvale.

Years of Further Success 1950 - 1966

The period from 1950 - 1966 marked an era of continued growth and expansion for the Congregation, not only in the countries where it was already established, but also in new territories. In 1951 the sisters moved into Northern Nigeria. In 1956 they were invited to enter the Cameroon where they ran a secondary school for girls as well as carrying out other missionary activities. The same year, they opened a hospital in a remote part of East Africa (Kenya), among the Pokot people. By the early 1960's the sisters had moved into Central Africa (Zambia) where they ran hospitals and schools. Then in 1965 their first mission in Brazil was opened for medical and catechetical work among the poor. The sisters had even set up an establishment in the USA in 1953 for promotion work and to foster vocations and, as a result, they later opened a novitiate there.

During this period new convents were founded and the Congregation was also involved in the formation of two indigenous Sisterhoods, one in Kenya and the other in the Cameroon. The first African, a native of Nigeria, joined the Congregation in 1953. This period also saw a huge increase in vocations and, as a result, a juniorate was opened at Castle Shanahan, Ireland. This juniorate remained open until 1968. New Formation Centres were also established in South Africa and Nigeria.

Years of Change 1966 - 1990's

Even though the congregation continued to expand, this period was marked by huge changes.

Firstly, the Second Vatican Council had brought about a whole new understanding of the Church and it's mission in the world. As a result, the sisters too had to discover a new vision of their role as missionaries in the context of the modern world. And the changes were to be seen in all aspects of their lives. The Generalate, the body that governs the order, moved from Killeshandra to Dublin. In convent life the day-today regulations were relaxed and the traditional long habits were replaced by more modern modes of dress.

Secondly, by 1967 civil war had broken out in Nigeria when the region of Biafra attempted to declare its independence from the Nigerian state. This war lasted until 1970. As a result of the war 23 convents were closed and 110 sisters had to leave the country.

Thirdly, throughout Europe and the USA these years saw the beginnings of a dramatic drop in vocations to the religious life. While the Holy Rosary Sisters did not escape this decline in vocations in Europe, it was more than balanced by a large rise in vocations in Africa.

In the meantime, the congregation continued to seek out new missions. In the mid 1970's they had moved into Ethiopia and Ghana, working in hospitals, in education and in social work. The first involvement of the sisters with refugee work began in 1982 in Sudan. This was followed with work for refugees in Uganda and, more recently, in Mozambique. Civil disturbance in Sierra Leone in 1994 meant that many of the sisters had to leave that country. This resulted in a new opening in the Republic of Guinea where the sisters work with refugees displaced from Sierra Leone. Their option for work among the poor saw the sisters moving to Mexico in 1992 and establishing two communities there.

Today, the congregation works in seventeen countries. There are about 70 communities with members from eleven different nationalities. African sisters now make up one quarter of the whole congregation. There are two formation centres, one in Kenya and another in Nigeria. For many years the sisters were mainly involved in educational and medical institutions, but now they help in every area of need. They care for orphans and they work among AIDS victims and drug addicts. In more recent times their work has expanded to include caring for refugees in war-torn areas. In cooperation with the local churches they collaborate in team ministry, promoting justice and helping to build a better world especially for the poor and for women.

The Closure of the Mother House in Killeshandra 1985

The Mother House, Killeshandra, prior to its closure in 1985

The dramatic decline in vocations had another major effect. With fewer sisters to accommodate, the congregation had to find some way of making positive use of the increasingly empty convent in Killeshandra. By 1976, it was decided that a part of the convent should be opened as a retreat and conference centre, and this venture succeeded for a number of years. But, as the numbers continued to decline, it became less and less feasible to maintain the this very large convent for a small number of sisters. By 1980 the hard decision was made. The convent in Killeshandra, the Mother house of the congregation, the 'House on the Hill', would have to close. In 1985, just over 60 years after the first members of the congregation have moved to Killeshandra, the sisters left it for the last time and moved to two new houses, one in Cavan town and another in Dublin. It was a sad day for the sisters, it was a sad day for the many local people who worked there and worshipped there, and it was a sad day for Killeshandra.

The new Holy Rosary Convent, Killeshandra House, Cavan