Having recently learned that my Great-Great Irish aunt was a nun who sailed to a mission in Chile at the age of 29, I’m a little upset that more of her selflessness didn’t make its way directly down the bloodline to me.
This is the convent in Lancashire where Agnes received her habit.
I’ve been entrusted with editing my Irish family history on my mother’s side, dating back to my Great-Great Grandfather James Kerr – a farmer and blacksmith from Ballylough townland, Ireland, born in 1816.
Here is the story of his descendant, Agnes Kerr, born in Belfast:
“She joined the novitiate of the Cross and Passion sisters as Sister M. Josephine of the Child Jesus probably in January 1915, and received the habit at Mount St. Joseph Convent, Deane, Bolton, Lancashire in August 1915 at the age of 29. Sr. M. Josephine was very keen to go on the missions and was given permission to do so though she had not yet made her vows – possibly due to illness. With five other sisters she sailed on the Orita on February 28, 1918 from Liverpool for Chile where the Cross and Passion Sisters had established a mission in 1912. They had not been able to obtain passports until 1917, due to the war at sea in World War I. After about seven weeks, many adventures and a great deal of seasickness, they arrived in Valparaiso on April 20, 1918 to a great welcome. On board they had been known as ‘the six saintly seasick sisters’.
Sr. M. Josephine took charge of the English classes in the new school. However, she was delicate and soon became very ill with serious heart and lung problems – too ill to return to England. On January 9, 1919 she professed her vows conditionally and arrived in a hospital in Molina about 232 km (about 145 miles) from Valparaiso, and died there on March 4th. She was buried the next day. Mother Hubert wrote many letters to her mother in Ireland and to her brother, who was at that time living in the United States [we have a Great-Great Uncle Alph]. The Cross and Passion annalist wrote, ‘Sr. M. Josephine is remembered with love and respect by all the sisters who knew her. May she rest in peace’. While her life in religion was short, she did get her wish to make her vows and go on the missions.”
Agnes’s conviction is beyond admirable. To travel seven weeks on a boat from Liverpool to Chile, and then to survive the voyage for less than a year, is sadly beautiful.
*The cover image for this post is the Orita, the ship Agnes sailed on.
Just To Clareify 