Convent of Mercy and Chapel 1895

Looking Southeast from the burial grounds. | fullsize
One of the earliest photographs of the Convent Chapel dating to 1895.
[Photo from Mr Curlyhill]

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Convent Founders:

• John Carlin, James Kennedy, Francis O Neill
• Mother Catherine Atkinson (Sisters of Mercy, Navan),
  The Very Rev. Dr. Devlin, P.P

The Convent of Mercy opened June 9th 1868. Constructed initially as an orphanage and centre for the education of neglected and abandoned girls; later the convent included a boarding school for girls that had had a more conventional family upbringing.

Timeline: Convent of Mercy 1868-2009
click on each event for additional information.

1868	Jun	9	Convent opens.
1869	Nov	30	St Catherine's Industrial School certified.
1870			Orphanage opens.
1876	May	10	Epidemic kills child and nun.
1881	Oct	16	Convent Chapel Consecration
1897			Strabane nuns at the Siege of Mafeking
1900	Sep	24	Queen Victoria thanks Mother Teresa & Sister Evangelist
1911			Public laundry opens
1928			Grammar and Preparatory schools open
1928			Public laundry closes

1951			Orphanage closes
1960	Feb	6	Girls Voluntary Intermediate School opens
1968			Grammar school moves to Curly Hill
1990			St Anne's Primary School opens
2007			Convent Grammar Closes
2009	Aug		Convent Grammar School is demolish

Download full timeline: Convent_Timeline.csv


Convent Chapel interior and altar as it looked when the building opened 1881. The marble high altar was donated by Mrs Mary Browne, and was executed by the architect and sculptor William Patrick O'Neill.The foundation stone of the chapel was laid on the feast day of Sacred Heart, 1879. The architects were John O'Neill and William Henry Byrne.
[Photo from Mr Curlyhill]

[more information on Dictionary of Irish Architects:]


Video: Choir at the annual Thanksgiving Mass June 8 1994
The mass commemorated the Convent foundation June 9 1868.
This was the last mass at the Convent before its closure.


World History 1899-1900:

• Siege Of Mafeking: Soldiers and civilians wounded at Mafeking are nursed by nuns of Strabane Convent.
• 1900 - 24 Sept: Mother Teresa and Sister Evangelist are invited to Windsor Castle. The Queen, accompanied by Princess Beatrice [Princess Henry of Battenberg], thank the nuns for their efforts at Mafeking.
• Newspaper Article:
  New Zealand Tablet, 24 January 1901 Page 4
  Mafeking Nuns At Windsor. 

• Website:
  Sisters of Mercy: South Africa - Our Story

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