FOUNDATION IN BLARNEY 1882 from Mallow
A letter to the Rev. Mother in Mallow from Bishop McCarthy dated 12 October 1882 introduced the subject of a prospective foundation in Blarney. Bishop McCarthy explained that the O’Mahony family of Blarney Woollen Mills wished to establish a community of Sisters in the area. On 21 November 1882 four Sisters left Mallow for Blarney where a “pretty cottage” had been prepared for them and a “Small Infants’ School” had already been built. The four Sisters were Sister Mary Dominic O’Hea, Sister Mary Berchmans O’Connell, Sr. Mary Liguori Butler, with a novice, Sister Mary Gabriel Wrenne,
Immediately work began in the school and evening classes for factory girls were planned as well as “a class for Instruction on Religion” at an arranged time on Sunday.
Trocaire, Castleowen, Blarney
On the 24th August, 1990 three Sisters of Mercy returned to Blarney to minister after an absence of nearly one hundred years. An earlier foundation from Mallow was short-lived due to different expectations of the sisters and the benefactors who invited them there.
The core purpose of this group of Sisters was to be a Pre-Novitiate formation community in response to the Cloyne Diocesan Mercy Pastoral Plan formulated with the help of Fr. Cassian Yuhaus CP and instigated by Sr. Nora Murphy RIP (Gonzaga), the then Superior General of the diocese. By 1990 Nora was no longer the Superior General but was one of a group of volunteers chosen for this new initiative. The new community settled in to 6 Castleowen, one of sixty four houses in a local estate. Between 1990 and 1995, before Provinces were formed, a number of young women lived with the community and were involved in the parish and in Cork City. There was no previous association with traditional ministries – no school or hospital. New ploughs had to be furrowed and it became a different insertion into parish community. All three Sisters became involved with the parish in different ways through choirs, the setting up of Meals on Wheels, the founding of a now thriving ICA group, Síol retreats, the GIFT programme for young people, bereavement groups, parenting groups, Victim Support, Liturgical Reflection, Taizé prayer experiences and ecumenical involvement with the Womens World Day of prayer. Latterly, the Circle of Mercy was begun in 2007. This group of ten members has been meeting faithfully for the past four years and has built up a strong relationship of trust, support and community.
Sr. Nora Murphy died in 2011.Two Sisters still live in Trocaire, Castleowen, Blarney.
Southern Province 