Dungarvan foundation was made from Cappoquin on November 21st 1854 and both houses remained under the same superior until Dungarvan became autonomous in 1866. The Sisters who came from Cappoquin were; Sister Aloysius O’Connor, Josephine Purcell, Gertrude Holohan accompanied by Mother Vincent Fanning, Superior. They came at the request of the Bishop, Dr. Foran and Mr. and Mrs. Carbery, whose only daughter had died a few months earlier. Before she died, she made her parents promise to bring the Sisters of Mercy to Dungarvan because of a dream she had. When the Sisters arrived in Dungarvan, the Carbery’s had provided three houses for them on South Terrace, rent free, to serve as a temporary residence. Their poverty was extreme, but poverty and sickness were rampant in the whole area as a result of the Famine. The Sisters began at once, the visitation of the sick and gathered non-school-going children for instruction in a room quite adequate for the number.
On August 16th 1859 the Sisters moved from their abode in South Terrace to a building in Church St., recently vacated by the Presentation Sisters and purchased for them by Mr. and Mrs. Carbery. Many repairs were needed in the building. They set up a school at once. The visitation of the sick and instruction of adults were also undertaken without delay. The Sisters were allowed into the school belonging to the Workhouse / County Home Dungarvan to give religious instruction for one hour per day in 1862. St. Vincent’s Hospital was built in1863.
The townspeople asked the Sisters to start a Benefit school (present day secondary school). This they did in 1864. So great was the attendance that it became necessary to build. A piece of land near the Convent was acquired and a school was built, costing £466.8.6. to build and furnish. As time went on, this school had to be enlarged. The Sisters suffered much during this time, but their courage never waned.
The convent was enlarged in 1868, by the addition of a wing running at right angles to the main building, and containing refectory, kitchen, community room and novitiate with several cells. In 1871, a dwelling house, purchased by the community some years previously, was knocked down and the chapel enlarged. This arrangement left an additional room underneath for the poor school.
The Sisters began as teachers but from 1872 they worked as nurses. Accommodation was provided for them within the Workhouse. In 1873, the community, at the request of the Dungarvan Union, took charge of the Workhouse Hospital. In 1887, an additional sister was appointed a Fever Hospital Nurse, and in 1889, the Matronship was taken up by another sister, at the direct request of the Guardians.
There’s a plaque in the Community which reads:
“In appreciation of the Mercy Sisters
for years of Service in
St. Joseph’ and St Vincent’s Hospital
1875-2001”
The number of pupils in the schools increasing still further, a large and bright infant school room was erected in 1879 on an adjacent piece of ground, bought by the Sisters. The infant school, together with the girls’ school was connected to the National Board in 1881.
In 1886, a work room was opened under the auspices of the Dungarvan Industrial Association , in order to afford renumerative employment to the young women of the town. Several branches of work were carried on in it, such as plain dressmaking, embroidery, shirt making, hand and machine knitting, also the making of vestments and other Church requisites.
In 1887, Most Rev. Dr. Hutchinson, OSA of Queensland, Australia, asked the Superior of the convent in Dungarvan, to send a band of Sisters to Australia. The whole community volunteered, but five were chosen. Mother De Sales Meagher, Superior, Mother Josephine Jones, Srs. Joseph McGrath, Evangelist Morrisey, and Rodriguez Sheehy, set sail for Australia on April 21st 1888 and on their arrival at Cookstown found a spacious and substantially –built convent ready for their reception. Of the five pioneers, three sisters died while still young. Sr. De Sales died at the age of 47 in March 1897. Sr. Josephine died in 1906 aged 50, and Sr. Joseph also died in 1906 aged 55.
In the year 1900, a kind benefactress, Mrs. Whelan, Whitehaven, England, mother of two members of the community, donated a building which was used as a House of Mercy, A work in which the Sisters had long wished to be engaged.
The Sisters were now involved in all the works of the Institute. The Benefit School, Good Counsel School, was recognised in 1926, when the new Secondary School was established. In 1946, the House of Mercy was converted to a Boarding School for girls of the surrounding area, wishing to avail of Secondary School facilities. In the course of time, due to increased numbers, the foundation stone for a new secondary school was laid on a site known as ‘the Field’, at the Buttery, now known as Emmet St. On the feast of our Lady of Mercy 1953, Coláiste Muire was officially opened.
The National School building also became inadequate and so the Sisters gave their site in their Convent garden, in Trust to the Department, on which to build a new school. The Sisters and the parishioners provided their share of the funds required for the building which was officially opened on October 3rd 1965. Between 1965 and 1976, additional accommodation for the boarding school, and facilities for games, were acquired at No. 2 Church Street and Augustinian grounds at Friary Street.
In 1969, another Augustinian Bishop, Dr. Dalton, issued an invitation to the then Superior, Sr. M Rosario McNamara, to help him in North East Nigeria. The response was again forthcoming as in 1887, for Australia. In October 1969, three Sisters from Dungarvan, set out for Yola
Going back to Dungarvan, the first sod of the new modern extension to Colaiste Muire, was turned on October 15th 1977. The overall cost was £690,000, approx., grant aided by the Department and leaving a contribution of approx £160,000, to be raised locally. This was a worthwhile task, for Colaiste Muire became a thriving school. In the spring of 1990, after long negotiations re rationalisation of schools in Dungarvan, it was agreed to amalgamate the Mercy and Presentation Primary Schools on the Presentation school site. The Presentation Sisters continue to be the trustees of this school with a Mercy sister as one of their nominees to the Board of Management. A similar agreement was reached in regard to the two Secondary Schools, they amalgamated into one school on the Coláiste Muire site. The new amalgamated school became Ard Scoil na nDéise. A Religious principal was appointed to each school. In 1993, a lay principal was appointed to Ard Scoil na Déise.
When the Convents of the diocese entered into Diocesan Union in July 1985, the first Mother General was elected from the Dungarvan community.
Sisters moved into a newly built convent (on the site of the old House of Mercy 15 January 1999. Auction of furniture of old convent took place15 February 1999
Southern Province 