In 1902 Fr Aloysius Smith of the Canons Regular of the Latern, Prior of St Mary’s Priory and parish priest of Bodmin, Cornwall, requested the Sisters of Mercy in Skibbereen, Co. Cork to establish a convent and school in Bodmin. Four Sisters were chosen for the foundation, Sr. Josephine Broderick, Srs. M. Benignus and Bernard McCarthie and Sr. M. Catherine Walshe. They arrived in Bodmin on the14th April 1902.
A small school had already been built in Bodmin when the Sisters arrived in 1902, due to the generosity of a local spinster, Miss Ellis. She continued to endow Bodmin, by building a convent and giving the Sisters an income of £100 per annum. Father McCarthie, brother of Srs. Bernard and Benignus McCarthie offered the first Mass in the chapel. On the 12th July 1913 Sr. M. Brigid Kelly joined them. There is mention also of Sr. Anthony O’Regan, a novice, but no dates are given as to her arrival.
In 1903 the Sisters made their first foundation to Falmouth, where they worked until 1916.
During the First World War, on the encouragement of the Prior of the Canons, the Sisters started an orphanage for refugees from London and on 25th March 1918 they took in their first three boys. Over time, improvements were made to both the convent and orphanage where now 60 boys were housed. The Westminster Crusade of Rescue also approached the Sisters to help them and premises were adapted to allow two family groups to live there too. The work of the orphanage continued until 1971 when the building was sold to be adapted once more, this time to cater for severely handicapped children.
A convent was founded in Poole on the 29th September 1923 by Sisters Mary Anthony O’Regan, Mary Kyran Galvin and Mary Alacoque Linehan, Sr Mary Anthony O’Regan was one of the novices who had come from Skibbereen. She was to become the Superior in Poole in 1948.
The Sisters of Mercy of the Archdiocese of Birmingham amalgamated in February 1932 and as Plymouth then formed part of the Archdiocese, the Bodmin and Poole Communities joined with them. Sr. M. Brigid Kelly was the first Novice Mistress of the Birmingham amalgamation.
In 1987 the Sisters in Bodmin regained possession of the building which had been an orphanage and a home for handicapped children and in 1988 began a new ministry in providing respite for HIV/AIDS patients and their families. Thus Bethany was born at the convent on World Aids Day, 1st December 1990 and the Sisters continued to minister there until 2001. (Princess Diana visited in 1993 to pay tribute to this work by the Sisters of Mercy).
The convent closed on 3rd/4th September 2001 after reduced and aging membership forced the Sisters of Mercy to re-assess their presence in many areas. The property has been sold and is developed for housing.
Of the founding Sisters three died within eleven years of their coming to Bodmin. Sr.M.Benignus McCarthie died in June 1909 in Falmouth where she is buried. She was 60 years old. Her sister, Sr. M. Bernard McCarthie, died in November 1913 in Bodmin and is buried in the cemetery of the Canons Regular of the Latern. She was 61 years old. Sr. M. Josephine Broderick died in April 1913 in Falmouth and is buried there. She was 61 years old. Sr. Brigid Kelly lived to be 78 years old. She died in 1953 in Bodmin and is buried there.
Sources:
Tree of Mercy, Sisters of Mercy of Great Britain from 1839.Pub.1993
Information from Jenny Smith, Archivist Union of the Sisters of Mercy GB
www.facebook.com./ The Convent Cornwall
Southern Province 