Sr Brigid Devin dedicated her life to blind of Paris

Born on West Street, she once sought refuge on Cord Road

I have to say well done to the crew in the Drogheda Men’s Sheds on their wonderful work in advance of the Fleadh.

They have produced a giant harp and a superb bodhran which took pride of place at the launch of the event.

What next from these guys? IT remains as stunning as ever.

It’s been a few years now since the nuns departed the Sienna Convent (pictured) on the Chord Road, but the majesty that they brought to the place remains serene, especially on a warm May morning.

It was a visitor to town who recently remarked to me on the incredible sight that greeted them on seeing the old convent, now a home to many from Ireland and around the world.

Indeed, I wondered about some of the names I’ve come across who were deeply associated with the Sienna in times past.

Mother Mary Cecilia Conway was one. Born in Limerick in the 1800s, Mother Mary passed away almost 100 years ago, in 1919.

She was part of life in Drogheda for 51 years and was known as a gifted painter and the convent was bedecked with much of her work in times past. I wonder do any of her works remain?

So many were associated with the place. Frank Marry lived on King Street, Drogheda, and was steward with the nuns for many years.

He was the oldest member of the Drogheda Confraternity of the Holy Family, his membership medal being dated 1870, and he held an unbroken record for attendance at the monthly meetings.

He was buried in Donore in June of 1927 and was survived by his son, Joseph.

Also, it was to here in the 1870s that Drogheda’s ‘ most famous nun’ came as a refugee - having been forced to flee her life in Paris.

That sister was Brigid Devin. Around 1864, Brigid left her native Drogheda and sailed for France, where she joined the religious Order of the Blind Sisters of St. Paul. In Paris, the young Brigid took the name Mother Patrick.

Brigid, when a young girl in West Street (in the premises later occupied by Watsons, the vintners) bargained with God and pledged her life to the care of the blind if He would save her brother’s sight.

She was born in 1840, in the shop that bore her father’s name, Devin.

Brigid was the second child in a family of eight, and her parents were deeply religious people. She went to school in the local Presentation Convent. It was at the age of 17 that the turning point came in her life. Exploring in the outhouses, the younger members of the family discovered an old keg of powder, but efforts to make an explosion failed. The youthful experts decided that the powder was damp, and Jimmy, the youngest, took a tinful of it to the fire to dry. The inevitable happened and Jimmy’s eyes were injured by the flash The doctor feared the loss of eyesight, and, as Brigid helped to nurse him in his darkness, she made the bargain:

“Cure my brothers eyes and I shall forever try to help the blind myself.” Faith must have brought a miracle, for Jimmy was cured.

The sincerity of her bargain was proved a few years later, when, in the company of another girl from the district, Margaret Pentony, she sailed for Paris and the care of the blind of that great city.

The Blind Sisters of St. Paul had their convent in No. 114 Hell Street, and this was to be Brigid’s home for the remaining 48 years of her life.

Strictly speaking, this was not a proper convent, but an enterprise, undertaken by a private individual. Anne Bergunion, who was born in 1804, had made, two efforts to become a nun. and when she failed, she decided, in middle life, to form a community of her own.

Her plan began as a free school for blind children and a refuge for abandoned blind girls. It was only ten years founded when Brigid arrived in 1863.

She had to learn French and wore a dress and bonnet. Their gowns of white muslin did not cover their boots, and the whole outfit was held together with safety pins.

In 1870 she was made a Counsellor, and put in care of the Novitiate. It was in this same year that war came to France and Paris was captured.

It was decided that the nuns should disperse to their own homes, and the Irish nuns hurried across the Channel. To Mother Patrick was entrusted the sacred vessels and other valuables.

Back in Drogheda, Brigid used wear her religious dress in her home, but when going out to Church had to change into secular clothes, since nuns and priests were forbidden by law to appear as such in public.

She found life hard and after some time she decided to beg the hospitality of the Dominican Sisters in the Sienna Convent. The local nuns were pleased to} help the refugee and, later, when news from the Continent became worse, and Communists took control of Paris for a time. Sister Patrick was made a tempting offer.

The Prioress proposed that Brigid Devin should stay with them, becoming a Dominican in her own town. But Brigid, though deeply moved by the offer, would not forsake her blind Sisters in Paris, and remained the one conspicuous ‘ black spot’ amidst the white Dominicans. When Paris finally returned to peace, ten months later, Brigid Devin went back to continue her work in France. And she did not return empty handed. The people of Drogheda had given her a substantial sum of money to help her in her endeavours. She also brought back with her a new recruit for. the Convent.

At a Chapter Election in August of 1887, Brigid Devin was elected Mother General of the Order, re-elected twice after that.

When by a law of December 9th, 1905, all church goods were ordered to be sequestered by ‘Cultural Organisations,’ Mother Patrick braved the storm, in this, the beginning of her fourth reign of office as Mother General.

What she did and how she saved her way of life was once recorded in a book by a Canon of Notre Dame and called ‘Mother Patrick of Paris’.

Brigid Devin died in 1911, a great and noble leader. hailed as