46 nuns exhumed in cloud of secrecy
We were kept in dark, says relative while order insists it tried to contact all the families
A RELIGIOUS congregation which exhumed the bodies of 46 nuns and reinterred them ‘under a cloud of secrecy’ is facing calls to exhume one body for a second time.
An undertaker in Maynooth, Co. Kildare, removed the remains on behalf of the Presentation Sisters from the convent cemetery to the town’s Laraghbryan graveyard, a couple of miles away, where they were reinterred in a public grave.
But some relatives of the deceased nuns claim they were not contacted by the
‘I am puzzled why this was done so hush hush’
order, who they feel should have sought their permission prior to exhumation.
In a statement, the order said it had contacted those for whom it had details, and insisted the decision was ‘not taken lightly, and was for very valid reasons’.
Pensioner Carmel McKiernan, 68, from Rathcoole in Dublin, is a niece of Sister Carmel Healy, who died in 1961.
Ms McKiernan told the Irish Mail on Sunday she was not consulted about the plan and wants Sr Carmel’s remains to be buried in their family plot in Ballycumber, Co. Offaly.
‘I am disputing the order’s assertion that all attempts possible were made to contact the relatives of the dead,’ she said. ‘As back in 1997 when there was first talk about an exhumation, I spoke to the order and I was assured that there would be nothing like that happening. I left contact details in case anything ever changed in that regard.’
Ms McKiernan said members of her family live locally and could easily have been contacted but they only found out about the removals by accident.
‘I am puzzled by why this was all done so hush hush,’ she said.
‘I will fight for what is right,’ she said. ‘I want the body exhumed and DNA tested, so we can finally bring her home where she should be.’
The exhumations were first mooted 21 years ago when Maynooth historian Hilda Dunne successfully fought to have them stopped, as her aunt Sr Philomena was buried there.
Ms Dunne died in January and her daughter Mary is angry at what has happened.
‘I feel there should have been some sort of service conducted with the relatives present, perhaps a Mass would have been appropriate,’ she said. ‘At the end of the day, you are dealing with people’s remains and they should have been treated with proper dignity.’
An order spokeswoman said they met with Hilda and another of her daughters, Louise, last year and claimed they ‘understood our difficulties of lack of access to the cemetery and was agreeable to the necessity of the exhumation’.
Others were hopeful a garden of remembrance could be established on the site, which may yet be sold for development purposes.
The spokeswoman added the main reason for the exhumation was the lack of access to the convent cemetery.
‘It is now gated as there are apartments built around it and for security reasons, the entrance codes on the gates are changed regularly,’ she said. ‘On that basis, as the same problem would exist, a Garden Of Remembrance would not be suitable.
‘The remains were all separately identified and placed in bags. In addition, each cross bearing the name of the individual Sisters was buried with the remains.
‘An official licence was obtained from Kildare County Council which is on their records, and the cemetery committee was informed about the exhumation beforehand.
‘The whole process took seven days and every relative for whom we had a contact was contacted and all were agreeable.
‘Since the majority of the community would not have been able to be present in the cemetery, a beautiful prayer ritual was held in the convent in Castlebridge, Maynooth.
‘When the headstone bearing all the names is erected, there will be a prayer service in Laraghbryan Cemetery to which all relatives will be invited. The local parish priest has also been asked to bless the new graves.
‘In terms of what we propose to do with the land, no decision has yet been taken and nothing has been ruled in or out.’
The Order said it had hoped to carry out the exhumation last year, but this was delayed due to difficulties in obtaining death certificates for all the nuns.
Maynooth parish priest Fr Martin McDermott confirmed he has blessed the new graves and said Mass for them last Sunday.
‘There will be a prayer service for all relatives’