Brigidine Sisters
The Brigidine Sisters (also known as the Brigidine Order, or simply the Brigidines) are a global Roman Catholic congregation, founded by Bishop Daniel Delany in Ireland on February 1, 1807. There were six founding members of the religious institute, all of whom were originally catechists: Eleanor Tallon, Margaret Kinsella, Eleanor Dawson, Judith Whelan, Bridget Brien and Catherine Doyle.
Contents
History
An earlier congregation linked to Saint Brigid had been founded in the fifth century AD, and had lasted until the Reformation; Bishop Delany considered the establishment of this new congregation to be merely a refounding of the original one. In order to demonstrate this continuity, he brought an oak sapling with him from Kildare and planted it in the grounds of the new convent in Tullow, Co. Carlow.
In 1809, he sent three of the sisters from Tullow to Mountrath in Co. Laois, where they founded a convent and school which survives to this day. In 1842, another house was established in Abbeyleix, also in Co. Laois. Then, in 1858 a layman in Goresbridge offered to help finance a foundation in his parish. The Paulstown and Ballyroan foundations soon followed.
In 1883, in answer to a request from a bishop in New South Wales, six sisters from Mountrath went to Australia. They founded their first establishment in Coonamble, New South Wales. From there branches quickly spread to the dioceses of Sydney, Bathurst, Canberra-Goulburn, Perth and Brisbane as well as to the Archdiocese of Wellington, New Zealand, in 1898.
The Sisters returned to the British Isles and founded the first two convents in the UK: St Brigid's School (1939) in Denbigh, Wales and Brigidine Convent (1948) in Windsor, England.
The archive of the Brigidine Sisters is stored in the The Delany Archive in Carlow College.
Mission and Ethos
The Brigidine motto is Fortiter et Suaviter, which is Latin for "Strength and Gentleness". Its mission is the education and evangelisation of youth.
Schools
Australia
- New South Wales
- Queensland
- South Australia
- Victoria
- Clonard College
- Kilbreda College
- Killester College
- Marian College, Ararat
- Marian College, Sunshine West
- St. Joseph's College, Echuca
- St. Augustine's College, Kyabram
- Western Australia
- Brigidine College, Floreat (absorbed by Newman College)
New Zealand
- St Bride's College for Girls (merged to become Chanel College, Masterton)
United Kingdom
External links
- The Brigidine Sisters: Our beginnings - Australian Website
- Delaney Archive - Brigidine Sisters Archive
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- Articles incorporating a citation from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia with Wikisource reference
- Brigidine Sisters
- Roman Catholic teaching orders
- Roman Catholic female orders and societies
- Religious organizations established in 1807
- Roman Catholic religious institutes established in the 19th century
- 1807 establishments in Ireland