BEGINNINGS
OF THE BRIGIDINE CONGREGATION
Daniel Delany was a Curate in Tullow during the episcopacy
of Dr. Keeffe, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin. At that time
the Bishop resided in Tullow. The Penal Laws when in operation
placed many impediments to the exercise of 'Divine Worship
on the Sabbath day', and so religion was in a depressed state
in the country. Fr. Delany felt that 'more sin was committed
on the Sunday than during the entire week, as it was spent
by the greater number of people at public dances, card playing,
cock fighting and drinking'.
 As a Curate, Dr. Delany tried every method he could devise
to prevent this abuse, but found them ineffectual. He then
decided to turn his attention to the youth of the parish and
introduced Sunday School in the Chapel in Tullow about 1777,
for the purpose of teaching children their Catechism. He began
by forming a choir and as they collected to sing hymns he
appointed some pious ladies to teach them their prayers and
catechism. As the numbers increased many of these same children
began to withdraw from public amusements and in a short time
the numbers had so increased that there was not a sufficient
number of teachers.
When Daniel Delany became a Bishop in 1783, he established
the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament in Tullow parish
in 1785. The members, in time, began to teach the catechism.
After some time he formed reading schools and by degrees adults
joined these Sunday Schools, so that Sundays were spent in
pious practices and numbers taking part in various 'amusements'
decreased. He also deplored the state of his native parish
of Mountrath and hearing complaints from successive Curates
appointed there that they could get no good of the people,
he prayed for direction as to his future action. Eventually
he sent six 'pious young women' to Mountrath where they remained
nine months. During this time the Sunday Schools were established
and 'good morals went on improving there'.
Realising
the difficulty of keeping the schools supplied with teachers,
he hoped to persuade the Presentation Sisters to come to his
assistance, but wishing also to 'provide Religious Education
for the more respectable classes ... he had long desired to
establish schools where all the children, rich and poor of
the parish could be taught'.
Reflecting on this dilemma he 'became disposed' to found
a new religious Order himself for those combined objects,
or rather to begin to carry on and finish (this work) should
it be so ordained'. He was also convinced that founding a
Convent would be the only way by which he could finally leave
with the parish a constant and lasting succession of teachers.
With much prayer and after overcoming many difficulties, he
was determined to found them in the two parishes and begin
wherever he could get a situation, but since the Sunday Schools
took place in the Chapel he wished to have Convents convenient
to them.
He ran into difficulties, however, in this endeavour, as
the lands in both Tullow and Mountrath were owned by landlords
who were adverse to giving leases for ever or for the purposes
of 'erecting a Catholic Chapel'. Because of this the first
Chapel in Mountrath stood on a sand bank. As always in a crisis
situation Dr. Delany exposed the Blessed Sacrament for adoration
in Tullow for the intention of solving the problem. Fortuitously,
Mr Hawkswork, an agent of Lord Castlecoote, and his very charitable
wife gave Dr. Delany a plot of ground and through Hawkswork's
influence secured the lease for ever. The Chapel of Mountrath
was commenced in 1795, but because of the 1798 Insurrection
he gave up the intention of founding the Convents for sometime.
Shortly after the Rebellion, Dr. Delany's faith was evident
again when he took in Tullow the present Chapel ground without
a lease and erected the Chapel and also a small house which
is now part of the Convent. He later acquired a field adjoining
this house which contains the rest of the Convent and also
obtained a row of houses in Mountrath which joined the Chapel
ground. (These he got in perpetuity). Relying on God alone,
he decided on commencing a foundation in Tullow, although
he had only obtained a promise of a lease there.
The temple
and Oak tree in Tullow Convent grounds where Daniel Delany
held processions in honour of the Blessed Sacrament.
The Annals tell us that 'he determined to put the new Institute
under the special protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother
of God and the glorious Saint Brigid, Patroness of Ireland
and Titular of the Diocese' . When he later spoke of this
he said that he was induced to take St. Brigid also as patroness
as he was raised and employed by Almighty God to fill 'this
kingdom, hereafter, with Religious Virgins and she herself
formed an infinite number to Christian Perfection.'
In a dramatic move for the time, he decided that the Nuns
would not have their private Chaplain, since the Sisters would
'be obliged by their Institute to mingle with the people for
their instruction in the parish Chapel on Sundays and Holidays,
he thought it better that they should hear the same Mass,
which the people attended 'as they would benefit the people
more by being accommodating themselves to the people's time
and the same proved true for daily Mass, so that the people
for whom the Sisters laboured on Sundays and Holidays might
have the benefit of daily Mass with the Religious.
When it came to choosing those girls who would form the nucleus
of the Brigidine Congregation he looked to those who had shown
a deep desire of 'attaining perfection' and who had already
been practising an austere lifestyle. He intended to have
fifteen Sisters in each of the houses of the Institute. In
this he was following in the example of Teresa of Avila .
She wished to have twelve in honour of the Apostles and the
thirteenth in honour of the Divine Redeemer. Dr. Delany added
two more in honour of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph.
For a beginning he selected six from among his pious parishioners.
They had been under his direction and had made vows of perpetual
chastity many years before. These were Eleanor Tallon, Eleanor
Dawson, Catherine Doyle, Bridget Brien, Judith Whelan and
Margaret Kinsella. Thus on the 'feast of St. Brigid, the first
of February in 1807, this Congregation was founded under the
title of St. Brigid.
Within three years the Bishop had introduced extra teaching
hours to give an opportunity to the married women and others
who wished to attend the Sisters' Schools, but who could not
be allowed do so on account of their numbers.
In Mountrath the Sisters schedule was adapted to the needs
of the children in their care and they continued to do so
ever since'. By 1812 he was prepared to continue the primary
education to a more advanced stage. He wished the Sisters
to charge the rich according to the branches they learned
and the poor at the rate they would be charged in the schools
in the neighbourhood. Thus began a tradition that continued
up to the Second Vatican Council.
Sr Mary Dalton CSB (Tullow)
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