Subfondo 42 - Listowel Convent Papers

In 1844, Listowel witnessed the coming of the Presentation Sisters. At the invitation of Fr. Jeremiah (Darby) Mahony, four Sisters came from Miltown, County Kerry, to open a school in Listowel on 6 May 1844. The need for such a school for the Catholic poor of Listowel was obvious from the fact that on the opening day 300 pupils attended and shortly afterwards the enrolment increased to 500.

The Bishop, Dr Egan, accompanied the Sisters chosen from the Miltown community to make the foundation in Listowel. The four Sisters were Mother Mary Teresa Kelly, Mother Mary Xavier Brennan, Sister Mary Francis McCarthy and Sister Mary Augustine Stack who was a native of Listowel. This was Mother Teresa Kelly’s second foundation. This was the fifth Presentation Convent to be opened in Kerry. The first Mass was said in the Convent Parlour by Bishop Egan on 8 May.
The church of Mary Immaculate was built circa 1849. In an Ordnance Survey map showing 1851 parameters, the Church, the House and the School were three distinct buildings separate from each other.

Over the years, cohesive buildings were constructed, which made the Church, the Convent and the School into one unit. The Sacristy, on which the Bell cote was erected, was one of those buildings. The date on the bell was 1886. An eight-room National School was built in 1833. A magnificent statue of The Sacred Heart, in the middle of the front lawn, celebrates the Jubilee of the Convnet, 1884. In 1872, the convent had to be expanded due to increasing numbers.

The Convent in Listowel was dedicated to the Holy Cross. When the Sisters erected a large cross on the wall of their school, the Commissioners of Education ordered it to be taken down. However, the Sisters prevailed, the cross remained and they dedicated the Convent to the Holy Cross in honour of their victory. The first secondary school was in the upstairs part of St. Patrick’s primary school until the new secondary school was built circa 1942. Around the same time, refurbishment was started on the Convent Chapel, in preparation for celebrating the centenary of the convent in 1944. Fifty years later in 1994 a Parish celebration was held to celebrate the 150th anniversary.

A number of satellite services were set up, in the 1980s and 1990s, with the Convent acting as a base. In 1986, the Laundry for the Elderly was set up. At about the same time, Toirbheart, a separate community was set up, later this area became a residential area for visiting religious. The Family Centre, which started in 1991, did excellent work in adult education for women and the provision of child-minding and pre-school facilities.

With the coming of Boards of Management in both schools, lay people became much more involved and a new era dawned on those branches of education. The Department of Education had a big input into the running of all educational programmes.

The Presentation Convent has ceased to exist in Listowel. The Sisters still work in the area. After 163 years the convent closed in 2007. The remaining Sisters transferred to other convents.