Sister Aloysius Doyle or Catherine Doyle RRC (1820 – 3 October 1908) was an Irish Sisters of Mercy nun and

Crimean war The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

nurse.

Biography

Sister Aloysius Doyle was born Catherine Doyle in 1820 near

Old Kilcullen ''Old Kilcullen'', formerly ''Kilcullen'' (''Cill Chuilinn'', "the Church of the Holly" in Irish), is a townland in County Kildare, Ireland, which includes a noted religious archaeological site within its boundary. As a townland it is rel ...

, County Kildare. She was one of the seven children of John and Mary Doyle. She had 3 sisters and three brothers. Nothing is known of her education or early life. Doyle entered St Leo's Convent of Mercy,

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2016 census, it had a combined urban and rural population of 24,272. The River Barrow flows through the town and forms the historic bounda ...

on 30 April 1849, where she taught at the adjoining

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

for 5 years. She also attended to the local poor and sick of the town. She professed in December 1851, taking the name Aloysius. Her sister also joined the Sisters of Mercy a decade later, at the Gort convent. Doyle was one of a number of Sisters of Mercy nuns who volunteered at the outbreak of the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

to serve as nurses at the front. The group arrived in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

on 17 December 1854, with Doyle later being sent to the general hospital at Scutari, working alongside her fellow nuns such as

Mary Clare Moore Mother Mary Clare Moore (20 March 1814 – 13 December 1874) was an Irish Sister of Mercy, a Crimean War nurse and a teacher. She was one of the ten original members of the Sisters of Mercy, and was the founding sister superior of the order's fir ...

and

Mary Francis Bridgeman Mother Mary Francis Bridgeman R.S.M. (1813 – 11 February 1888) was a nun with the Sisters of Mercy, a Roman Catholic religious congregation of women, founded in Ireland by Catherine McAuley and a pioneer nurse during the Crimean War of 18 ...

. In Scutari she treated soldiers suffering from

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...

, as well as

gangrene Gangrene is a type of tissue death caused by a lack of blood supply. Symptoms may include a change in skin color to red or black, numbness, swelling, pain, skin breakdown, and coolness. The feet and hands are most commonly affected. If the ga ...

and

frostbite Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in the han ...

. She later recalled that "Their moans would pierce the heart." From October 1855 to April 1856 she served at the general hospital in Balaklava. Doyle and her fellow nuns were the subject of intense scrutiny and despite their denials, the war office warned them not to proselytise. Having returned to Ireland, Doyle was chosen as the superioress of a new foundation in Gort, County Galway in 1857. There she managed a national school, and from 1872, a workhouse hospital. She established an industrial department which taught skills such as dressmaking and weaving. She went on to oversee Mercy foundation in Ennistymon in 1871 and

Kinvara Kinvara or Kinvarra () is a sea port village in the southwest of County Galway, Ireland. It is located in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Kinvarradoorus in the north of the Barony (Ireland), barony of Kiltartan. Kinvarra is also ...

in 1878. She retired from her position as superioress at Kinvara in 1885, but continued to live there. During Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee, Doyle was awarded the

Royal Red Cross The Royal Red Cross (RRC) is a military decoration awarded in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth for exceptional services in military nursing. Foundation The award was established on 27 April 1883 by Victoria of the Un ...

in 1897 as the only surviving Irish war-nurse. She published a memoir of her experiences, ''Memories of the Crimea''. When asked to recall her memories of

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

, she said she didn't like her and found her "too bossy" but "that she was a great woman for getting things done". She died 3 October 1908.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doyle, Aloysius People from Kilcullen 1820 births 1908 deaths 19th-century Irish nuns Sisters of Mercy Members of the Royal Red Cross