Anna Gaynor or Mother Mary John (17 March 1826 – 5 March 1899) was an Irish Religious Sister of Charity and first superior of

Our Lady's Hospice Our Lady's Hospice & Care Services is a hospice and health care provider with two locations: one at Harold's Cross, Dublin and a satellite facility at Blackrock, County Dublin in Ireland. It provides specialist care for people with a range of n ...

, Harold's Cross, Dublin.

Early life and family

Anna Gaynor was born in

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midlands Region with a population of ...

on 17 March 1826. Her parents were John and Anne Gaynor of Roxborough,

County Roscommon "Steadfast Irish heart" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Roscommon.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Connacht , subdi ...

. She had four sisters and one brother. One sister,

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, was a famous writer, and wrote a biography of the founder of the Religious Sisters of Charity, Mary Aikenhead. The family moved in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

when Gaynor was 12 years old, and she completed her education in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Returning to Dublin she took part in the social life of Dublin with a circle of cultured and literary friends. Gaynor followed her parents' example, visiting and caring for the poor. As a teenager she felt the call to enter into a religious life, but she was reluctant to leave her family and friends. In November 1854 she became a novice in the Religious Sisters of Charity convent in

Harold's Cross Harold's Cross () is an affluent urban village and inner suburb on the south side of Dublin, Ireland in the postal district D6W. The River Poddle runs through it, though largely in an underground culvert, and it holds a major cemetery, Mou ...

, professing in May 1857 as Sister Mary John. Her sister, Marcella, also joined this order.

Career

Gaynor's first assignment was to St Vincent's Hospital, working as the secretary to the sister superior and as guest mistress to all visitors to the hospital. She remained in this post for 19 years. When the superior of the hospital, Mother Scholastica Margison, left to become head superior in Harold's Cross in 1876, Gaynor moved with her as her secretary. In 1878 she was given the task of helping her sister Sarah to gather information on Mother Mary Aikenhead for the biography Sarah was writing. It was published in 1879 and was well received. In September 1879, the noviciate, along with the head superior was moved from Harold's Cross to Milltown. The vacant building at Harold's Cross was to become a hospice for the dying, with Gaynor appointed to oversee its establishment. Some of the first patients admitted were suffering with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

, with a staff that included a governess, a shoemaker, two servants and an older woman with the title of "roomkeeper". The opening ceremony was on 9 December 1879, with the ''

Freeman's Journal The ''Freeman's Journal'', which was published continuously in Dublin from 1763 to 1924, was in the nineteenth century Ireland's leading nationalist newspaper. Patriot journal It was founded in 1763 by Charles Lucas and was identified with radi ...

'' reporting "Yesterday Our Lady's Hospice for the Dying, recently established under the care of the Sisters of Charity, Harold's Cross, was solemnly opened. . . It is truly a work of the noblest charity. . . Amid the thousand forms of tender mercy to which these good sisters devote themselves, there is none higher or more noble than this." Gaynor filled every available bed with poor patients, with more accommodation soon needed. To meet this need, large scale fund raising was required. Gaynor wrote reports detailing the needs of the Hospice, its expenses, bequests, donation, and surplus funding. She maintained a high standard of diet for the hospice patients, along with comfort and consolation. She oversaw expansions and improvements to the Hospice's facilities.

Death and legacy

Gaynor died on 5 March 1899 after a year's illness. She is buried in the convent cemetery in Donnybrook, Dublin. The Extended Care Unit at Our Lady's Hospice is named Anna Gaynor House.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaynor, Anna People from Athlone 1826 births 1899 deaths 19th-century Irish nuns