Margaret Mac Curtain (1929–2020) was a Dominican

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

, Irish historian, writer, and educator.

Career

Mac Curtain was a native of

County Cork, Ireland County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

. She was the daughter of Sean and Ann Mac Curtáin. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1950 from

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of ...

(UCC), where she won the Peel Prize and turned down an opportunity to study with

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

prior to joining the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

. She joined the teaching staff at Sion Hill, Blackrock and she held several positions including

Prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

ess of Sion Hill Convent (1984–1989). In 1964, she earned a Ph.D. in history and was a lecturer in the Irish History Department of

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

from 1964 to 1994. She was also a professor at the School of Irish Studies, Dublin, from 1972 to 1989. She held the Burns Chair of Irish Studies at

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

from 1992 to 1993. She was awarded the Eire Society of Boston Gold Medal in 1993 for her writings on Irish women's history. When she initially became a nun she was given the name Sister Benvenuta but she restored her own name when rule changes allowed it. Sr. Mac Curtain was the founding principal and helped establish the Senior College Ballyfermont. Dr. Mac Curtain chaired the National Archives Advisory Council from 1997 to 2002. She also served on the academic council of the

Irish School of Ecumenics The Irish School of Ecumenics (ISE) is an institute of Trinity College Dublin, dedicated to the study and promotion of peace and reconciliation in Ireland and throughout the world. The school is located in Dublin and Belfast, and consists of eight ...

. Mac Curtain was active in political and social causes. She chaired the National Archives Advisory Council from 1997 to 2002 and contributed to the Treoir 2000 report on the state of the Irish language at the end of the 20th century. Many Irish past students of UCD cite Mac Curtain as an influence on their work, including Sinéad McCoole and

Cathal Mac Coille Cathal Mac Coille (born 1952) is a retired Irish broadcaster, researcher and journalist. He was a co-presenter of ''Morning Ireland'' on RTÉ Radio 1 for most of the period from 1986 until his retirement in 2017. He currently writes opinion pie ...

Selected works

* ''The Birth of Modern Ireland'' (1969) * ''Tudor and Stuart Ireland'' (1972) * ''Women and Irish Society: The Historical Dimension'' (1978) * ''The Gill History of Ireland'' series (1980) * ''Women in Early Modern Ireland'' (1992) * ''From Dublin to New Orleans: Nora and Alice's Journey to America 1888'' (1995) * ''Grace Gifford Plunkett and Irish Freedom'' (2000) * ''Ariadne's Threads: Writing Women into Irish History'' (2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mac Curtain, Margaret 1929 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Irish historians 21st-century Irish historians 20th-century Irish women writers 21st-century Irish women writers 20th-century Irish nuns 21st-century Irish nuns Academics of University College Dublin Alumni of University College Cork Boston College faculty Dominican Sisters People from County Cork