Mary O'Hagan (1823 31 January 1876), Abbess in Newry and Kenmare, founder of the convent in Kenmare.

Biography

Mary O'Hagan was born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

in 1823. Her parents were Edward O'Hagan, a merchant, and his wife Mary Bell, daughter of Captain Thomas Bell. Her brother was

Thomas O'Hagan Thomas O'Hagan, 1st Baron O'Hagan, KP, PC (Ire), QC (29 May 18121 February 1885), was an Irish lawyer and judge. He served as Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1868 to 1874 and again from 1880 to 1881. Background and education O'Hagan was bor ...

, later Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Their parents died when O'Hagan was young and she became the ward of her brother. They travelled as his work took him to Dublin. O'Hagan entered the convent of the Sisters of

Poor Clares The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...

Newry Newry (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Clanrye river in counties Armagh and Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry was founded in 1144 alongside a Cistercian monastery, althoug ...

when she was 21, where she became Sister Mary Michael and remained there until 1861. By 1853 O'Hagan had become the abbess of the Newry convent. When a request was made for a new establishment in

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

, she brought six of the other nuns with her to

Kenmare Kenmare () is a small town in the south of County Kerry, Ireland. The name Kenmare is the anglicised form of ''Ceann Mara'', meaning "head of the sea", referring to the head of Kenmare Bay. Location Kenmare is located at the head of Kenmare ...

where they set up a school and convent. While the building work was going on they lived in “Rose Cottage” and they turned the old coach house associated with the cottage into a breakfast room where their students and local children could get breakfast before school. The designers 1889

While the school was being built, from the existing building once used as a work house, there was employment for the men in the area. O'Hagan set up an industrial school with courses designed to improve the local women's ability to have employment, or a trade and craft where they could sell their products. She set up classes for lace, embroidery, drawing and design for the girls. When the building of the school was completed in 1864 and there was no further work for the men, the boys were taught drawing and design, and were trained in leatherwork, woodcarving and plasterwork. By 1869 the sales figures for the goods the students were producing had reached £500 per annum. Kenmare lace or “Point d’Irelandaise” became highly sought after and popular until the end of the

first world war World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. However O'Hagan herself died at the Convent of the Holy Cross, Kenmare on 31 January 1876. One of her friends, one of the six nuns who initially accompanied her on the journey to Kerry was

Margaret Anna Cusack Margaret Anna Cusack (born 6 May 1829 in a house at the corner of Mercer Street and York Street (now known as Cusack Corner), Dublin, Ireland – died 5 June 1899), also known as Sister Mary Francis Cusack and Mother Margaret, was first an Irish ...

who wrote her biography ''In Memoriam: Mary O'Hagan, Abbess and Foundress of the Convent of Poor Clares, Kenmare''.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:O'Hagan, Mary 1823 births 1876 deaths Religious leaders from Belfast People from Kenmare Irish Roman Catholic abbesses 19th-century Irish nuns