Sean Ross Abbey south of

Roscrea Roscrea () is a market town in County Tipperary, Ireland, which in 2016 had a population of 5,446. Roscrea is one of the oldest towns in Ireland, having developed around the 7th century monastery of Saint Crónán of Roscrea, parts of which rem ...

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after t ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, is a

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

and the location of St Anne's Special School run by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. St Crónán is believed to have founded a monastery at this location in the 6th century.

History

Crónán of Roscrea Saint Crónán (died 640) was the abbot-bishop and patron of the diocese of Roscrea (a see later incorporated into the diocese of Killaloe), Ireland. He is not to be confused with his contemporary Saint Crónán Mochua (died 637). Life Crón� ...

settled at Sean Ross, which was a wooded morass far from the haunts of men; in fact, it was utterly wild, so much so, that pilgrims would get lost, so Crónán abandoned it and moved to the more accessible wood of Cré, that is

. In the 7th century,

Culdees The Culdees ( ga, Céilí Dé, "Spouses of God") were members of ascetic Christian monastic and eremitical communities of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England in the Middle Ages. Appearing first in Ireland and subsequently in Scotland, att ...

established a presence on Monahincha, but later gave way to

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

canons. The Augustinians relocated to Sean Ross in 1485.

Buildings

The main building was built about 1750 as Corville House, a Georgian country house with two storeys over a basement. Although much extended and fitted with UPVC windows, the house is listed as being of special architectural and artistic interest. The gardener's house and

walled garden A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate ...

are also mentioned in the ''

National Inventory of Architectural Heritage The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) maintains a central database of the architectural heritage of the Republic of Ireland covering the period since 1700 in complement to the Archaeological Survey of Ireland, which focuses on ar ...

''. Within the grounds are the ruined Corville Abbey with its associated small graveyard, an ice house and a lime kiln. There are also several functional modern buildings associated with the school. Corville House was the home of the Anglo-Irish Prittie family (the Barons Dunalley) during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

John O'Byrne purchased the estate in the 19th century and lived there until 1930. The Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary came to Sean Ross Abbey in 1932."School History", St. Anne's Special School
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St Anne’s Special School

St. Anne's School opened in February 1971. It provides specialist services students four to eighteen years of age who may present with either a severe/profound general learning disability, or with autism.

Mother and baby home

A mother and baby home operated at Sean Ross from about 1932 to 1970. Babies born to unmarried girls in the home were put up for adoption, 487 of them in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, though the most common exit pathway for a child was to return to their mother or family (44%). Although the number of babies born at Sean Ross declined rapidly in the 1950s, adoptions greatly increased due to the introduction of a legal process of adoption in 1953. What records are available for Sean Ross adoptions are held by Child and Family Agency (TUSLA).

Martin Sixsmith Martin Sixsmith (born 24 September 1954) is a British author and radio/television presenter, primarily working for the BBC. He has also worked as an adviser to the Labour government and to the BBC television comedy series ''The Thick of It''. Si ...

's book, ''The Lost Child of Philomena Lee'' and the film ''

Philomena Philomena ( el, Ἁγία Φιλομένα), also known as Saint Philomena or ''Philomena of Rome'' was a young virgin martyr whose remains were discovered on May 24–25, 1802, in the Catacomb of Priscilla. Three tiles enclosing the tomb bore ...

'', based on it, concern the controversial adoption of

Michael A. Hess Michael Anthony Hess (born Anthony Lee; 5 July 1952 – 15 August 1995) was an Irish-born American lawyer, deputy chief legal counsel and later Chief legal officer, chief legal counsel to the Republican National Committee (RNC) in the late 1980 ...

, born Anthony Lee to

Philomena Lee Annie Philomena Lee (born 24 March 1933) is an Irish woman whose life was chronicled in the 2009 book ''The Lost Child of Philomena Lee'' by Martin Sixsmith. The book was made into a film titled '' Philomena'' (2013), which was nominated for fo ...

at Sean Ross Abbey in 1952. The graves of an unknown number of mothers and babies are located in the unmarked area known as the Angels Plot. In February 2018, the sisters put up for sale a large part of the campus, exclusive of St. Anne's school and the cemeteries, which will continue to be maintained by the congregation, and remain accessible. On 27th July 2020, Journalist Alison O'Reilly, who broke the story of the Tuam Babies burial scandal in 2014, and Author of My Name is Bridget, the story of the Tuam Home, uncovered the names of the 1,024 children who died in Sean Ross Abbey. The story, was printed in the Irish Daily Star after the details were secured under the Freedom of Information Act. A total of 1,090 "illegitimate children" died in Sean Ross Abbey mother and baby home over a thirty-seven-year period The official death list, also revealed how 128 children died from "Marasmus" - meaning severe malnutrition. Other causes of deaths include convulsions and exhaustion, while two babies died from sun and heat stroke. One death certificate shows a child died from acute heart failure as a result of choking on porridge. The number of children's deaths in Sean Ross Abbey, is higher than the registered deaths in the Tuam mother and baby home where 796 children died, as well as the 817 in Bessborough in Cork. Historian Catherine Corless, who uncovered the names of the children who died in the Tuam home between 1925 and 1961 said: "This is horrifying. Those poor children, you wonder were they just putting down anything for causes of deaths, or did the children actually die this way? It seems that when a large group of children died, they said 'we'll put down cardiac arrest for those 15. It's appalling". The names of the children were displayed in the critically acclaimed Stay With Me art show, which is a group exhibition of an artist's response to the Tuam Babies story. The show can be found on YouTube.

References

External links

Michael A. Hess Memorial on Find A Grave
Christian monasteries in the Republic of Ireland Buildings and structures in County Tipperary Lime kilns in Ireland Mother and baby homes in Ireland {{Mother and baby homes in Ireland