'I had never been further south than Dublin and this was a big adventure for me to go so far away.'

'I had never been further south than Dublin and this was a big adventure for me to go so far away.'

Rosemary remembers her 'postulancy' year and making the decision to join the novitiate in 1973. She travelled to Waterford for her Novitiate and this was the furthest south she had been up until then.

Rosemary McCloskey

Trinity College Dublin

1973

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Rosemary McCloskey

Work and Employment

Life Story

Crumlin Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland

1970's

During my first year as a postulant in the Convent of Mercy, Crumlin Road, I taught in St Malachy's Primary school on the New Lodge Sr M. Louis Donaghy and Sr.Josephen McAteer were working in Star of the Sea school on Hallidays Road at that time and Sr Louis used to visit the homes in the area. It was during this time that the Troubles were increasing with internment starting on 9th August that year and men being lifted wholesale in the nationalist areas. This was fuel for recruitment to the IRA as the people could see no one else who might defend them. There were six men shot one evening on the New Lodge Road and I went to those wake houses with Sr Louis. Our presence was very welcome at that time as the families of these men were devastated. It was a very sad time.That was a wonderful year for me apart from the Troubles, and I loved the life in the convent because the restrictions were minimal. The postulancy year is a time to give one a 'taster' of religious life. Religious life was in a kind of transition period. It was a time of experimentation in 1972-73, and so I was free to go and come. I attended prayers and Mass each day and was able to go home, which was 7 Brookvale Avenue, at this time. It was only about fifteen minutes' walk up the Antrim Road. Towards the close of my first year, it was time to consider if I wanted to move on to the novitiate, and having decided that I did, I had to resign my post in the school. It was decided by the Federation of Irish Mercy Sisters, that since there were only five postulants in the whole of the country who were proceeding to the novitiate, it would be wise to keep us all together. Waterford was chosen as the place to send us, since they had no novices coming in, but had a proper set up. I had never been further south than Dublin and this was a big adventure for me to go so far away. I was received into the congregation on 14th August 1973 and given the habit and white veil of the novice. Sr.M. Dolores Morton, who was the Reverend Mother at that time, drove me to Waterford to start my new life at the beginning of September. On that Sunday we travelled as far as Dublin, and she took me to see a film 'The Lost Horizon' that night. We had a wonderful trip and proceeded to Waterford next day.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)