Ellen McKenna
Ellen McKenna | |
|---|---|
| Personal | |
| Born | 24 December 1819 Traugh, Willville, County Monaghan |
| Died | 2 August 1883(aged 63) New York |
| Religion | Christian |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Organization | |
| Order | Sisters of Mercy |
Ellen McKennaorSister Mary Augustine(24 December 1819 – 2 August 1883) was an IrishSisters of Mercynun,American civil warnurse and teacher.[1][2]
Early life and family[edit]
Ellen McKenna was born in Traugh, Willville,County Monaghanon 24 December 1819. She was the eldest of three daughters and two sons of James and Mary Anne McKenna. McKenna was educated at home, and then attended Miss Reynolds's private school in Dublin and a school local to her home. She taught poor children in Traugh to read and write from 1834, as well as preparing them for the sacraments. She emigrated toNew Yorkin 1849, arriving there on 2 April 1849 on theEmperor.She initially taught in a small private school inSchenectady.McKenna entered the Convent of Mercy, New York on 25 September 1855, receiving the habit of the Sisters of Mercy on 15 May 1856, taking the name Sister Mary Augustine professing on 17 May 1858.[1][3][4]
Career[edit]
McKenna taught in convent school, teaching children and adults onRandall's Islandon Saturdays. She also visited hospitals,The Tombs,andSing Sing Prison.She was appointed sister in charge of a home for emigrant girls, the House of Mercy. McKenna opened a home for neglected young children on 21 November 1860. Any children not placed in homes or situations by age 16, would be transferred to the House of Mercy until a position was found for them. The house was closed while McKenna was away during the Civil War, she later reopened it.[1]In these institutions she would have met a large number of Irish emigrants fleeing theIrish Famine.[3][4]
Along with a number of fellow New York sisters, McKenna responded to the appeal for nurses for the Civil War. She took up her position as a military nurse inBeaufort, North Carolinaon 19 July 1862. At first she was in charge of the kitchen, but then took up nursing duties, while also writing letters for the soldiers. She was appointed superior and superintendent on 19 September 1862 when her predecessor returned to New York. She fulfilled her promises made to dying soldiers on her return to New York, helping widows and orphan children, continuing her work for the next 20 years.[1]
McKenna was made superior of the newly founded convent at Greenbush nearAlbanyon 29 September 1863. She opened schools for infants, boys and girls in November of the same year. She was recalled to New York in September 1864, and was elected mistress of the novices on 10 October 1864. She served as superior of the convent from 28 May 1867 to 12 May 1877. In 1875 she established a convent as a rest house for NYC sister atBalmvillein Newburgh, Orange county, and an industrial school for destitute and orphan children, being appointed superior of these institutions in 1877. She would raise funds when finances were strained by composing and publishing plays and poems.[1]
She died 2 August 1883, and was buried in the community plot inCalvary Cemetery,New York.[1]
References[edit]
- ^abcdefLunney, Sheila (2009). "McKenna, Ellen". In McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.).Dictionary of Irish Biography.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ^"Civil War Sisters Healing the Wounds of the Nation".Connect With Mercy: The Official Blog of the Sisters of Mercy.29 January 2015. Archived fromthe originalon 19 February 2020.Retrieved18 February2020.
- ^abFitzgerald, Maureen (2016). "Habits of Compassion: Irish American Nuns in New York City". In Kerber, Linda K.; Sherron De Hart, Jane; Hughes Dayton, Cornelia;Tzu-Chun Wu, Judy(eds.).Women's America: refocusing the past(Eighth ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN9780199349340.
- ^abFitzgerald, Maureen (2006).Habits of compassion: Irish Catholic nuns and the origins of New York's welfare system, 1830-1920.Chicago: University of Illinois Press. pp.16–20.ISBN9780252072826.
