Sr Bartholomew’s centenary celebrations

Sr Bartholomew’s centenary celebrations

11 December 2019

THE family of a Leitrim nun, who has lived in Africa for 80 years, flew thousands of miles to help her celebrate her 100 birthday.

Sr Mary Bartholomew was joined by five nieces, including Dympna Kelly and Eileen Ramsey from her home village, who arrived in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, to mark her milestone birthday last week. 

Another niece, Mary McAleenan, from Slievnaboley, near Leitrim, who wasn’t able to make the journey, says her aunt had been on an adventure since she left home in 1940 on board the Warwick Castle to care for “the poorest of the poor” amid the soaring heat of South Africa.

Sr Bartholmew, was born Philomena Cunningham on December 2, 1919, and enjoyed growing up with her four sisters and three brothers on what is now known as Kilnhill Road in Leitrim.

She and her older sister, Mary Bernadette, who also became a nun, were among the first girls to play camogie in Leitrim before an official team had even been set up by the local Fontenoys GAA club.

She was educated at Sacred Heart Grammar School in Newry and with her heart set on a religious vocation she entered the Assumption Convent in Ballynahinch just as World War II began.

Her niece, Mary, said that being a nun in those days brought honour to a family and having two daughters as nuns set the Cunninghams apart within their small rural village. 

“There were nine other postulants accompanying Sr Bartholomew on the long voyage across to Africa. Her ship was the last passenger ship to sail to the continent for many years, as most ships were then commissioned for the war effort,” Mary explained.

The young nun swapped the green fields and rain of home for the blistering heat and bustle of Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, which must have been quite an experience. 

She completed her religious formation and academic teacher training before taking her vows in 1942. Over the following decades she taught in several schools.  Eventually, on retiring, she was assigned a new mission, opening a clinic and a pre-school within an encampment that catered for over 16,000 refugees fleeing the horrors of the Mozambique war. 

In Sr Bartholomew’s own words of this period in her life, recorded in a book written over 20 years ago, Drumgooland – A Parish Divided, she recalls: “With missionary zeal we did our utmost over the following years to render whatever assistance we could to the many thousands of refugees, I taught including adults. 

“These poor people had a minimum of education and were eager to learn English. After class we would sit around and read the bible in Shangaan, the local language, and gave help when it was needed.”

Niece Mary takes up the story again. She added: “Nuns don’t retire and while Sr Bartholomew found the intense heat too much after several years, she made for the cooler environment of an office and spent time in general admin.”

Sr Bartholomew would often make the trip back home to Leitrim after Vatican II came to pass when the rigours and discipline of a pious life became more relaxed in the 1970s. However, she was always looked forward to going back to Port Elizabeth.

Her last trip home was some years ago when her older sister, Eileen, was seriously ill. 

“She had managed to hold her hand and chat briefly before she passed away,” Mary recalled. She stayed until Eileen’s months mind,and left shortly after. This was the last time she was home.”