Margaret Anna Cusack
Encyclopedia
Margaret Anna Cusack was in order, an Irish
Anglican nun
, then a Roman Catholic nun
and, later, a Religious Sister
, as well as being the foundress of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace.
Margaret Anna Cusack was born in Coolock
, County Dublin
, Ireland
into an aristocratic
family and was raised in the Church of Ireland
. When Cusack was a teenager her parents separated and she went to live with her grand-aunt in Exeter
, Devon
where she joined the Plymouth Brethren
. At the age of 29 she was received into the Catholic Church and immediatey joined the Poor Clares in Newry
, County Down
.
By 1870, more than 200,000 copies of her works had circulated throughout the world. The money made from her publications went towards the Great Irish Famine and helping to feed the poor. Her success in helping the poor and her outspoken ways made her a topic of interest for the government and the Church of England
. Her next endeavour was to found another convent.
Motivated by the sudden death of her fiancé, Charles Holmes, she joined a convent of Puseyite Anglican nuns. However, being disappointed not to be sent to the Crimea
she converted to Roman Catholicism and joined the Order of St. Clare
(also known as the Poor Clares), a community of Franciscan nuns who taught poor girls. In 1861, she was sent with a small group of nuns to Kenmare
, County Kerry
, then one of the most destitute parts of Ireland, to establish a convent of Poor Clares.
She fought for her own personal rights and for Irish patriots, but made no demands for women's rights in general, was opposed to co-education and is thought to have believed academic degrees were wasted on women.
She wrote 35 books, including many popular pious and sentimental texts on private devotions (A Nun’s Advice to her Girls), poems, Irish history and biography, founding Kenmare Publications, through which 200,000 volumes of her works were issued in under ten years. She kept two fulltime secretaries occupied for correspondence, wrote letters on Irish causes in the Irish, American
, and Canadian
press.
In the famine year of 1871, she raised and distributed £
15,000 in a Famine Relief Fund. She publicly railed against landlords of the region, particularly Lord Lansdowne
who owned the lands around Kenmare
, and his local agent. She was an outspoken Irish patriot, publishing The Patriot's History of Ireland, in 1869, though she later denied being associated with the Ladies' Land League. In 1872 she issued a life of Daniel O'Connell
, The Liberator: His Life and Times, Political, Social, and Religious.
She was unpopular with some Roman Catholics, but seems to have enjoyed from the beginning the sympathy of most of the leading Catholics, lay and clerical, in Ireland. Predictably perhaps, because of her increasing political and social interest outside the convent, life became intolerable and she left the Kenmore Poor Clares in November 1881. After leaving the convent, she began to establish shelters and vocational schools for female emigrants to the U.S. and supported herself through her lectures and writings.
Her transfer orders were for her to return to Newry, but she was determined to erect a convent in Knock, County Mayo
where she had gone to live. After pressuring Archbishop McEvilly of Tuam
she finally received permission to establish a convent in Knock. However, the archbishop wanted her to establish a community of Poor Clares whilst she intended to found an entirely new community called the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. Deadlock ensued, and Mother Margaret was finally invited to establish the new religious congregation in the Diocese of Nottingham
; so she left Ireland for good in 1884.
In 1885, Bishop Bagshawe of Nottingham sent Margaret to the US in order to raise money for her foundation as well as to promote her work. Whilst in the US, she was invited to establish a community in the Diocese of Newark
.
In 1878 appeared The Trias Thaumaturga; or, Three Wonder-Working Saints of Ireland telling the lives of saints Patrick
, Columba
and Brigit. At the time of a sensational supposed apparition at Knock, she produced the pamphlet The Apparition at Knock; with the depositions of the witness[es] examined by the Ecclesiastical Commission appointed by His Grace the Archbishop of Tuam
and the conversion of a young Protestant lady by a vision of the Blessed Virgin(1880).
She issued Cloister Songs and Hymns for Children (1881), wrote verse, issued lives of St. Patrick, Columba and Brigid as Trias Taumaturga: The Wonder-working Saints of Ireland (1878). She published more than fifty works, chief among which are A Student's History of Ireland; Woman's Work in Modern Society; Lives of Daniel O'Connell, St. Patrick, St. Columba, and St. Bridget; The Pilgrim's Way to Heaven; Jesus and Jerusalem; and The Book of the Blessed Ones. Two autobiographies are The Nun of Kenmare (1888), The Story of My Life (1893).
in order to seek his support, Cusack obtained permission to leave the Poor Clares and found a new congregation, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, intended for the establishment and care of homes for friendless girls, where domestic service would be taught and moral habits inculcated.
She opened the first house of the new order at Nottingham
, and in 1885, a similar house in Jersey City, New Jersey
, the first foundation of the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace in the United States
. She aimed to seek funds for her work with women and children. The earnings of her most notable writings - Lives of Irish Saints and Illustrated History of Ireland (1868) - supported her convent. Today, the congregation she founded remains committed to working for peace and justice and this is the main ministry of the sisters. There are communities in the United Kingdom, Canada, Haiti, Ireland and the USA.
and soon issued The Nun of Kenmare: An Autobiography (1889). Afterwards she wrote and lectured as tirelessly as ever: The Black Pope: History of the Jesuits, What Rome Teaches (1892) and Revolution and War, the secret conspiracy of the Jesuits in Great Britain (published posthumously, 1910).
, Warwickshire
.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
Anglican nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
, then a Roman Catholic nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
and, later, a Religious Sister
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
, as well as being the foundress of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace.
Early life
Coolock
Coolock is a large suburban area, centred on a village, on Dublin city's Northside in Ireland. Coolock is crossed by the Santry River, a prominent feature in the middle of the district, with a linear park and ponds...
, County Dublin
County Dublin
County Dublin is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Dublin Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the city of Dublin which is the capital of Ireland. County Dublin was one of the first of the parts of Ireland to be shired by King John of England following the...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
into an aristocratic
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
family and was raised in the Church of Ireland
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
. When Cusack was a teenager her parents separated and she went to live with her grand-aunt in Exeter
Exeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
where she joined the Plymouth Brethren
Plymouth Brethren
The Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...
. At the age of 29 she was received into the Catholic Church and immediatey joined the Poor Clares in Newry
Newry
Newry is a city in Northern Ireland. The River Clanrye, which runs through the city, formed the historic border between County Armagh and County Down. It is from Belfast and from Dublin. Newry had a population of 27,433 at the 2001 Census, while Newry and Mourne Council Area had a population...
, County Down
County Down
-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...
.
"Nun of Kenmare"
During her stay at Kenmare she dedicated herself to her writings, which ranged from biographies of saints to pamphlets on social issues.By 1870, more than 200,000 copies of her works had circulated throughout the world. The money made from her publications went towards the Great Irish Famine and helping to feed the poor. Her success in helping the poor and her outspoken ways made her a topic of interest for the government and the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
. Her next endeavour was to found another convent.
Motivated by the sudden death of her fiancé, Charles Holmes, she joined a convent of Puseyite Anglican nuns. However, being disappointed not to be sent to the Crimea
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
she converted to Roman Catholicism and joined the Order of St. Clare
Order of Poor Ladies
The Poor Clares also known as the Order of Saint Clare, the Order of Poor Ladies, the Poor Clare Sisters, the Clarisse, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Congregation, and the Second Order of St. Francis, , comprise several orders of nuns in the Catholic Church...
(also known as the Poor Clares), a community of Franciscan nuns who taught poor girls. In 1861, she was sent with a small group of nuns to Kenmare
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:...
, County Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
, then one of the most destitute parts of Ireland, to establish a convent of Poor Clares.
She fought for her own personal rights and for Irish patriots, but made no demands for women's rights in general, was opposed to co-education and is thought to have believed academic degrees were wasted on women.
She wrote 35 books, including many popular pious and sentimental texts on private devotions (A Nun’s Advice to her Girls), poems, Irish history and biography, founding Kenmare Publications, through which 200,000 volumes of her works were issued in under ten years. She kept two fulltime secretaries occupied for correspondence, wrote letters on Irish causes in the Irish, American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
press.
In the famine year of 1871, she raised and distributed £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
15,000 in a Famine Relief Fund. She publicly railed against landlords of the region, particularly Lord Lansdowne
Marquess of Lansdowne
Marquess of Lansdowne, in the County of Somerset, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain held by the head of the Petty-Fitzmaurice family. This branch of the family descends from the Hon...
who owned the lands around Kenmare
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:...
, and his local agent. She was an outspoken Irish patriot, publishing The Patriot's History of Ireland, in 1869, though she later denied being associated with the Ladies' Land League. In 1872 she issued a life of Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847; often referred to as The Liberator, or The Emancipator, was an Irish political leader in the first half of the 19th century...
, The Liberator: His Life and Times, Political, Social, and Religious.
She was unpopular with some Roman Catholics, but seems to have enjoyed from the beginning the sympathy of most of the leading Catholics, lay and clerical, in Ireland. Predictably perhaps, because of her increasing political and social interest outside the convent, life became intolerable and she left the Kenmore Poor Clares in November 1881. After leaving the convent, she began to establish shelters and vocational schools for female emigrants to the U.S. and supported herself through her lectures and writings.
Her transfer orders were for her to return to Newry, but she was determined to erect a convent in Knock, County Mayo
County Mayo
County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...
where she had gone to live. After pressuring Archbishop McEvilly of Tuam
Tuam
Tuam is a town in County Galway, Ireland. The name is pronounced choo-um . It is situated west of the midlands of Ireland, and north of Galway city.-History:...
she finally received permission to establish a convent in Knock. However, the archbishop wanted her to establish a community of Poor Clares whilst she intended to found an entirely new community called the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. Deadlock ensued, and Mother Margaret was finally invited to establish the new religious congregation in the Diocese of Nottingham
Diocese of Nottingham
The Diocese of Nottingham is a Roman Catholic diocese of the Latin Rite which covers covers an area of 13,074 km², taking in the counties of Nottinghamshire , Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Rutland and Lincolnshire. The see is in the City of Nottingham where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church...
; so she left Ireland for good in 1884.
In 1885, Bishop Bagshawe of Nottingham sent Margaret to the US in order to raise money for her foundation as well as to promote her work. Whilst in the US, she was invited to establish a community in the Diocese of Newark
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark
The Archdiocese of Newark is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in northern New Jersey, United States. Its ecclesiastic territory includes all of the Catholic parishes and schools in the New Jersey counties of Bergen, Union, Hudson and Essex .-History:Originally established as the Diocese of...
.
Writings
In 1872 she wrote Honehurst Rectory, ridiculing Dr. Pusey and the other founders of the Puseyite order. In 1872 the entire edition of her Life of St. Patrick burned in a fire at the publishing office. Her novels include Ned Rusheen, or, Who Fired the First Shot? (1871); and Tim O'Halloran’s Choice (1877). She issued Advice to Irish Girls in America (1872), which deals mainly with tips and suggestions relating to the profession of domestic service. Cusack advised servant girls not to covet material possessions, to think of service as a way of serving Jesus, and to resist any attempts by their employers to convert them to Protestantism.In 1878 appeared The Trias Thaumaturga; or, Three Wonder-Working Saints of Ireland telling the lives of saints Patrick
Saint Patrick
Saint Patrick was a Romano-Briton and Christian missionary, who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland or the Apostle of Ireland, although Brigid of Kildare and Colmcille are also formally patron saints....
, Columba
Saint Columba
-Saints:* Columba , Irish Christian saint who evangelized Scotland* Columba the Virgin, also known as Saint Columba of Cornwall* Columba of Sens* Columba of Spain* Columba of Terryglass* Sancta Columba -Schools:...
and Brigit. At the time of a sensational supposed apparition at Knock, she produced the pamphlet The Apparition at Knock; with the depositions of the witness[es] examined by the Ecclesiastical Commission appointed by His Grace the Archbishop of Tuam
Archbishop of Tuam
The Archbishop of Tuam is an archiepiscopal title which takes its name after the town of Tuam in County Galway, Ireland. The title was used by the Church of Ireland until 1839, and is still in use by the Roman Catholic Church.-History:...
and the conversion of a young Protestant lady by a vision of the Blessed Virgin(1880).
She issued Cloister Songs and Hymns for Children (1881), wrote verse, issued lives of St. Patrick, Columba and Brigid as Trias Taumaturga: The Wonder-working Saints of Ireland (1878). She published more than fifty works, chief among which are A Student's History of Ireland; Woman's Work in Modern Society; Lives of Daniel O'Connell, St. Patrick, St. Columba, and St. Bridget; The Pilgrim's Way to Heaven; Jesus and Jerusalem; and The Book of the Blessed Ones. Two autobiographies are The Nun of Kenmare (1888), The Story of My Life (1893).
Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace
In 1884, during a personal interview with Pope Leo XIIIPope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
in order to seek his support, Cusack obtained permission to leave the Poor Clares and found a new congregation, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, intended for the establishment and care of homes for friendless girls, where domestic service would be taught and moral habits inculcated.
She opened the first house of the new order at Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, and in 1885, a similar house in Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
, the first foundation of the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. She aimed to seek funds for her work with women and children. The earnings of her most notable writings - Lives of Irish Saints and Illustrated History of Ireland (1868) - supported her convent. Today, the congregation she founded remains committed to working for peace and justice and this is the main ministry of the sisters. There are communities in the United Kingdom, Canada, Haiti, Ireland and the USA.
Departure from Roman Catholic Church
In 1888 she returned to the Anglican Communion after an altercation with her bishopBishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
and soon issued The Nun of Kenmare: An Autobiography (1889). Afterwards she wrote and lectured as tirelessly as ever: The Black Pope: History of the Jesuits, What Rome Teaches (1892) and Revolution and War, the secret conspiracy of the Jesuits in Great Britain (published posthumously, 1910).
Death
Margaret Anna Cusack died on 5 June 1899, aged 67, and was buried in a Church of England reserved burial site at Leamington SpaLeamington Spa
Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or Leamington or Leam to locals, is a spa town in central Warwickshire, England. Formerly known as Leamington Priors, its expansion began following the popularisation of the medicinal qualities of its water by Dr Kerr in 1784, and by Dr Lambe...
, Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
.