Celtic Spirituality Evident in Mary Frances Clarke
by Ann Harrington, BVM

Celtic spirituality has had profound influences on the Irish people and Irish history. Concepts such as the sacredness of mystery/magical practice, nature, and the oneness of body and spirit are some elements of this influence.

John O'Donaghoe wrote of the Celts: “The dualism that separates the visible from the invisible, time from eternity, the human from the divine was totally alien to them.”(1) James S. Donnelly, Jr. has reflected:

Widespread acceptance of magical practices and beliefs was, in fact, one of the distinguishing features of both the older, Gaelic traditional culture and modern Irish Catholic culture that supplanted it. Traditional popular religion abounded in devotional practices that were magical in nature, the most common of which was the pattern or patron [saint].(2)

Mary Frances Clarke, the Dublin-born BVM founder, lived in Ireland from her birth in 1802 until the summer of 1833, when she felt called by God to teach beleaguered Irish immigrants in anti-Catholic, anti-Irish Philadelphia. She, along with her companions left Ireland before the Roman Catholic church enforced rigid control over beliefs and practices at odds with the Celtic tradition.

What do our BVM sources tell us of the Celtic influences on the spirituality of Mary Frances Clarke, her early companions, and the many Irish-born early members? BVM oral tradition includes accounts of supernatural interventions, often resulting in life-changing decisions.

One example occurs after the women decided to go to the United States. They were crossing one of the bridges over the Liffey River in Dublin when a section of the bridge gave way right in front of them.

In the midst of the confusion, a gentleman approached the women and said. “Go where you will, ladies; the hand of God is over you and will protect you.” They believed without doubt that the gentleman was St. Joseph.(3)

When the women arrived in Philadelphia, the priest who was to meet them did not appear. As they looked for lodging near a church, a young man asked if they needed help, and took them to the home of Mrs. Margaret McDonogh in St. Joseph 's Parish. Once again, “they always believed that their guide was none other than Holy St. Joseph who had come to their assistance.”(4)

The prophecy relayed to a Jesuit novice, Brother Faye, that “the far west will resound with the praises of the children of Mary,” was communicated to Terence Donaghoe by his Jesuit retreat master, Francis Dzierozynski.

As Donaghoe was trying to decide his own future, it proved a turning point in his life and in the future of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was seen as a sign that the sisters should accept the invitation from the bishop of the Dubuque diocese and move west from Philadelphia.

The choice of the prairie for the early motherhouse came also to Terence Donaghoe when he and Bishop Loras visited the site, and bees landed on Donaghoe's hat. It was fitting because Mary Frances showed a great love for nature.

On the prairie where Mary Frances spent most of her days, she remarked with pride in a June 7, 1861 letter to the sisters at St. Agatha's convent in Iowa City that “the garden looks so beautiful that it was expressed by visitors this week that St. Joseph 's is the most beautiful place they have seen.”

Sister Florence Clowry recounts taking flowers to Mary Frances at the request of Mary Gertrude Regan. She recalls that Mary Frances “looked the flowers over, admiring them, and giving me the common botanical names of such as grew around the convent in Philadelphia, testing too my floral knowledge”(5) When one considers that community money was scarce, this emphasis on beauty comes across as a value cherished by Mary Frances Clarke.

Finally, Mary Frances' understanding of the unity of body and spirit is evident in her views toward food. At a time when many religious men and women thought it holy to impose physical hardships, Mary Frances' views differed.

For her, it was not healthy to have sisters fasting when they had a full day's work ahead of them. Her account book also records the purchase of special treats for the novices, indicating that the development of a spiritual life included occasional treats for the body.

These are just a few examples that demonstrate how Mary Frances carried her Celtic influences into the United States and into the BVM congregation she founded. We are the richer because of that heritage.

Endnotes:

1. Anam Cara: A book of Celtic Wisdom (New York: Cliff Street Books, 1997), xvii.
2. Patterns, Magical Healing, and Decline of Traditional Popular Religion in Ireland, 1700-1850,” unpublished paper delivered at McGill University, Montreal, November 10, 1988, 1, quoted in Mary Peckham Magray, The Transforming Power of the Nuns: Women, Religion, and Cultural Change in Ireland, 1750-1900 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 92.
3. Mary Lambertina Doran, In the Early Days, 14.
4. Mary Pulcheria McGuire, Annals, 24. Given Mary Frances' Quaker heritage, could it be a coincidence that immediately adjacent to the church was a Quaker settlement in Willings Alley, which existed until 1841?
5. Letter, Mount Carmel Archives, Dubuque Iowa.

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