Sr. Benizi
(Formerly Maggie Connor) Maryfield, Chapelizod, Dublin 20. Tel: 01-6264684
Sr. Benizi
I lived in Portnacrina with my aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Kelly, from 1925 – 1934, I attended school in Kingsland.
My first teacher was Mrs. Knott. She was kind and motherly. She kept us babies, amused with crayons and plasticine and gradually got us on the road to reading, writing, spelling and tables. She also took us through the catechism, stage by stage and prepared us for First Holy Communion, a red-letter day in our young lives. I can also recall Mrs. Knott taking us on nature tours. To this day, I can remember some of the information and names taught on those trips, such as Tendrils and Plant Convolvulus!
These early years passed quickly and soon we were in the caring hands of Mrs. Naughton. She introduced us to Irish, History, Geography and more complex problems in Maths. Under her musical direction, our school choir took part in the social life of the locality. I still recall two songs. The Leprechaun and Grandfather's Clock.
Our next move was to the school next door where Mr. Kelly took up the challenge. He developed our skills in Maths, Algebra and Geometry and of course, all the other subjects fell into place.
Fr.Devine, our local curate, paid us a weekly visit and took a deep interest in our spiritual formation. He always began the lesson by drawing a Map of the Holy Land on the board and step by step, we followed the public life of Our Lord. Father was very popular with us and through his influence, quite a number of us entered Religious Life.
In 1934 we graduated from school with our Primary Cert, no mean achievement in those days!
Kingsland has many pleasant memories for me especially because of the friends I made. Some of us still meet and enjoy a chat about the games we played around the school yard, Dan Dan, Thread The Needle, Hop Scotch etc. We can also recall the ditches we crossed and after a fall, the sprained ankles and injured arms. The highlight of all of course, was Johnny Harrington's Shop. With a big brown penny, you could buy a dozen or more Bull's Eyes or get plenty of Liquorice All Sorts!
In 1934 I went to the Mercy Nuns in Boyle, cycling there each day. It was there, in the summer of 1937 that I met Sisters Geraldine and Lewis who were on Vocations Promotion. I was inspired by their talk on their Foundress Mother Magdalen Taylor. As the tenth child of a Protestant clergyman, she became a convert to Catholicism during the Crimean War. Under God, she owed her conversion to the sterling example of the Mercy Nuns, nursing in the Crimea and also to the deep Faith of the Irish soldiers. She later founded the Poor Servants Of The Mother Of God, devoted to all the works of Mercy_ and especially to the poor. I felt called to that work and in August of 1937 I entered the Novitiate in London.
Sr. Geraldine later became our Mother- General, and stressed the-fact that there were a number of very good nuns in the Order from Boyle and Kingsland schools. My Novitiate entailed 2½ years of spiritual formation and in March 1940 I took my First Vows. In the Autumn of that year I commenced my training for Nursing in Provinces Hospital St. Helen's, and qualified as S.R.N. in October 1943. Some years later I trained in Midwifery in the Medical Missionary Hospital in Dorgheda. In 1945 I returned to Our Mother House m London for a Spiritual Year in preparation for Final Vows in 1946.
Since then I have nursed in our hospitals in England and in Ireland. Presently, I am in Maryfield Nursing Home, Chapelozid, Dublin 20. My Nursing career spans 50 years and I celebrated my Golden Jubilee in the Religious Life in 1988. DEO GRATIAS!
I praise and thank the Lord for all who have journeyed with me and helped me in any way. For those who have finished life's journey I pray "May the Lord grant them everlasting peace. Amen".
If any young Kingsland girls feel called to give themselves totally to the Lord, I would be very glad to make contact with them.