The People of Gibraltar
1845 - The Loreto Nuns - References
1: Arrival
[1] Appendix I: Calendar for December 1845.
[2] Appendix II: information on the “Royal Tar.
[3] “Gibraltar Chronicle and Commercial Intelligencer” 17th & 20th December 1845giving details of the ship’s arrival, its passenger list and manifest.
[4] Gibraltar Chronicle, 20th December 1845.
[5] There was one other landing place in the South called the Ragged Staff, near Southport Gate, but that was only for the use of Royal Navy personnel.
[6] “Handbook to Spain”, Richard Ford.
[7] The Junta of Elders was a form of “Parish Council” composed of a body of laymen. It was established to aid the Church in Gibraltar and was legally responsible for the management of its temporal affairs. It had its origins in Spanish times, pre 1704.
[8] Letters of Mother Teresa Ball – to Archbishop Murray, 5th December 1845.
[9] At first all were ‘Sisters’ except for the ‘Mother’ Superior. Later all professed teachers were called ‘Mother’, while Novices and Juniors were still called ‘Sister’. Nowadays all are ‘Sisters’.
2: First Impressions
[10] “Notes Made on a Grand Tour beginning at Gibraltar in 1830”, Benjamin Disraeli.
[11] “Notes on A Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo”, W M Thackeray.
[12] Correspondence by an American seaman, 1843, quoted in “The American Antiquities Journal”, 1903.
[13] Gibraltar Chronicle 13th April 1816.
[14]“Notes on AJourney from Cornhill to Grand Cairo”, W M Thackeray.
3: Mission
[15] Terms of Surrender, Article V, agreed on 4th August 1704 between Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt and Don Diego de Salinas, Spanish Governor of Gibraltar, with the authority of the City council: “To the inhabitants, soldiers and officers who may choose to remain in Gibraltar shall be conceded the same privileges they had in the time of Charles II; the religion and tribunals shall remain intact and without alteration…”, quoted by Sir William Jackson in “The Rock of the Gibraltarians”.
[16] “Introduction to Lingua Franca”, R Rossetti, 2002; see also website by Alan D Corré at: http://www.uwm.edu/~corre/franca/go.html. Appendix III for “A comment in Lingua Franca…”
[17] Gibraltarian women, on the other hand, tended to marry English men.
[18] “Memoir of a mission to Gibraltar and Spain: with collateral notices of events favouring Religious liberty, and of the decline of Romish power in that country, from the beginning of this century to the year 1842”, William Harris Rule.
4: Gibraltarians
None
5: Getting Settled
[19] Manuscript of Mother Josephine Reddy, written about 1913, Loreto Archives, Dublin. Ref.: Z/15. In the Annals of Loreto 1814 – 1860 Mother Teresa Ball has the following entry for August 12 1845: “Right Revd Dr Hughes purchased the best house in Gibraltar for a community from Loretto, Rathfarnham”.
[20] Named after a previous Governor of Gibraltar, General Don.
[21] Annals of Loretto, 1814 – 1860 Written by Mother Teresa Ball: entry for June 22nd, 1851.
6: First Schools
[22]It is interesting to note that in 1930 a large room in the same house was used by the Gibraltar Branch of the British Medical Association.
[23] Mother Christina O’Reilly (who later came to Gibraltar) commenting on the death of Sister Raphael Maguire, the first Sister to die in Bray.
[24] “Our Gibraltar”, D M Ellicott, 1973.
[25] Letters of Mother Teresa Ball – to Mother Teresa Dease in Canada, 29th November 1851.
[26]Letters of Mother Teresa Ball .
7: Thoughts about Spain
[27] Ibid.
[28] “156 persons were killed at the Siege of Madrid and 18 at the Siege of Saragossa.” Annals of Loretto, entry for July 24th 1856.
29 Cf. Charles Usherwood’s Service Journal, 1852 – 1856. (Kenneth Usherwood, living relative of Charles Usherwood and the Green Howards Regimental Museum, Yorkshire).
[30]Letters of Mother Teresa Ball – to Mother Eucharia Dease at Loreto Convent, Fermoy, dated “1854”.
[31] When Gardiner was appointed Governor of Gibraltar in 1848 the Master General of the Ordnance was appalled and referred to him as “a silly vain man”. Hew Strachan: “From Waterloo to Balaclava”, quoted by Tito Benady in Gibraltar Heritage Journal No 6.
[32] Letters of Mother Teresa Ball – to Mother Alphonsus, 11th August 1860. Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel grapes, grown east of Gibraltar around San Lucar de Barrameda and Manilva, were brought to wine presses in Gibraltar. One was situated in Pitman’s Alley until the late 1800s. Whether Mother Teresa means a poor ‘vintage’ or a poor harvest in general, the result might have meant fewer Spanish boarders from Jerez for the school in Europa which was, of course, the nuns’ main source of income.
8: Mary Ward and Teresa Ball
[33] The Bull of Suppression, “Pastoralis Romani Pontificis” (1630) commands the Christian faithful “to regard and repute them as suppressed, extinct, rooted out, destroyed and abolished”.
[34] Mary Ward’s words quoted in “A Briefe Relation…” manuscript Life of Mary Ward written by her friends and companions Winifred Wigmore and Mary Poyntz.
[35] “Memories of Loreto” Dublin, 1927.
[36] In the Loreto (Gibraltar) Annals Mother Dympna Crowley has once referred to this Mother Stanislaus as “Mother Stanislaus Cousse Murphy”. I have kept the two surnames throughout in order to distinguish her from Mother Stanislaus Murphy Gould who appears very shortly afterwards.
[37] “North-West Rebellions”, Major Charles A. Boulton, 1886.
[38] Bishops Correspondence, Gibraltar Archives.
9: “Noxious Miasma”
[39] “Memories of Loreto” Dublin, 1927.
[40] Central Archives, IBVM, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin, Ref. BY/14.
[41] Gibraltar Chronicle, 7th October 1865
[42]“Report of the Barrack and Hospital Improvement Commission on the Sanitary Condition of the Mediterranean Stations” 1862.
[43]Rosenburg 1959, quoted by Sawchuk in “Deadly Visitations in Dark Time” 2001.
10: A Change of Air
[44] Manuscript of Mother Josephine Reddy, Loreto Archives, Dublin. Ref.: Z/15. [45] “Description of Gibraltar in the1820s,”James Anton, quoted by Tito Benady, “Gibraltar Heritage Journal”, 5: 79.
[46] Bishops Correspondence: Letters from the Colonial Secretary to Bishop Scandella, 8th and 14th August 1865.
[47] Diary of Frederick Stanley Carpenter, Manuscript, 1860, Loreto Convent, Gibraltar.
[48] 1878 Census, Gibraltar.
[49] Loreto (Gibraltar) Annals.
11: Superiors and Generals
[50] “Let women be governed by women.” Referred to by Jennifer Cameron, IBVM, in “A Dangerous Innovator”, 2000.
[51] Quoted in a letter dated “1856” from Sister Philomena Frizelle to Mother Teresa Dease in Canada. The issue features in several other letters, e.g., 2nd Feb 1862, 9th Aug 1858, 9th Dec 1858, Jan 1859, etc., Letters of Mother Teresa Ball. See also Appendix III.
[52] Loreto (Gibraltar) Annals.
[53] 1878 Census, Gibraltar.
[54] Manuscript of Mother Josephine Reddy, Loreto Archives, Dublin. Ref.: Z/15. The ‘member of the Rathfarnham Community’ may have been Sister Vincent Clinch who had returned from Gibraltar in 1847.
[55] Ibid.
[56] Loreto (Gibraltar) Annals.
12: Grand Bazaar
[57] There had been at least one before this in 1860. See Letters of Mother Teresa Ball – to Mother Alphonsus, 11th August 1860.
[58] Manuscript of Mother Josephine Reddy, Central Archives, IBVM, Dublin, Ref. Z/15.
[59] Land Registry, Gibraltar.
[60] Ibid.
[61] Extract from a type-written letter from Loreto Gibraltar to Rathfarnham written circa 1910, unsigned.
[62] Land Registry, Gibraltar.
[63] 1878 Census, Gibraltar.
[64] French was always on the Loreto curriculum and later on the basics were taught for a time to some of the Senior Girls at St Mary’s Elementary School.
[65] Loreto (Gibraltar) Annals.
[66] Catholic Diocese of Gibraltar website, http://www.catholicdiocese.gi/
[67] Annals of the Christian Brothers: Brother Barry, quoted in “The Rock Under a Cloud”, Charles Caruana, 1989.
[68] Letters of Mother Teresa Ball – to Mother Austin Hearne, 8th September 1858.
[69] Letters of Mother Teresa Ball – to Mother Austin Hearne, 18th February 1859.
13: Putting Things Right
[70] “The Rock Under a Cloud”, Charles Caruana, 1989.
[71] Sources are rather vague about its location, but it seems St Francis Xavier’s had to move twice (to Church Street and then to Waterport Street) before they finally settled in 1888.
[72] Again, I have kept the two surnames throughout in order to distinguish her from Mother Stanislaus Cousse Murphy who left Gibraltar in 1886.
[73] Annals of the IBVM, Spain.
[74] When the “Bedenham” blew up over sixty years later the ceilings of this building were damaged, and the old cane and plaster showed through. The whole building (now large flats) has been refurbished and so little remains of the original 1882 features.
14: Gavino’s Passage, Cornwall’s Lane
[75] The grotto still exists and continues to be very well looked after since it was first put there by the Loreto Sisters.
[76] One of the nuns from Spain joined the Gibraltar Communities for the purpose.
[77] Research notes for “A Nun, her Friends and her Order”, K Tynan, 1891, Loreto Archives, Dublin.
[78] Research notes for “A Nun, her Friends and her Order”, K Tynan, 1891, Loreto Archives, Dublin.
[79] “Sany sany wosha ’n / De woshan wee / An de wee sany baybee / She cry fo me…” etc.
15: Highwaymen and Convent Girls
[80] Annals of the IBVM, Spain.
16: Disaster in the Bay of Gibraltar
[81] Giuseppe Codali supervised the cooking arrangements for the survivors at a camp set up outside Landport Gate. The Army provided bell tents, blankets, eating utensils, writing materials. A number of business firms and individuals in Gibraltar provided food, beer, coffee, cigars and a cash advance. [Information from the Codali family].
[82] Confusingly the IBVM in England are called the ‘Roman Branch’ because they had their Generalate in Rome. Nowadays Loreto, the ‘Irish Branch’, also has its Generalate in Rome – right opposite that of the ‘Romans’!
[83] Excellent Inspection results are mentioned several times in the Loreto (Gibraltar) Annals.
17: Boer War 1899 – 1902
[84] “Our Unsung Heroes”, Tito Vallejo, 2001.
[85] Ibid.
[86] Annals of the IBVM, Spain.
[87] “The Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary”, Rev. Mother M Margarita, IBVM, MA, 1945.
[88] “The Rock Under a Cloud”, Charles Caruana, 1989.
[89] 1878 Census Gibraltar.
[90] The Loreto nuns have had their own vault since 1887. They made space in it for several other people, among them two Sisters of Charity, a music teacher, the Bishop’s coach-driver and a cook. Sometimes the vault could not be opened because a recent burial had taken place so the nuns were occasionally offered space in other people’s vaults. The Loreto nuns who died in Gibraltar before 1887 were certainly among that number.
[91] Mother Dympna’s writing in the Loreto (Gibraltar) Annals.
[92] Loreto (Gibraltar) Annals.
[93] The Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary”, Rev. Mother M Margarita, IBVM, MA, 1945.
18: To End All Wars
[94] Colonial Hospital – later “St Bernard’s” at the top of Hospital Hill.
[95]Loreto (Gibraltar) Annals.
[96]Loreto (Gibraltar) Annals. I have been unable to find the edition of the Chronicle referred to here.
[97] In 1845 the passage for each of the Loreto Sisters cost £12.
[98] Loreto (Gibraltar) Annals.
[99] These were the Superior General, the Irish Provincial and the local Superior. Land Registry, Gibraltar.
19: ‘Points of Manners’
[100] An Essential Handbook of Victorian Etiquette, Professor Thomas E. Hill, 1994.
[101] The cobbles in the principal streets had been removed over a hundred years earlier during the Great Siege in order to allow enemy cannon balls to sink into the soft earth rather than ricochet off them and cause greater damage to buildings. The removal of the cobbles meant that the streets were inclined to be muddy and so were boarded over until, with the advent of the motor car, they were surfaced with Tar Macadam.
[102] See Appendix IV for an article on the history of the production and use of globes.
[103] Land Registry, Gibraltar.
20: Progress And Modernisation
[104] Girls who attended “the Green Convent” in the 1950s (Loreto High at Convent Place, so called because of its green uniform) will remember all the rules about the making of the new uniform. The darts at the front were to be exactly six inches apart, the ‘divided skirts’ for games had to be one inch above the knee, and the hem of the tunic must touch the ground when you kneeled.
[105] The first lines of the film’s theme song are:
“¡María de la O!
Que desgrasiaíta, gitana, tú ere
teniéndolo tó.
Te quiere reí,
y hasta los ojitos los tienes morao
de tanto sufrí.”
21: Trouble in Spain
[106] See “Haciendo de República” by Julio Camba, 1934, for an interesting and amusing article on how the Second Republic got it wrong in separating Church and State.
[107] Annals of the IBVM, Spain.
[108] Loreto (Gibraltar) Annals.
[109] Cf “The Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary” by Rev. M. Margarita, IBVM, M.A.
22: Sister Trinidad Garcia
[110] Memories of World War II in Gibraltar, Sister Regina Ramsey (as told to Ena Devlin), Cúpla Focal, September and October 2000, and also in Gibraltar Heritage Journal 11: 153, 2004.
23: Personal Tragedy
[111] Athlone Castle, built in 1936.
[112] Loreto (Gibraltar) Annals.
[113] Mother Peter Claver Walsh’s account of the Evacuation, ibid.
[114] See Appendix VI.
[115] Loreto (Gibraltar) Annals.
24: Return To The Rock
[116] Log Book “Plata Villa Emergency School” entry for 27th September 1944.
[117] Ibid.
[118] Plata Villa Emergency School Log Book, entry for 19thth September 1944
25: Back To The Beginning
[119] In 1845 they had arrived on December 16th.
[120] Most likely this would have been Cazes (the only Departmental Store in Gibraltar) or Bassadone’s.
[121] Sister Consuelo Conroy.
[122] Loreto High School Log Book, January 1945.
[123]“Memories of Gibraltar”, Sister Paula McCorry, 2004.
[125]“Memories of Gibraltar”, Sister Paula McCorry, 2004.
26: Castilleja and Chipiona
[126] Annals of the IBVM, Spain.
[127] Ibid.
[128]“Memories of Gibraltar”, Sister Paula McCorry, 2004.
27: “The Explosion”
[129]“Memories of Gibraltar”, Sister Paula McCorry, 2004.
28: “The Green Convent”
[130] Land Registry, Gibraltar.
[131]. “Memories of Gibraltar”, Sister Paula McCorry, 2004.
[132]“Memories of Gibraltar”, Sister Paula McCorry, 2004.
[133] “What style that woman has!” Ita Prescott, quoted by classmate Eileen Griffin.
[134] Sometimes they were comic versions. Mother Paula remembers one of the nuns being dressed up to look like the Rock of Gibraltar!
[135]Matthew 25:21.
29: Comprehensive and “Private” School
[136]The last two Loreto nuns to teach at Westside Comprehensive were Sisters Brigid Agnes, who had been Superior, and Patricia McLaughlin, who later went to Peru.
30: Epilogue
[137] Letter from Mother Dympna Crowley to Sister Thérèse in Rome, 21st February 1977
[138] See Appendix VII. Cf. also training in decision-making as practised in many modern systems of psychotherapy.
[139] From a leaflet produced by Sister Paula Doolin, IBVM, Central Archives, Dublin, 2005.
[140]Cf. Luke 12:49.