Missionary Sisters of Saint Columban Cemetery

Columban Sisters' Cemetery is located on the grounds of the motherhouse in Magheramore, County Wicklow.

The Missionary Sisters of Saint Columban were founded in Ireland in 1922.

They came into existence in response to a call to help the people of China, especially the women and children. This call was heard by many women among them Frances Moloney, a young widow searching for a way of life that would make a difference to the most needy. A few years previously, Rev John Blowick, a professor at the National Seminary in Maynooth, found the Maynooth Mission to China (known today as the Missionary Society of Saint Columban). He was to play a pivotol role in the founding of these missionary sisters.

On February 1, 1922, the first group of women came together at a farmhouse in Cahiracon, beside the River Shannon, in County Clare, Ireland, to begin their formation and novitiate. Thus began the congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Saint Columban. Among these pioneering women were: Frances Moloney, Nora Collins, Brigid McSweeney, Mary McKey, Elizabeth Walsh, all from Ireland, and Frances Mapleback, who had travelled all the way from Australia to join this newly founded congregation.

In 1926, these sisters started their missionary work in China and over the next hundred years, they have spread their apostolate throughout the work, across six continents. They continue to work in medical care, but have expanded their work to provide pastoral care, education and the promotion of social issues in the countries where they serve.

This cemetery is reserved for the members of Missionary Sisters of Saint Columban (also known as Columban Sisters). Not all Columban Sisters who have died are buried at the motherhouse in Magheramore. A sacred space is prepared around the Crucifix in the cemetery and the relatives of sisters who are buried abroad gather around this space while the relatives of the sisters buried in Magheramore gather around the individual headstone of their deceased relative.