Our History
Opening of Saint Patrick’s Hospital 1870
Mother de Chantal continued to oversee the construction of the building and strove to have it completed within the time allowed in Dr. Murphy’s will. When the building was near completion in the summer of 1870, Mother Francis Mary Scholastica Margison paid a visit to Cork to discuss with Mother de Chantal the final arrangements.
A few days before the official taking over of the new Hospital (14th September 1870), Mother Scholastica sent Mary Anne Heaton from Dublin to Cork to have beds ready, fires lighted and some little preparation made for the Sisters. The Rev. Mother, imagining that the house was completed, gave Mary Anne her directions, and told her among other things to seek out the builder and get the keys. Little did she know that keys were a rather superfluous luxury as there were no doors to lock.
On the morning of the 14th September, escorted by Mother Scholastica, the six Sisters appointed to form the new community in Cork, began their journey from Dublin. They were Sr. Mary Sebastian Canivan, Sr. Mary Andrew Delamere, Sr. Mary Jerome Browne, Sr. Mary Austin Coyle, Sr. M. Dismas Bowen and Sr. Joseph Veronica. The Mother General, Mother Francis Magdalen McCarthy, had taken leave of them in good spirits.
She told them that the new Cork foundation, which was to be known as St. Patrick’s Hospital, was beginning under favourable circumstances and that a fine building had been completed and paid for.
Mother Scholastica had in hand £500 (the gift of a Mrs. Simpson) to help furnish the building, and the Hospital also had an income of £300 a year arising out of Dr. Murphy’s bequest. Father Delay, Canon Browne, Father Lane (the two latter belonged to St. Patrick’s Parish) and several gentlemen friends met Mother Mary Scholastica and the new community at the Cork rail terminus on Penrose Quay. Quite a display awaited them when they stepped out of the railway carriage, and found themselves, seventeen trunks and black bundles to match, all deposited on the platform. Trunks, bundles, visitors and all were, at last, happily stowed away by the gentlemen into horse-drawn sedan cars, and driven up the high hill to St. Patrick’s Hospital.
The little community found they were to occupy a large, solid, perfectly plain stone building with an imposing appearance, situated on high ground with views across the city. It was four storeys high (including the basement), and had eleven windows across the front. It did not have the least pretension to ornament of any kind. Bricks had been substituted for the cut stone dressings, which would have been used in a more expensive style of architecture. The internal construction was particularly simple in its plan.
On each floor was a corridor, nine feet wide, and the entire length of the house ran to 136 feet. The rooms were to the front of the building. Each corridor had a door, which divided the Hospital from that part of the house, which was intended for the community. The rooms were lofty with fine windows, and nature’s luxuries of light, air and space were in abundance. To her great dismay, Mother Scholastica found the house in a totally unfinished state.
It was swarming with tradesmen, and there were as yet no kitchen, range, refectory or store-room. In fact, none of the basic essentials were on hand due to lack of time and money.
For many weeks, the Sisters felt desolate in the great house, empty except for the unwelcome incursions of tradesmen. The walls were damp, the rooms unfurnished and the corridors bare. There were not enough hands, either secular or religious, to keep the house clean. The very emptiness of everything made the raw cold ten times more piercing. Outside, matters were not much cheerier. On all sides, masses of stones and rubbish had to be clambered over by anyone adventurous enough to enter the Hospital. Not a blade of grass or a green leaf was to be seen. Everything was even more bare and bleak than within. These discomforts, in conjunction with the cares and difficulties with which they were surrounded, had a depressing influence on the little band of Sisters. It was quite a while before the young community settled down.
Contribution: Some of the text presented here is taken from A Dream Unfolding: Portrait of St. Patrick’s Hospital & Marymount Hospice by Kieran McCarthy.