SISTERS OF MERCY IN TIME OF WAR

Australian experiences figure prominently in a fascinating international online exhibition that reveals the Sisters of Mercy’s involvement in the Great War.

In 2017 archivists from the Union of the Sisters of Mercy Great Britain and the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas called for records or photographs for the exhibition, and Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea archivists pitched in with several valuable items.

These included tapestries from ISMAPNG’s Ballarat East collections, a diary from its Grafton collection, and documents and photographs from its Singleton collection.

Launched ahead of

Armistice Day, The Sisters of Mercy During World War I, 1915-1918 is organised around the themes: Those Left Behind, In the Convent, From the Front, The War Effort, Sister Nurses, and Armistice.

Former students are the source of a number of items from Australia.

From their Ballarat East, the Sisters of Mercy supplied a stevengraph (picture woven from silk) brought back from WWI by an ex-student, Lt. Colonel Bernard Duggan, as a gift to Sister M. Alacoque Connell and M. Berchmans Kerwick in Ballarat East.

And there is a 1944 letter sent to the Sisters of Mercy in Grafton about the donation of Private Verdi Schwinghammer’s WWI diary. Pte Schwinghammer enlisted in the 42nd Batallion (known as the Australian Black Watch), 1st AIF in May, 1916, and served in France from June 1917 to April 1919.

Civilians around the world contributed to the war effort. In Australia, many Sisters worked to raise money and organised care packages.

One picture shows sisters and girls at the Convent High School in Singleton, NSW, who organised concerts and fetes to raise funds to support the young local men serving overseas.

And at least seven Singleton Sisters of Mercy underwent Junior Cadet training and gained Cadet Certificates.

The exhibit features the certificate of Sister Mary Evangelist McBride, who spent her life as a primary teacher, but during war undertook cadet training, passing Physical Training, Marching, Running and First Aid “with honours”.

Elsewhere in the exhibition Sisters in Great Britain noted the fear and disruption zeppelin raids had on their students in school.

Annals accompanying a picture of a St Catherine’s Convent School classroom in Nottingham note: “Feb 4th 1916: The zeppelin raid on Monday night caused a very bad attendance on Tuesday, the fright having upset many homes, keeping both parents and children up a good part of the night.”

The school register of St Joseph’s Home in Handsworth, touchingly refers to the fathers of children as young as four as “Soldier at the front”, or worse, “Soldier killed in action.”

The Sisters in Great Britain and Ireland also opened their homes to Belgian refugees.

One item records a Sister Donatilda coming to St Winefride’s Convent, Shrewsbury, with Belgian pupils. Another, from the Skibbereen Convent in County Cork, Ireland, notes that two Ursuline sisters from Belgium came to stay after their convent was burnt during the war.

In their annals, the Sisters of Mercy in Ireland note they hosted visiting soldiers passing through. They also came under ration with the rest of the country, and had difficulty feeding themselves and the orphans they cared for.

A diary entry from the Sisters of Mercy at the Passage West Convent in County Cork, Ireland notes that several of “our Old Boys” (former students) had been sent to the front. Some had been wounded, several wrote letters back, and the Sisters sent little gifts to others.

A letter to Sister Mary Genevieve in Cincinnati, Ohio, describes a young soldier’s sea sickness while traveling to Germany, and his discussions with injured soldiers who wish to rejoin the fighting men.

And in a letter to a Sister in Cincinnati, an officer tells how a camp rat ate through his brand new suit, but also how on Easter Sunday he and another officer rode to a French town to celebrate Mass.

The Sisters’ medical skills were much needed. In Britain, they served wounded soldiers in their hospital in London; and from the US they sent trained nurses to France, served in military camps, and offered up their medical facilities.

Items feature include a letter to the Surgeon General of the United States Army from the Sisters of Mercy of Merion/Philadelphia, offering the use of their hospital.

A letter and certificate concerns the awarding of the “Medaille de la Reine” to Sister Ignatius Shute, a Sister of Mercy of St John & St Elizabeth Hospital in London. The Belgian decoration recognition recipient Sisters for their exceptional care for victims of the war.

The display features sketches by patients who are being cared for and rehabilitation by Sisters at the hospital, and after the initial work of the doctors was done. And in a lighter moment, Sisters and soldiers are shown at the hospital celebrating Christmas.

To view the online exhibition, The Sisters of Mercy During World War I, 1915-1918, go to: https://mercyinthegreatwar.org/

Christmas is celebrated with the Sisters and the soldiers at the Hospital of St. John and St. Elizabeth in London, England.
Source: Union of the Sisters of Mercy of Great Britain Archives

Christmas is celebrated with the Sisters and the soldiers at the Hospital of St. John and St. Elizabeth in London, England.
Source: Union of the Sisters of Mercy of Great Britain Archives