Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family
history through old photographs.
With apologies to my fellow Homo-Sepians, I am preparing
for a big trip and will be gone for several weeks, so my participation in Sepia
Saturday will be minimal at best. I just hope I remember to link my post!
This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt has me thinking about
my 1st cousin twice removed, Sadie Byrnes. She was the only daughter
of my great-grandmother’s sister Elizabeth Sheehan and her husband Patrick
Byrnes.
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| My grandmother Julie Walsh (left) and Sadie Byrnes (right) |
In 1928, at the age of 21, Sadie entered the convent of
St. Dominic in Blauvelt, New York. Her religious name was Sister Vincent
Carmel. I often wonder what Sadie’s life was like as a child. What was it about
her upbringing that fostered the passion for service and set her toward her
chosen path?
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| The Convent St. Dominic in Blauvelt photo from Twitter |
Sadie may have been drawn to the Dominican Order because
of its presence where she lived in Manhattan. In fact, it is likely the school
she attended was operated by Dominican sisters. The Dominican Order of
Preachers was originally a cloistered group living a life of contemplation and
prayer. Eventually the sisters felt called to serve the poor. They are known
for their work in hospitals, schools, and orphanages.
The convent at Blauvelt, which is about 25 miles from
Manhattan, has a history of providing teachers in various parts of New York
City, not just Manhattan, but also the Bronx and Yonkers. They even sent
teachers to Florida, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Illinois. Some taught the
blind. Other Dominicans worked in hospitals, particularly with cancer patients.
Still others served as house mothers in orphanages.
Sadie herself taught math and English in the parochial
schools in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Yonkers. She served as principal and
mother superior as well. Sadie was the principal at St. Catherine’s in Blauvelt
when she made a visit to Virginia in 1969. She was in the company of at least
two other Dominican sisters, but she made time to visit her cousins.
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| Sadie Byrnes 1969 Sr. Vincent Carmel |
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| At the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg, Virginia Two Dominican sisters and my grandaunt Helen Killeen Parker Sadie must have taken this bad photo. |
And look - St. Dominic at Blauvelt has a Twitter page. I
wonder what Sadie would think of that.
As Hamlet said, “Get thee to a nunnery” and if not there,
then to Sepia Saturday.
Wendy
© 2019, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
