Opinion

What is Rome waiting for? The life of Irish woman Edel Quinn was a miracle

Rite & Reason: Cork woman born in 1907 has been declared Venerable by the Catholic Church - a step on the road to canonisation, but with no guarantees

Raphael S Ndingi Mwana a’Nzeki, at the time archbishop of Nairobi, Kenya, at the unveiling of a commemorative plaque to Edel Quinn, former Legion of Mary envoy to East Africa, at Trafalgar Terrace, Seapoint, Co Dublin, in 2007. Photograph: Eric Luke
Raphael S Ndingi Mwana a’Nzeki, at the time archbishop of Nairobi, Kenya, at the unveiling of a commemorative plaque to Edel Quinn, former Legion of Mary envoy to East Africa, at Trafalgar Terrace, Seapoint, Co Dublin, in 2007. Photograph: Eric Luke
Dr Finola Kennedy
Sun Dec 15 2024 - 00:30

For centuries, Ireland was known as the Island of Saints and Scholars. This was because Ireland was a centre of monasticism and learning in early medieval times. The title persisted and the Isle of Saints is even mentioned in James Joyce’s novel, Ulysses.

In the Catholic Church, a saint is someone considered to be of such holiness that it is assumed they are in heaven. Of course nobody knows who is in heaven, but the presumption is that martyrs and those declared saints by popular acclaim, for example, St Patrick and St Brigid, as well as those who have gone through the canonisation process of the Church, are in heaven.

Oddly, perhaps, a few names have been dropped from the calendar of saints, including St Christopher and St Philomena, because of doubts regarding their identity.

Following the canonisation process, which involves a candidate for canonisation meeting certain criteria – including the provision of a miracle or two, or martyrdom – the pope may declare someone to be a saint.

READ MORE

In some cases, the process can be an expensive operation – involving, for example, the defrayal of costs in establishing the existence and authenticity of miracles.

There are three canonised Irish saints – St Malachy, St Lawrence O’Toole and St Oliver Plunkett. A fourth canonised “Irish” saint, St Charles of Mount Argus, was born in the Netherlands, but he lived and worked for many years in Dublin.

John Henry Newman, an Englishman, worked for some years in Ireland, establishing the Catholic University, the remote ancestor of UCD, and he was canonised in 2019. The miracle which earlier resulted in Newman’s beatification was the recovery from illness of an American deacon, Jack Sullivan. But Newman would be regarded as a very English saint.

[ Breda O’Brien: Brigid of Kildare is not a Rorschach inkblot ]

Oliver Plunkett, the last Irish canonised saint, lived and died in the 17th century, and was canonised nearly 50 years ago in 1975. However, there are nine “proclaimed” Irish saints, including Patrick, Brigid, Columcille and Finian. The number of proclaimed saints varies enormously by country, with almost 300 in Italy.

The three Irish canonised saints lived in the 11th, 12th, and 17th centuries. By contrast, four men who were popes in the 20th century – three Italian and one Polish – were also canonised in the 20th century: Pius X, Paul VI, John XXIII and John Paul II.

People gather for a ceremony at the unveiling of a commemorative plaque to Edel Quinn, former Legion of Mary envoy to East Africa, at Trafalgar Terrace, Seapoint, Co Dublin, in 2007, the centenary year of her birth. Photograph: Eric Luke
People gather for a ceremony at the unveiling of a commemorative plaque to Edel Quinn, former Legion of Mary envoy to East Africa, at Trafalgar Terrace, Seapoint, Co Dublin, in 2007, the centenary year of her birth. Photograph: Eric Luke

Three Irish women, founders of religious orders, have been declared Venerable in recent decades. This is a step on the road to canonisation, but with no guarantee of reaching canonisation. They are Catherine McAuley, Nano Nagle and Mary Aikenhead.

Both McAuley and Aikenhead died almost 200 years ago, while Nano Nagle died in 1784, 240 years ago. So there is no fast track canonisation for Irish nuns. Compare this with Mother Teresa, who died in 1997, was beatified by special dispensation of John Paul II in 2003 and canonised in 2016, less than 20 years after her death.

In 1936, Edel Quinn went as Legion of Mary envoy to Africa, and remained there until her death in Nairobi at the age of 37

It seems possible that there is an imbalance between the number of men and women who have been canonised, with the number of men ahead of the number of women and the number of clergy far outnumbering lay people.

At a time when the clerical church in Ireland has been rocked to its foundations and when the Roman Synod has realised the necessity of the laity for evangelisation, what about Edel Quinn?

Born in Cork in 1907, Quinn worked for a tile company in Dublin, where the manager, a Frenchman named Pierre Landrin, proposed marriage. But she had decided to become a nun. In 1932, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and spent the next 18 months in Newcastle sanatorium in Co Wicklow.

[ Life of Legion of Mary founder Frank Duff to be made into a film ]

In 1936, Quinn went as Legion of Mary envoy to Africa, and remained there until her death in Nairobi at the age of 37. The initial plan had been that she would go to South Africa, where it was believed the climate would be good for her health. But then the Archbishop of Zanzibar and Nairobi pleaded for support, and she went to Nairobi.

Having established the Legion in Nairobi, she undertook punishing journeys to establish the Legion throughout Kenya, Uganda, Nyasaland and Tanganyika. She travelled in an old 4x4 with a Muslim driver, determined to spread the Good News of the Gospel.

She died in Nairobi in 1944 and is buried there. She has been declared Venerable. What is Rome waiting for? Her life was a miracle.