Rochfortbridge mourns Sr Pius
Fond memories were in abundance in Rochfortbridge, Milltownpass and surrounding parishes, as friends and former students of the late Sr Pius Doran gathered to bid farewell to one whose contribution to spiritual, community and educational life had left such a profound and wholly positive impact on the district.
Sr Pius, in her 84th year, was a long-serving member of the Sisters of Mercy who, up until recently, were based in Rochfortbridge. She passed to her eternal reward at Millbury Nursing Home, Navan on Tuesday July 31.
An intensely popular figure who had become part and parcel of community life in Rochfortbridge, Sr Pius was born Margaret Doran in 1934, a native of Cloncat, Fordstown, Navan, County Meath.
After completing her formal education, she entered the Mercy order at Rochfortbridge in 1952, serving her novitiate there before being professed as a nun in 1958, taking the name Pius.
A long-serving member of the teaching staff at the secondary school formerly known as the Convent of Mercy, Rochfortbridge (now St Joseph’s Secondary School), Sr Pius qualified as a home economics teacher during the 1970s at Sion Hill, Dublin – just one of the many subjects she taught during her time at the school. She also took care of boarders at the school.
“She was a great lady; very fair but firm. She treated everybody the same,” said historian Danny Dunne, a past student of the Convent of Mercy, and one of the team of contributors who put together a 150th anniversary history of the Mercy Sisters in Rochfortbridge entitled ‘To Serve with Gladness’ (2012).
“She had a heart of gold, and was such a kind person – especially to the less fortunate. She quietly got on and helped out whoever she could. She also spent a great deal of time visiting the sick.”
A keen player of whist and other card games, Sr Pius was also an ardent follower of sport, especially soccer. One of her particular claims to fame was the long friendship she enjoyed with former Republic of Ireland international soccer manager and World Cup medallist with England, Jack Charlton.
Charlton became a genuine superstar in Ireland during his tenure in charge of the Boys in Green in the late 1980s and 1990s, when Ireland excelled at Euro ’88 and World Cups in 1990 and 1994.
Sr Pius first met Jack at a charity raffle in Moate – the prize for which was a football signed by the Irish soccer team. She didn’t win the football, and she and Jack struck up a lasting friendship with the Novocastrian, whose term in charge of the Irish team ran from 1986 to 1996.
After exchanging addresses with Jack, Sr Pius followed the Irish team around the world – including to the memorable World Cup in the USA in 1994. Joining the Irish team at their hotel ahead of big games, she became something of a beloved mascot for Jackie’s Army.
The word ‘beloved’ does not come close to describe her place in the hearts of people in Rochfortbridge. The closure Mercy convent, and the sisters’ transfer to Kells – which occurred in the summer of 2016 – was met with great sadness in the area, as indeed was news of the death of Sr Pius’ on Tuesday last.
Sadly, Sr Pius’ passing was the first of two bereavements suffered by the Doran family last week; on Wednesday August 1, her brother, Noel, died peacefully at his home in Cloncat, surrounded by his family, and was interred at Kilskyre on Sunday last.
Sr Pius is survived by her sisters Anne and Bridie, her nephews, nieces and extended family.
After reposing at the Convent of Mercy chapel in Kells on Wednesday last, Sr Pius was removed to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Rochfortbridge for funeral Mass on Thursday, where a large crowd of mourners attended. She was laid to rest in the adjoining cemetery.