England, Ireland

Provincial house:

  • Adress: 22 Holyrood Road – NORTHAMPTON NN5 7AQ – ANGLETERRE
  • Tél: 1604 587 423

The EI Province comprises two countries: ENGLAND and IRELAND.

 Population of these countries:
England: 57 million –   Ireland: 4.9 million
Language. English is the language spoken in all 2 countries,
The flag of England is the Union Jack comprising England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Southern Ireland is a republic and the flag is green, white and gold.
Flowers. The rose is the symbol of England, the shamrock of Ireland.
Ethnicity of the countries. The forebears of the English were the Anglo Saxons. England was known as the Dowry of Mary till the Reformation of the sixteenth century. St George is the patron saint of England. Ireland was the land of St Patrick and known as the island of saints and scholars in medieval times.

Personnel of the EI Province. There are currently 33 sisters in the Province
2 Irish, 7 British, 1 American, 1 Cameroonian, 1 Nigerian, 1 Filipino-,
    divided into 8 communities.

    There are 103 Associés. (to 31 December 2022)

 

Communities
There are 1 community in Ireland- Dublin and one sister in a retirement home, also Dublin. There are 6 small communities in England composed of the remainder of the sisters and one larger group in a retirement home.
Mission of the Province
Since the arrival of the sisters in England, 120 years ago, their principal mission was the education of children in junior and senior schools, aged 5 to 18. They established their own convent schools, but the sisters also worked in the parochial schools from the beginning. They ran 6 private fee-paying Convent schools: Bedford, Olney, Ingsdon, Pontypool, Abergavenny and Aberystwyth. The first one to close was Olney and the last one closed was Abergavenny.
Since the beginning the sisters were qualified as teachers and taught in the parochial elementary schools till 1972. In the nineteenth sixties, a few nurses were trained and they worked in the state hospitals till the last sister left in 2005. A very central part of their mission of the sisters was their work for the poor and the sick. The Sisters could be seen visiting the poor on the large housing estates built after the Second World War.
There is one salaried sister in the Province at present, who works in a retreat center. Another sister in temporary vows is in France for further formation.  The remaining sisters are over 70 years of age. The sisters live like the poor on their state pensions, with the addition of professional pensions for those who received professional salaries during their working years. Fortunately, the leadership of the province had the wisdom to prepare for the retirement of the sisters when the day came that none of them would be salaried.
— Internationality
The Sisters of the English Province experienced internationality from the moment they entered the novitiate. In most communities, there were French, English, Irish and Welsh sisters in the community. We have opened an international novitiate community in England, in the existing provincial house, and we welcome an international group of sisters and novices.
—   Hospitality
Many Sisters visiting the Province comment on the quality of the hospitality they receive, and they feel very much at home in our midst.

                                                                                                                                                                 June 2022