Ordained & Professed Past Pupils

Ordained and Professed Past Pupils of Ballyoughter NS

For the centenary year of Ballyoughter in 1989, Mrs Kathleen Eivers (née Lawlor, retired teacher) compiled a list of past pupils from Ballyoughter National School who were ordained as priests or professed as nuns.

Two of the priests ordained, Rev. Felix Byrne and Rev. John Byrne, are brothers and hail from Ballygullen.

Two of the nuns professed, Sr. Bridget Tyrrell and Sr. Loyola Tyrrell, were sisters from Clough.

Rev. Aidan Brennan was from Clonmore, Ballyoughter and Sr. Anne Mary Murphy is from Tomcoyle and currently resides in the Loreto Convent, Bray, County Wicklow.

Name	Date Ordained	Location
Rev. Aidan Brennan	23-06-1929	Maynooth College
Very Rev. Felix Canon Byrne	17-04-1955	St. Peter’s College, Wexford
Rev. John Byrne	29-06-1959	C.S.Sp., Rome
Rev. Raymond Gahan	02-06-1968	St. Peter’s College, Wexford

Name	Date Professed	Order
Sr. Anne Mary Murphy	1968	Loreto Sisters
Sr. Bridget Tyrrell	02-05-1905	Presentation Sisters
Sr. Loyola Tyrrell	06-12-1910	St. John of God Sisters

Gallery

Rev. John Byrne, Rev. Felix Byrne and Rev Raymond Gahan at Ballyoughter NS Centenary celebrations 1989 – with the kind permission of the Gorey Guardian

Sr. Loyola Tyrrell – with the kind permission of the St John of God Congregational Centre, Wexford

Class Piece 1927-1928 for Reverend Aidan Brennan – with the kind permission of St. Patrick’s College Archives, Maynooth. Fr Brennan is 7th row down and at the far right in this Class Piece.

Sister Bridgid Tyrrell – 2nd from left, back row. Photograph courtesy of the Presentation Sisters, Wexford.

Sr. Bridgid Tyrrell

Sr. Bridgid (Bridget) Tyrrell was born in 1884 in the townland of Clough. Her mother was Mary Tyrrell (née Redmond) and her father was Thomas Tyrrell, a farmer.

She attended Ballyoughter National School as a child and later entered the Presentation Sisters when she was 18 years of age. Her Entry Date to the order is recorded as 3^rd May 1903 in Wexford and her Date of Profession is recorded as 2^nd May 1905 in the presence of the Rt. Rev. Fr. James Brown, Lord Bishop of Ferns. Also present at her profession was the Rev. Mother Teresa Pettit, Superioress, and Mother Mary Xavier Coghlan, Assistant.

Sr. Bridgid was known by her community as a very kind and generous person who had a strong belief in prayer. She visited the schools in Wexford to inform pupils of the Missions to Africa. She is known to have collected so many pennies from pupils over the years that it was said, even though she never went on missions herself, she provided support for African babies born into poverty as though she was there in person.

Sr. Bridgid died on the 6^th of August 1966 and is buried in the Presentation Convent cemetery, Wexford.

Information provided by the Archives of the Presentation Order courtesy of Sr. Grace Redmond and Sr. Vera Dalton.

Sr. Loyola Tyrrell

Sr. Loyola Tyrrell was born Teresa Tyrrell in 1887 in the townland of Clough. Her mother was Mary Tyrrell (née Redmond) and her father was Thomas Tyrrell, a farmer.

She attended Ballyoughter National School as a child and later entered the St John of God order when she was 20 years of age. Her Entry Date to the order is recorded as 8^th September 1907 in Wexford and her Date of Profession is recorded as 6^th December 1910.

Sr Loyola is known to have been working in St. John’s hospital in 1911. Although there is no record of her training, it was the practice in the order at that time (1910-1924) for the Wexford sisters to train in St. Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin. Later, Sr. Loyola worked in the Infirmary in Baltinglass Workhouse until the siters left there in 1919. She then worked for several years in St. John’s, Enniscorthy and it appears that she retired to the Wexford Convent c.1950. This would have been regarded as early retirement for a sister in those days but, it is suspected, she may have retired on health grounds.

Sr. Loyola died on the 15^thof March 1967 in Ely Hospital, Wexford from heart failure and was buried in the Convent cemetery, Wexford. Her grave number is WX L3 22.

Information provided by the Archives of the St John of God Congregational Centre, Wexford

Sr. Anne Mary Murphy IBVM

Sr. Anne Mary Murphy (Christina) was born on December 25th 1943 to her parents, Thomas and Ellen Murphy, who were farmers in the nearby townland of Tomcoyle. She was the second youngest of seven children in the family.

She attended Ballyoughter National School as a child and later continued her education as a boarder in Loreto Abbey, Gorey. Having completed her Leaving Certificate in 1963, Sr. Anne Mary entered Religious Life in Loreto Abbey, Rathfarnham. She was professed in 1966 and took her final vows in 1972.

After First Profession, she ministered in Loreto Abbey, North Great George’s Street, Loreto College, Milford and Loreto Convent, Kilkenny. Sr. Anne Mary studied at the Mater Dei Institute of Education from 1972 and qualified as a Religion and Art teacher. Then she taught for 14 years in Loreto College, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin and in Loreto Convent, Cavan for 9 years.

In 1998, Sr. Anne Mary travelled to Chicago to take up further studies in Theology and complete a Masters in Pastoral Studies. In 2003, she completed a Masters in Art Therapy in Hertfordshire University and practised Art Therapy in the Bray and Crumlin areas.

In 2006, the Loreto Sisters created a new foundation for the education of girls in Rumbek, South Sudan. Sr. Anne Mary joined the community there in 2008 when the secondary level boarding school for girls was opened.

Since returning from South Sudan, Sr. Anne Mary concentrated on prayer ministry in the Bray area.

In conversation with Sr. Anne Mary Murphy on 08/12/2021.

Rev. Aidan Brennan

Father Aidan Brennan was born in Clonmore, Ballyoughter in 1903. His parents were Richard Brennan, a local Tailor, and Ellen Brennan (née Bernie). He attended Ballyoughter National School, St. Peter’s College, Wexford before matriculating into St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth Divinity class for the diocese of Ferns on 17th October 1922.

He was ordained in St. Patrick’s College on the 23rd of June 1929. Father Brennan was appointed as curate to the parish of Bree on the 4th of May 1930. Nine months later, on the 7th of February 1931, he was transferred to Ferns parish with a particular responsibility for Clologue.

Father Brennan contracted TB and his poor health forced him to resign from his parish duties on the 1st of July 1939. He died on the 14th of June 1940 and was interred in Ferns cemetery.

In conversation with Father Paddy Cushen PP, Ferns, Co Wexford.

Rev. John Byrne

Father John Byrne was born in Ballygullen, Ballyoughter on April 26, 1931. After completing his secondary education at St. Peter’s, Wexford, he entered the Spiritan (Holy Ghost) novitiate.

He studied philosophy at UCD, gaining a BA in 1953. In line with the then custom for Irish Spiritan seminarians to be sent to a Spiritan school (either in Ireland or in Trinidad) to ‘prefect’ (working as a member of school staff, teaching classes, coaching teams and helping supervise students), John ‘prefected’ in Rockwell College, Co. Tipperary from 1953 to 1955.

He was ordained to the priesthood on June 29, 1958. Theology studies at the Gregorian University in Rome culminated the following year in him being awarded the Licentiate of Sacred Theology (STL).

In 1959, Fr. John was appointed to St. Mary’s College, Rathmines, one of four second-level colleges run by the Spiritans in Dublin. He remained on the teaching staff there until 1980 when he was appointed to Templeogue College where he would teach until 1995.

Outside of his various Spiritan roles including Community Bursar and Community Leader in Templeogue Community, he assisted regularly at weekends in the parish of Ballon and Rathoe in Co. Carlow.

John was a keen and gifted gardener – he took great care of the Spiritan cemetery in Kimmage – and he was the epitome of graciousness, kindness and generosity in his dealings with others.

Father John Byrne passed away on July 1st 2012 in the Beacon Hospital, Dublin. His Funeral Mass took place in Kimmage on Wednesday 11th July followed by burial in St. Columba’s Cemetery, Camolin.

Press Extract – With the kind permission of the Gorey Guardian

Very Rev. Felix Canon Byrne

The Very Reverend Felix Canon Byrne CC was born in Ballygullen and attended Ballyoughter National School before completing his education in St Peter’s College and entering the seminary.

He was ordained to the priesthood on the 4th April 1955. After his ordination, he served the communities in Bree, Askamore, Kilmore Quay and Rathangan. He currently serves as Curate in Monaseed parish.

Father Byrne, who celebrated his Golden Jubilee in 2005, passed away on September 8th 2023 aged 94. The following tribute was published in the Gorey Guardian 13th September 2023.

Rev. Raymond Gahan

Father Raymond Gahan hails from the nearby townland of Belcarrig and was born there on the 5th of May 1945. He attended Ballyoughter National School followed by five years of secondary education in Gorey CBS.

On completing his Leaving Certificate in 1961, he entered the seminary in St. Peter’s College, Wexford and was ordained as a priest on the 2nd of June 1968.

Father Gahan spent his first year after ordination based in Enniscorthy Cathedral. Subsequently, he served in numerous parishes in Ireland, mostly in the Ferns diocese, as well as parishes in the UK, US and Zambia.

In 2018, Father Gahan celebrated his Golden Jubilee. The celebrations commenced with a Mass of Thanksgiving which was celebrated by Bishop Denis Brennan and attended by members of his family along with friends and parishioners.

Father Gahan is currently Parish Priest in Kilaveney, County Wicklow where he has been for the last 20 years.

In conversation with Father Raymond Gahan on 17/12/2021