The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1917-01-27
DEATH OF IRISH NUN
REVEALS HER0ICL LIFE
Rev. Mother Angela Underwent Untold
Sacrifices, Once Being Sentenced
to Death During Labors
In Spain.

nOunce the great loss to the order or
St. Joseph of Cluny in the death of
the Rev. Mother Angela. The vener-
able Sister was a native of Galbally,
County Limerick, and daughter of the
late John O'Donnell, of Aadrahan, Gal
bally. She entered the Order of St.
Joseph of Cluny in 1879, at Mount
Sackville, Dublin, where she was being
educated. She was then eighteen
years old. She made her novitiate in
Paris, and soon after her profession
was sent on the mission to Rome,
where she remained close to twenty
years. For many years during her
stay in Rome the affairs of her order
necessitated bi-monthly interview
with the late Holy Father Leo XIII.
During Coombe's regime Mother An
gela was recalled to Paris, and COM
missioned by the reverend mother
general to find homes for the Sisters
then being ruthlessly expelled from
France. She was asked to go to Spain,
and at once she, with two other Sis.
tiers, started, taking with them a few
books-all they were permitted to take
from their magnificent library, the
convent being now in the possession
of the minions OF the Government
and from their depleted Golfers just
sufficient to cover their fare to the
first railway station in Spain, after
crossing the border.
Now the real trouble for these poor
refugees commenced. They had no
patron to appeal to, no protector save
Providence to defend them. They
begged for work suitable to their con-
dition, and got none. Sleeping in the
open air and begging their crust from
door to door, they, for few days,
pushed southwark along the eastern
coast till they came to the town of
Granollers The only accommodation
they could obtain was a disused and
windowless stable. This they accept
ed, and on examination found they
could rest upon rickety stairway
leading from the stable to tumble
down loft overhead. Here the poor
reverend mother with her spiritual
children sat shivering through many
a night. At length Spanish charity
began to soften toward them and p,l.
pills came to them. The old stable was
fitted up as a classroom. The parents
of their pupils came to their assist
ance, and now they were able to hire
a more pretentious ROOM Things
prospered with them for few months,
and then, like a bolt from the blue,
the satanic malevolence of French Ma
sorry followed and fell upon them.
The mob was stirred up against them.
The Sisters had to flee in the night
and hide in wood some distance out
of town. For three days and three
nights they remained in hiding in a
deep ditch covered with briars whence
they could see the rabble prowl in
search of them. They were finally
discovered, dragged into town, where
it was decreed-by mob law-that late
that evening they should be hanged,
quartered and burned at the corners
of the square. Worn out with their
long fast and exposure, but full Of joy
at the thought that they were found
worthy to suffer for Our Lord, and at
the Joyous prospect of a martyrs
crown, the poor Sisters spent the in.
tervening hours in prayer and prepa-
ration for their martyrdom. Inspired
by Providence. the Mayor of the town,
with some few citizens contrived
plan for their escape, and while the
rabble were busy erecting gallows and
funeral pyres. the Sisters were con-
veyed from their prison to a place
of safety at some distance.
The storm, by the intensity of its
violence, soon exhausted itself. The
Sisters were invited to return, and
they were now received with open
arms. Mother Angela, knowing some
thing of French intrigue and Spanish
impulsiveness, sought protection for
her order-she being British subject
from the British Ambassador at Ma
drid. The British Consul at Granol.
lers stood by her, too.
The number Of pupils in their school
increasing, Mother Angela asked and
obtained more help from France. BY
the end of the first year she had
convent founded on satisfactory
basis In Granollers. The mother gen.
eral now pressed Mother Angela to try
to get other foundations for their Sis.
ters. Placing all her trust in God, she
did try. and, with Gods blessing. In .
few years she had founded seven
L E