Venerable Edel Mary Quinn

So much has already been written about our cousin, Venerable Edel Mary Quinn, that I will not include everything in this short essay.

Venerable Edel Quinn is said to have been the embodiment of  Marian devotion, perseverance, and dedication to God's work.

Edel Quinn combined devotion with a great zest for life. Talented and expressive, she found her life’s work through the lay organisation, the Legion of Mary, and through it became a lay missionary in East Africa.

Check out this interesting video about her life:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO69fYtgpcc

Edel Quinn is our 2nd cousin, once removed.

Her mother, Louisa Burke-Browne, was Patrick Edward Reilly's granddaughter.

110 years ago, on September 14, 1907,  she was born in Kanturk in a house that was known locally as the Magpie House.  

Her father, Charles Quinn, a native of Tuam Co Galway, was manager of the National Bank in Kanturk and, during her childhood, his career brought the family to live in various towns in Ireland.

She received her name quite by accident as it is told.   

At her baptism, Charles Quinn asked the parish priest to christen the little one as Adele.  

The priest, understanding Charles to say “Edel”, thought it to be so charming to call the infant after the edelweiss, a tiny white flower.  

So he baptized her Edel Mary. 

As it turned out the feast day of which she was born (the exaltation of the Cross) and the name she bore were very prophetic signs of the life that lay before her.  

Because the family was so frequently transferred, Edel and her siblings were never able to stay at one school or in one town for very long. 

Edel's final period at school was spent at a boarding school run by the Sisters, the Faithful Companions of Jesus in Upton, Great Britain.

It was while in England that Edel became attracted to the Sisters and their way of life: the silence of the cloister, the prayerful chanting of Vespers, the spiritual atmosphere and the dedication. 

After her return to Ireland, she resolved to dedicate her life totally to God by becoming a cloistered Poor Clare nun. However, her desire for the religious life had to take second place to supporting her financially stretched family - now located in Dublin since 1924.

So upon returning to Dublin, instead of entering a convent, she completed a secretarial course and started work to help support her large family. 

One day, a friend invited her to attend a meeting of the newly formed Legion of Mary. 

 She was immediately attracted to its charism and joined the organisation in 1927.

Frank Duff (the founder) placed her in charge of the Sancta Maria Hostel for prostitutes, where she impressed everyone with her loving care and her devotion to Mary. 

By 1932, the family situation had improved so she decided to enter the Poor Clare Nuns. 

However, before she could apply for admittance, she was diagnosed with TB and was advised to commit herself to a sanatorium.

18 months of expensive treatment at the Newcastle Sanatorium in Wicklow was proving a financial burden to her and to her family.

With no signs of improvement, Edel made the decision to leave the sanatorium, continue her prescribed medicine and to live her life as best she could.  

She returned to work and in her free time resumed her duties with the Legion of Mary

Edel gave herself completely to its work in the form of helping the poor in the slums of Dublin.

In  1936, at the age of 29, and dying of TB, she became a Legion of Mary Envoy ~ a very active missionary ~ and set out for East and Central Africa. 

She left for Mombasa in December 1936.

For 8 years, she worked as a missionary in Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyka, Nyasaland and the island of Mauritious.  

She traveled on foot, on bicycle, ox cart and truck sometimes under dreadful conditions and eventually bought an old car for £65.

Her Car

At the outbreak of World War II, she was working as far away as Dar es Salaam and Mauritius.

Fighting her illness for 7 1/2 years, she had established hundreds of Legion branches and councils in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and Mauritius.

Father McCarthy (later Bishop of Zanzibar) wrote of Edel Quinn:

"Miss Quinn is an extraordinary individual: courageous, zealous and optimistic.  She wanders around in a dilapidated Ford, having for her only companion an African driver. When she returns home, she will be qualified to speak about Missions and Missionaries, having\g really more experience than any single Missionary I know."

During this entire period, her health was never good.

In 1943, she took a turn for the worst.

She died in Nairobi, Kenya in May 1944.

Edel Quinn is buried there in the Missionaries' Cemetery.

 In 1957, the Archbishop of Nairobi initiated the process for her Beatification and many witnesses were examined, mainly in Africa and Ireland. 

Their evidence, published by the Holy See, points not only to outstanding holiness but to holiness in its most attractive form. 

The words love, joy, peace appear in almost every testimony. 

Our cousin, Tom McCormick is Edel Quinn's direct descendant.  His grandmother, Louisa Burke-Browne was Edel's mother.

He and his wife Alison are in Nairobi today attending the centennial festivities honoring Edel's life of sacrifice.

Edel is so beloved in Africa that over 5,000 people were there to celebrate her life.

Alison and Tom McCormick at Edel Quinn's final resting place in Nairobi

Edel Mary Quinn was declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II on December 15, 1994.

Prayer for the Beatification of Venerable Edel Quinn

Eternal Father, 

I thank you for the grace you gave to your servant, Edel Quinn, of striving to live always in the joy of your presence, for the radiant charity infused into her heart by your Holy Spirit and for the strength she drew from the Bread of Life to labor until death for the glory of Your name in loving dependence on Mary, Mother of the Church.

Confident, O Merciful Father, that her life was pleasing to you, I beg you to grant me, through her intercession, the special favor I now implore (here pause for silent thought of intention) and to make known by miracles the glory she enjoys in Heaven, so that she may be glorified also by your Church on earth, through Christ Our Lord, Amen

We place our petition in the hands of Mary to whom Edel turned in every need.

Hail Mary....

with ecclesiastical approval

When favors are received or petitions granted please ensure they are reported in writing to:

The International Centre Legion of Mary

De Montfort House,
Morning Star Avenue
Brunswick Street
Dublin 7, Ireland
Phone: (353-1) 872-3153, (353-1) 872-5093
Fax: (353-1) 872-6386

EPILOGUE 

History gives a nation its bearing on what it is and how its people are affected by what has happened in the past. 

Its kings and queens, its wars - with victories and defeats - these all mold a nation’s culture into the way it views itself in the present. 

In the same way, a family history presents how a family has survived and come to terms with the great social and cultural experiences of the ages.

We hope these stories will give each member of our family a foundation and, in some small way, explain how we came to be what we are today.

Hopefully, through these vignettes, our future generations will gain a knowledge of the energy and dynamism, the loves and hates, the errors and mistakes, the victories and failures, the struggles and successes that make us what we are.

Our family history presents a fascinating read - and, hopefully, some lessons to be learned in the process.