Canon O’Neill sought the foundation
of a St Louis convent and primary school in the town
for many years towards the end of the 19th Century.
He was assured that they would come to Clones, and by
1900 had built the convent on the Roslea Rd. and the
old primary school on Church Hill in anticipation of
their arrival.
Seven St Louis Sisters arrived in Clones
on August 10th 1900 and three days later they opened
the school to receive 117 pupils. By the end of September
this number had risen to 200. The normal range of school
subjects was soon extended to include Music, Drawing,
Laundry and Cookery. The long and fruitful association
between the St Louis Sisters and education in Clones
had begun.
In January 1901, it was decided to
set up a lace making class. Lace making was a craft
on the wane in Clones at the time but, the St Louis
Sisters saw its potential for the area. In the years
that followed, the classes ensured that lace making
flourished again in Clones. The lace was widely exhibited
and appreciated. It was reported in 1905 that :
“So great is the demand
maintained that there is scarcely a family for miles
around Clones but has some member earning between seven
and fourteen shillings a week.”
The Sisters reached out to the local
community in many ways in those early days. A telling
example of this was the weekly visit of the Sisters
to the Workhouse in Clones every Sunday for over twenty
years at the beginning of the century until its closure
in the 1920s. The Sisters organised concerts and other
celebrations there every Christmas, Easter and St. Patrick’s
Day.
It is in the area of education that
most townspeople will remember and appreciate the contribution
of the St. Louis Sisters. Their vitality and generosity
remains appreciated by all. Though demolished in 1984,
many will have fond memories of their days in the school
on Church Hill. The school on the Roslea Road was built
in 1958 and since then generations of Clones children,
Junior Infants to Sixth class scholars, have grown in
learning and faith with up to ten St. Louis Sisters
teaching here at one stage.
Sr. Raymond will be fondly remembered
by those she taught. She arrived in Clones in 1933 and
retired in 1968. Her teaching career and her life in
Clones, spanning over fifty years, helped create and
maintain the teaching tradition so long associated with
the St Louis Sisters here.
In 1988 it was decided that the remaining
Sisters Raymond, Anne, Columban and Loretto would move
from the Roslea Road convent to Ard Lughaidh on the
Monaghan Brae. Sisters Columban and Loretto lived at
Church Hill from 1995 until 1997 and on the Newtownbutler
Road since August 1997. Sister Loretto, who retired
in 1996, was the last St Louis Sister to represent her
order on the staff of the primary school here.
It was with great sadness that the
people of Clones learned of the death of Sr. Columban
in June 2003.
