Sr. Consilio

  Sr Consilio born on the Jan 9, 1937 is an Irish nun who set up Cuan Mhuire a charitable drug, alcohol and gambling rehabilitation organisation in Ireland.

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Childhood

Eileen Fitzgerald, who is better known as Sr. Consilio of Cuan Mhuire, was born on 9 January 1937. She was the fifth child, of three brothers and three sisters, born to Maurice and Mary Agnes Fitzgerald. Sr. Consilio was raised on a farm in Clougvoula, Brosna, Co. Kerry. Sr. Consilio went to secondary school in at the Convent of Mercy in Abbeyfeale.

Nursing

After completing her leaving certificate she began training as a nurse in the North Infirmary Hospital in Cork. The hospital was run by The Sisters of Charity.

The Sisters of Charity encouraged their nurses to do visitations of the sick or needy on Gurranabraher—a local housing estate. The nurses who chose to do so, went in pairs and were easily recognisable in their navy uniform coats. Sr. Consilio spent most of her off duty in Gurranabraher where she got to know and love the people. Years later when she was doing her midwifery in St. Finbarr’s Hospital, Cork she found herself once more in Gurranabraher – this time in the capacity of a midwife.

Joining the nuns

Upon completion of Sr. Consilio’s training as a nurse, she took steps to answer her calling in life. Sr. Consilio joined the Sisters of Mercy, in Athy, Co. Kildare, on 8 September, 1959.

As part of Sr. Consilio’s training as a nun she taught second standard in the Primary School. . In her second year she taught infant boys and fifth standard. She also got her first taste of work in St. Vincent’s Hospital, Athy. The Matron, Sr. Dominic, was a her mentor who had a profound effect on the young Sr. Consilio.

Awakening of concern for the homeless and addicted

During Sr. Consilio’s time working in St. Vincent’s Hospital, Athy, she would come in contact with, and befriend, many “road men”—those men of no fixed abode who went from county home to county home, and found temporary lodgings in a little house at the bottom of the garden at St. Vincent’s. They got their at a side table in the main dining room. She would come to know these men well from her work in the kitchen; she also looked after their sleeping accommodation and chatted with them at nighttime. In her own words she said

I was interested in them and found them to be intelligent, often well educated people. Some of them had even changed their names as they didn’t want to be recognised—they were so ashamed of their lifestyle. I often talked to them about their families and encouraged them to write home, particularly if their mothers were alive. I often thought how my mother would worry if a brother of mine were in a similar position. As time went on I began to realize more and more that these people were my b rothers, and I said to myself: ‘Some day, somewhere, somehow, I will have a place that these people can call home

Cuan Mhuire

In 1965 Sr Conillio founded Cuan Mhuire and dedicated her life to the work of the charity.