MY FAITH SR OLIVER WRAFTER:I WENT to a convent school on Baggot Street in Dublin. The year of the Eucharistic Congress, we were all told to go to Merrion Square to see the papal legate. We had to wear white dresses and white veils.
I remember going to the Phoenix Park on Children’s Day, and having to kneel all through the Latin Mass. I remember the crowds and the singing of Panis Angelicus by John McCormack and the ringing of St Patrick’s Bell, which they had taken out of the museum. The congress made a great impression on me, especially the importance of the Eucharist. I will be going to the congress in June for the whole week.
My mother died when I was two, and my father when I was 13. My brother and sister and myself were sent to live with an uncle in Tullamore. When we had nothing else to do in the summertime, we cycled out to the convent at Killina. The nuns were very nice to us and gave us apples.
After I did my Leaving Cert, I got called. It was a very defining call. I had been to Confession and there was suddenly something within me. I knew I was being called by the Lord. In less than two months I was in Killina convent and I’ve been here since.
When I entered, I was the 12th and now we are only five. There is something very special about the place. I think the Lord had a hand in the move to Tullamore, because Killina is where I was meant to be, and I have been very happy all the years. I was a teacher for 40 years: primary school, then secondary; English and commerce. I was a principal of the secondary school.
My prayer life has deepened over time. I am old now and I have seen so many people die. Heaven will first be about meeting the Lord, and that will be beyond anything you can imagine. And meeting my own mam and dad and brother and sister. Seeing so many people die has taken away my fear of death. They look so peaceful and happy, and it has given me great faith and confidence in going to the next world.
