On Thursday 5th September Bishop Fintan celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving in Carrigoran Nursing Home, Newmarket-On-Fergus, to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Carrigoran.
A Brief History
In 1925, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word purchased Carrigoran House, formerly the estate of Lady Clara Fitzgerald. Expanding over a verdant landscape, the three-story manor was considered an idyllic site for a receiving house for the Congregation’s prospective candidates.
Although the Congregation, founded in Galveston, Texas in 1866, was receiving novices from the Americas, at that time it continued to attract most of its religious candidates from Ireland, necessitating a home for their initial spiritual formation. The Sister christened and renamed the manor St. Michael’s Convent.
Over time, as the number of Sisters coming from Ireland began to decrease, the Congregation prayed for guidance as to the future use of the property. When an 80-year-old homeless woman, “Granny” Ballantine, unexpectedly arrived in 1969, the Sisters discerned a sign they should dedicate St. Michael’s to caring for the local elderly. The new ministry was also seen as a way to convey gratitude to the people of Ireland for its central role in the building up of the Congregation.
After seven years of planning under the direction of Sister Mary Theophane Collins, the Congregation formally opened a 152-bed Retirement and Convalescent Centre in September 1974, calling it Carrigoran House.
