Mayo memorial to ‘angel of alcoholics’
A PLAQUE will be unveiled in Castlebar by the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr. Michael Neary, on May 24 in memory of a long deceased local woman known as 'the angel of deliverance' to tens of thousands of men and women afflicted by alcoholism in the United States.
The plaque to Sister Mary Ignatia, born Della Mary Gavin in Shanvally, Burren, Castlebar, in 1889, will be mounted on the wall of the Family Centre at Chapel Street.
It is hoped to place a further memorial to Sister Ignatia in Shanvally, where the crumbling remains of the Gavin cottage still stand, at a later date.
Although a book has been written about the unselfish contribution of the Mayo woman to the field of alcoholism treatment and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in the US, she is largely an 'unsung heroine'.
Says Knock-based addiction counsellor Brother Barry Butler, a member of the Congregation of Alexian Brothers: “Sr. Ignatia came from a very humble background – poverty stricken Mayo.
“Imbued with a deep faith, she was dedicated and heroic, an angel of deliverance to thousands of men and women afflicted with the grim malady of alcoholism.”
Sister Ignatia, along with her parents, Patrick and Barbara Neary Gavin, emigrated from Burren to Cleveland, Ohio. She was just six at the time.
He work during her adult years in the area of alcoholic rehabiltitation won praise from many, including President Kennedy.
When Sr. Ignatia died in 1966, Fr. Thomas Coonan, in a funeral euology, said of her: “She dedicated the last 28 golden years of her religious life as one incessant heroic sacrifice to the rehabilitation of alcoholics, irrespective of race, color, creed or condition.
“She unreservedly put her piety, her wisdom, her experience, her mercy, her compassion, her purity, her love and her very life at the service of every alcoholic disposed to accept her help, however, hopeless, abandoned or degraded.”
Donal O'Shea, a member of the Mayo based Sr. Ignatia commemoration committee, said of the planned memorial: “Igantia herself probably would not have wanted it as she was such a humble person.
“But it is fitting and proper that we should honour her in this way.”
Members of the Shanvally and Burren communities as well as descendants of former neighbours of the Gavin and Neary families are invited to the May 24 ceremony at the Parish Centre.
An exact time for the unveiling of the memorial has not been fixed but we'll have details in our print edition and online closer to the date.