Sr Margaret MacCurtain, O.P., “Ambassador Extraordinaire: Daniel O’Daly, 1595-1662 ” (2017)
This fascinating study explores the career of Ireland’s first modern diplomat, Daniel O’Daly. Born in Kilsarkan, County Kerry, in 1595, he became a significant figure in seventeenth century ecclesiastical and political life at a time when Ireland’s relationship with Europe was both considerable and subtle. He was an historian, founder of an Irish college and a convent in Portugal, confessor and adviser to kings and queens, a prime mover in both the Stuart Restoration of Charles II and the Portuguese Restoration; and shortly before he died in 1662 he was nominated as bishop-elect of Coimbra, Portugal.
The research for this book was conducted by Sr Margaret MacCurtain, O.P., between 1956 and 1963 in archives in Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Spain, France, and England, consulting original sources in Irish, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, Latin and Tudor and Stuart English.
Sr. Maura Duggan – “Froebel’s Gifts: History of Froebel College Sion Hill 1943-2013 “ – (2016)
This book deals mainly with the history and great contribution of the Froebel College, a story which reveals a varied and courageous journey. The narrative succeeds in gathering together all the historic facts as well as giving us interesting and lively vignettes of many of the individuals who passed through the doors of the Froebel College.
Due to the death of Sr. Maura Duggan OP this work was completed by Sr. Mairéad Flynn OP
Sr. Maura Duggan – In Search of Truth: Journeys of Nineteenth Century Irish Dominican Women – (2010)
This vast, well illustrated book tells the story of nineteenth century Irish Dominican women from their early days in Galway. It explores their move to Cabra and their development at home and overseas. We are also given an insight into internal difficulties encountered by the Sisters, their liberal spirit on the one hand and their conservatism on the other.
Sr. Máire Kealy – From Channel Row to Cabra: Dominican Nuns and Their Times 1717-1820 – (2010)
This is a story about a group of Dominican women who came to Dublin from Galway in 1717, set up a new foundation with a boarding school for girls and a retirement home for ladies. This documents the successes and hardships of Mary Bellew and her community and how they eventually travelled to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Louisiana.
Sr. Máire Kealy – Dominican Education in Ireland 1820-1930 – (2007)
This book focuses on the role played by Dominican women in education in Ireland in primary schools and in running boarding and day schools during the period 1820 to 1930. It makes an important contribution to the general history of education in Ireland in general.
Historical and Contemporary Reflections, St. Catherine’s College of Education for Home Economics, Sion Hill 1929 – 2007 Edited by Professor Anne Moran, (2007)
This book marks a significant turning point for Home Economics education in Ireland and while published to coincide with the closure of St. Catherine’s College of Education for Home Economics, it has been prepared primarily to record and celebrate the contribution that St. Catherine’s College has made to Irish education throughout its seventy-eight year history.
Sr. Honor McCabe – A Light Undimmed: The Story of the Convent of Our Lady of Bom Sucesso Lisbon 1639-2006 – (2007)
This publication tells the story of the oldest Irish convent which is located in Lisbon. It owes its origin to the fact that religious life in Ireland had become impossible in the 16th century. In this book, Honor McCabe captures the joy, the pain and the suffering endured by both the Irish and the Portuguese.
Sr. Maris Stella McKeown – Cabra Dominicans and All That Jazz: A Story of Dominican Sisters in Louisiana – (2006)
In 1968 a group of Irish Dominican Sisters answered an urgent appeal to teach in a school in New Orleans. Since that time, sisters have set out courageously, often at short notice, to face the emerging challenges of different cultures, institutions and systems. This publication shows how the renewal of Religious Life which followed Vatican II enriched the sisters’ lives, prompting them to widen their ministries in response to the needs of people thus promoting a renewed sense of vocation.
Sr. Geraldine Smyth – Distance Becomes Communion: A Dominican Symposium on Mission and Hope – (2004)
This publication makes a compelling case for the relationship between tradition and change, for unity in diversity and the necessary dialogue of cultures and religious in an age of globalisation. It will prompt the reader to transcend old thought forms towards realising a possible vision of Christian mission as solidarity beyond frontiers, reconciled identity and the ethical praxis of hope.
Sr. Mary O’Byrne – Strands from a Tapestry: A Story of Dominican Sisters in Latin America – (2001)
This book tells the story of what resulted from a journey, when three Sisters set out from the semi enclosed Taylors Hill Convent in Galway for South America. The Sisters started their work in Argentina by administering the school in the Keating Institute in Buenos Aires. This Sisters became directly involved in the lives of the people. The story of the Sisters’ life and work is interwoven with the story of the poor of Argentina.
Sr. Kathleen Boner – Dominican Women: A Time to Speak – (2000)
This is a historical study of the first Dominican sisters in South Africa and makes an important contribution to women’s history. It is an account of continuity and change among a group of religious women dedicated in the main to education.
Sr. Geraldine Smyth – A Way of Transformation: A Theological Evaluation of the Conciliar Process of Mutual Commitment to Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation, World Council of Churches, 1983-1991 – (1995)
This book provides a lively contribution to the ecumenical task of correlating theology and culture, ethics and ecclesiology.
Sr. Margaret MacCurtain and Mary O’Dowd Editors – Women in Early Modern Ireland– (1991)
Early modern Ireland witnessed the Reformation, military conquest, land settlement and the impact of the Enlightenment and the French and American Revolutions. This is the first book to assess the affect these momentous events had on the women of Ireland.
Sr. Nicholas Griffey – From Silence to Speech: 50 Years with the Deaf – (1994)
This is the story of a life-time’s work in the stillness in which the deaf live, opening doors and windows of perception for them, putting language within their grasp, making God’s saving word accessible to them; helping them develop the priceless ability to communicate.
Sr. Rose O’Neill– A Rich Inheritance , Galway Dominican Nuns 1644-1994 – (1994)
This Galway story is refreshingly different bringing to life, as it does, dynamic Galway women who were ready to risk their lives for their beliefs. From seventeenth century women of the Tribes suffering siege and exile, through penal days and nineteenth century episcopal wrath and interdict, to the trials and triumphs of the twentieth century, there unfolds a human interest story that is full of surprises.
Suellen Hoy and Sr. Margaret MacCurtain– From Dublin to New Orleans, The Journey of Nora and Alice. (1994)
In the autumn of 1889, Nora and Alice, two young twenty-year-old Kerry women, left the relative security of their Dominican convent boarding school at Cabra in north Dublin. They set off on a journey so far removed from their daily lives that the resulting diaries recording their adventures makes engrossing reading. The purpose of this journey was not to make their fortune, but to begin a life in religion as Dominican Sisters in New Orleans.
Sr. Mary O’Driscoll – Catherine of Siena: Passion for the Truth, Compassion for Humanity – (1989)
This publication by Sr Mary O’Driscoll who is an authority on the teachings of Catherine of Siena is an anthology of selected spiritual writings of the saint. It is of benefit to all of those who are interested in St Catherine of Siena but also those who are interested in prayer and spiritual life.
Dominican Sisters of Cabra – Weavings: Celebrating Dominican Women – (1988)
The title of this publication “Weavings” is apt as it captures not only the history of the Dominican Sisters but the colour and texture of the story of the Sisters and celebrates with pride and gratitude the blessings of the years of the Congregation’s history over many centuries.
Margaret MacCurtain and Donncha O Corráin, Edited by – Women in Irish Society, The Historical Dimension: (1978)
The combined talents of ten eminent scholars, whose specialisation ranges from legal and political science to psychology, economics, social history and early modern Irish History, are brought together in this book which traces the evolution of women in Ireland from the fifth century to the present.