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(SLIDE) Kanturk is in the south of Ireland.  This photo is of her birthplace.

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Edel’s father, Charles was born on November 12, 1871 in Tuam, Co. Galway and worked as a banker.  Her mother was born earlier the same year in Kilmihil, Co. Clare and was the youngest of seven daughters of a well-to-do farmer.

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These are recent photos of the church and baptismal font and the tomb of the priest who baptized Edel:  Fr. James Greene.

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It was thanks to Fr. Greene that Edel received her name.  Since the baptism took place only four days after the birth, Mrs. Quinn was not present.  She had intended to call her first daughter “Adele” after one of her sisters.  The priest mistook the name as being from the flower Edelweiss.  It turned out to be very appropriate as we will see. (SLIDE)

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Edel at age 4. (SLIDE, 5 clicks)

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Mrs. Quinn with Edel, Leslie, Ralph, and Mona in 1914.

Mr. Quinn with Edel and Ralph in 1920.

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This photo shows Edel at the age of 11. 

Mr. Quinn was a banker who was promoted several times throughout the years, causing the family to be relocated.  However, he had a weakness for gambling, and in 1924 was caught using bank money to cover his debts.  The bank chose not to prosecute, but he lost his position as manager and took a job as “ledger clerk” in Monkstown. (SLIDE 5 clicks)

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Prior to her father’s demotion, Edel attended private schools. 

In Cahir, she attended a school run by the Sisters of Mercy and was prepared there for her first Confession and First Holy Communion which she made on Ascension Thursday, June 1, 1916.

In Enniscorthy, she attended school at the Loreto Convent and it was here that she was Confirmed on October 27, 1918, taking the names Josephine Eucharia in honor of St. Jospeh and her devotion to the Holy Eucharist.

In 1923, at the age of 16, she was sent to finishing school at Upton Hall near Liverpool.  She would leave Upton the next year due to her father’s troubles.

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A recent picture of the Quinn’s home in Monkstown.

Edel returned home to help the family.  She took a secretarial course and secured a job at Chegney Tile Works.  In this photo she is shown at work with her sister, Leslie, and Mr. Fagan.

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In the course of her work she met Pierre Landrin.  They developed a close friendship and, on Sept. 1, 1927, Pierre asked Edel to marry him.  She revealed to him then that it was her dream to be a Poor Clare nun.  Pierre and Edel continued a regular correspondence after this.  Pierre later married and named one of his daughters Edel.  He died in France in 1980.

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Edel’s first introduction to the Legion came in 1929 when she ran into an old family friend, Mona Tierney.  She invited Mona home to see the family, but Mona declined because it was the night of her Legion meeting.  Edel asked her about it and went along as a guest.  Mona told her president at the time that she was not sure the Legion would appeal to Edel.

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(SLIDE – 1^st praesidium) When Frank Duff met Edel, he was very impressed.  There was a need for a new president in the praesidium “Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners” which worked with street girls.  He recommended Edel.  Initially, the praesidium members were shocked at the appointment, but soon learned that the choice was a good one.

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When she realized that staying at the sanatorium was not making much change in her condition, Edel returned to her family, took a job, and joined “Regina Coeli” praesidium which worked at a Children’s Hospital.  In August of 1934, she joined a Legion Pilgrimage to Lourdes.

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(SLIDE) This approval happened only after much discussion, however.  A Legion spiritual director, Fr. Magennis, initially gave strong reasons for not sending a girl in a delicate state of health to a place with such harsh conditions.  Edel stood up and stated that she was going into this with her eyes open – that she knew she wasn’t going on “a picnic”.  Fr. Magennis responded that she’d make a fine picnic for some wild animal.  Frank Duff called on everyone to see that the “picnic” would not be a substantial one!  This lightened the atmosphere and when the vote was called, all approved the appointment.

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Bishop Heffernan, the Vicar Apostolic of Zanzibar, suggested that Edel travel with his missionaries on the Llangibby Castle which would leave on October 29, 1936.  She traveled with a group of Loreto Nuns and was able to make contact with Holy Ghost Fathers, Mill Hill Fathers, and White Fathers in the course of her trip.

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Edel spent the month-long voyage contacting other passengers and priests and sisters at the ports of call about the Legion.  She kept a log-book which was published in the very first issue of Maria Legionis:  March, 1937.

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(SLIDE)  The photo shows Edel at Port Said.

At Port Sudan, Edel visited a convent of Italian nuns and told them and the priest about the Legion.  When she discovered that there would be only a handful at Benediction, she raced back to the ship and gathered a crowd to attend.  It was her first Benediction on African soil.  She promised to have Dublin send Italian handbooks.

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(SLIDE) The parish priest, Fr. O’Flynn, was not receptive to the Legion.  He did his best at the first meeting to sabotage the start of the Legion in the parish, but several parishioners pointed out important works in the parish that the Legion could be doing.  Father gave his reluctant o.k., but limited the membership to non-native women.  The original group was made up of four Irish women and two Goans.

(SLIDE -2 clicks)  The first photo shows Sr. Gannon and Sr. Cronk, two legionaries recruited by Edel.  Sr. Gannon became the president of the first praesidium.

The second photo shows the junior praesidium belonging to this first praesidium almost 60 years later, in 1994.

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The Africans were known as “natives” and the Europeans and Goans (Asians) as “non-natives”.  Edel’s hope was to have mixed praesidia, but found that it was necessary to start with separate ones due to the discrimination that was present in Kenyan society at the time.  Edel found the Africans to be extremely receptive to the Legion and on December 13^th, the first native praesidium was formed with 16 men and 11 women.

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Edel had many challenges in the Nairobi of 1936.  SLIDE – 4 clicks

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The total area Edel would cover was about twenty times the size of Ireland.

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By early April, 1937 Edel had established 10 native praesidia with a total of 155 active members and 4 non-native praesidia with a total of 44 members.  The six praesidia within walking distance of St. Peter Claver Church participated in the first Acies.  (Some of the members walked twelve miles each way to attend.)  Seven priest spiritual directors attended and are seen in the photo with Edel in the center.  This photo appeared in the June, 1937 issue (the second issue ever) of Maria Legionis.

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Many of the priests Edel worked with acted as translators for her at the meetings and assisted with transportation.  (SLIDE)

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(SLIDE)  Edel was afraid that she was still “on probation” as an envoy and was therefore hesitant to let the Concilium know of her illness.  Fr. Reidy took her to a convent in Limuru and obtained medical attention for her.  After her convalescence, he organized a picnic in the Riff Valley for her and some of the sisters, which is where this photo was taken.  She sent the photo home and her family was pleased with how well she looked.  Her mother wrote, “The next thing we hear is that you’ll be getting married in Africa!”

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(SLIDE)  This letter gave Edel an added incentive to begin traveling further afield. 

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(SLIDE – 4 clicks)  The June 1938 issue of Maria Legionis notes that “The amazing extent, variety, and success of her labours may be gauged from the fact that so far it has been necessary to translate the Tessera into five native languages to provide for the Praesidia which she has started.”

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Transportation was very difficult in the areas where Edel traveled.  Occasionally she could get a ride from a priest.  More often, she would hire a car but could never count on it showing up on time or even at all.  Early in 1938 she wrote to Dublin asking permission to buy a car. (SLIDE)  On May 25, 1938 she did get her driver’s license, but her traveling was done with hired drivers.  She had a series of those, some of whom were dismissed for drinking or for “borrowing” money at the convents she visited.

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(SLIDE – 2 clicks)  Mother Kevin, the foundress of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa and the Little Sisters of St. Francis had been working in Uganda for 35 years when Edel arrived.  She did not give her endorsement of the Legion and so, Edel was denied access to some of the vicariates.  (SLIDE – 2 more clicks)

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Edel found very primitive conditions in some of the missions she worked with.  While the priest was away, Edel spent three nights in this priest’s house, which has no windows or doors.  At another mission, she heard “snorting” outside her window and, looking out, found that it was a hippo!  A highlight of her work in Uganda was the establishment of a lepers’ praesidium.

The Church shown here was where Edel attended the Requiem Mass for Pope Pius XI when he died in 1939.

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(SLIDE) Archbishop Leen is shown here with the governor of Mauritius.  Notice the Legion Standard coming out of the governor’s hat!

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The first photo shows the first Curia meeting held on May 19, 1940 in Port Louis.  The curia consisted of the Archbishop, 20 spiritual directors, 293 active, and 60 auxiliary members.

The second photo shows the dedication of a new shrine in honor of Mary, Queen of Peace.  350 legionaries participated in the procession with the Legion Standard.

The third photo shows the Cathedral in Mauritius where Mass a farewell Mass was said for Edel on August 28, 1940.

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(SLIDE) Edel never did find out how the rumor started. 

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(SLIDE)  Edel hoped to relieve her family’s anxiety about her health by sending them a photo – it did the opposite!

Bishop Julien invited her to a convent in Likuni to recuperate.

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Edel’s biggest cross while in the sanatorium was that she could not get to Mass and Holy Communion.

Ruby Roberts was eventually able to get her transferred to a Catholic hospital in Cape Province.  She entered Umlamli on November 14, 1941 and was able to receive Holy Communion every day.  The second photo shows her at Umlamli with her “budgies.”  By February 1942, Edel had brought her weight up to 90 pounds and with her doctor’s reluctant approval, decided to return to Nairobi.

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In the meantime, Concilium asked the Legion for help.  (SLIDE)

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On January 11, 1943 Edel flew to Nairobi as other means of transportation had been interfered with due to the war.  (SLIDE)

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(SLIDE)  This had to be done in secrecy because it was very unusual to allow a lay person this privilege.  Edel spent Lent and Easter with the Carmelites.

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(SLIDE)  The train ride from Nairobi to Kisumu was 18 hours long.  Edel made this trip in March and in April of 1944.  (SLIDE)

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The last thing Edel touched was this crucifix.  Fr. McGregor, Comitium spiritual director, is holding the cross at a talk he gave in Philadelphia in 2004.

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The house where she died was later given to the Legion of Mary.

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The legionaries of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika erected a large Celtic cross over her grave.  At the base of the cross, there is an inscription which reads:  “She fulfilled her mission with such devotedness and courage as to stir every heart and to leave the Legion of Mary and Africa itself forever in her debt.”

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The Holy Father himself paid tribute to her great services to the Church.  The first page of the September 1944 issue of Maria Legionis notes that in spite of the fact that Rome was occupied by the Nazis at the time, Pope Pius XII sent a telegram “notifying the happy death of our African Envoy, Edel Quinn, and paying tribute to her great missionary labours”.

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Edel’s life story was made known to legionaries all over the world through feature articles in Maria Legionis.  These covers are from 1963, 1977, and 1994.  Frank Duff, in a talk on envoys, is pointing to Edel Quinn’s name on the map.

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The first major work on Edel Quinn was this book, written by Cardinal Suenens in 1952.

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This was followed by many other books on her life.

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A shrine was constructed in her hometown in Ireland.

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The president of Ireland, Mary Macaleese, visited her grave while in Nairobi.

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Edel has truly left her mark on the world in the past 100 years.

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