Remembering the Assumption’s Catherine O’Neill

ASUNCIONISTAS (the Old Girls of the Assumption Convent and College) know everything about Mother Marie Eugenie, the founder of the Religious of the Assumption and the schools and the missions that have sprang worldwide.

However, little is known about Catherine O'Neill, (Kate) or Mother Therese Emmanuel, who was her co-founder.

Catherine was born in Limerick, Ireland on May 3rd, 1816. At age 23 she met Anne Eugenie Milleret (our foundress) in Paris and soon was part of the small group of young women who formed the first community of the Assumption in 1839.

Caring for orphans in one of the orphanages in France they were serving, it was Catherine or Mother Therese Emmanuel who suggested to Mother Marie Eugenie that children learn manners that would help them lead a good life when they leave the orphanage on top of learning French.

How can one lose in life if you are armed with good manners and right conduct?

As a sister and intimate friend of St. Marie Eugenie and particularly as novice mistress for 40 years, she formed generations of sisters in the interior life which is the heart of the Assumption spirit.

On her deathbed on May 2nd of 1888, at age 72, Mother Therese Emmanuel said, "I belong to the Assumption, my life is totally consecrated to it; I am not leaving it, I am going to the Assumption in eternity.”

The Assumption spirit which has been lived and relived through generations by novices and nuns as well as the students and alumnae is as vibrant as it was then from the early years of formation as it is today.

A recent gathering of the Assumption Ladies of Bacolod is a proof this.

In Assumption, daily we were reminded of two things: “Be simple” and “Fidelity to duty.” Good manners and right conduct are both incorporated in these reminders. Our duty requires us to be good and to do good. Empathy, love, compassion, and mercy are all processed when we live a life not centered on ourselves but being kind always towards others. Then we will reap a good life by treating others as well as we treat ourselves.

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