Edel Quinn

Feature
Edel Quinn
Brendan Comerford SJ, writer, author and retreat director,
recounts the life of a well-known Legionary of Mary. His book,
Disciple of Courage forthcoming by Messenger Publications.
‘She was terribly impressive, very girl- They moved around because Edel’s
ish but a very refreshing experience.’ father, Charles, worked for the then
‘She is like a wild bird. You cannot National Bank, eventually being
keep her in a cage.’ So said Frank promoted to manger of the National
Duff, founder of The Legion of Mary, Bank in Tralee. Edel’s mother, Louise,
about Edel Quinn. But who was Edel attended Mass every day and used
Quinn? to take Edel with her, giving Edel the
Edel Quinn was born near Kanturk foundation of a habit that was to last
in County Cork in 1907. Over the first all her life.
ten years of her life, she lived in five In the summer of 1923, Edel was
different towns throughout Ireland in approaching her sixteenth birthday.
a family of three sisters and a brother. Her parents decided to send her to
25
Feature
A few years later, Frank Duff asked Edel if she

would like to go to South Africa to establish the
Legion there. Edel was enthusiastic about this
idea.
a finishing school for the last two Poor Clares.
years of her secondary education. Pierre proposed to Edel but she told
She was enrolled as a pupil in Upton him that she was promised to some-
Hall, Cheshire, under the care of the one else – Jesus.
Faithful Companions of Jesus. Edel A friend of Edel’s, Mona Tierney,
was a keen hockey and tennis player, told her about the Legion of Mary,
enjoying her time at Upton Hall. which had been founded in Dublin in
Suddenly, all was to change. Edel’s 1921. Edel went along to a meeting
father could no longer afford to keep of the Legion at 6 Gardiner Place.
her at Upton Hall. She was immediately accepted as a
His hobby of betting on horse-races member of the Legion. After work, in
had become a compulsion. Mr Quinn the evenings, Mona and Edel would
had been using bank money for gam- visit the poor living around Mountjoy
bling. He was to lose his job as bank Square and the neighbouring streets.
manager and was appointed to the People began to notice how the Le-
bank’s head office in College Green, gion was taking over more and more
Dublin as a simple ‘ledger clerk’, one of Edel’s life. Frank Duff asked Edel
of the lowliest posts in the banking hi- if she would be willing to take the
erarchy. The family had to move again position of president of a Praesidium
– this time to live in a second floor flat (a basic unit or parochial branch) of
in Monkstown, Dublin. the Legion. Edel worked at the Sancta
It was essential that Edel get a job Maria Hostel in Harcourt Street where
as soon as possible and contribute street girls could be housed and given
to the family finances. She went to a chance to rehabilitate themselves.
commercial college, qualifying as At this stage, Edel’s colour was poor
a shorthand-typist, and secured a and she was coughing a lot. She was
job with the Chagney Tile Company losing weight. She had no idea that
in Dublin. There Edel met a young her lungs were already infected by
Frenchman, Pierre Landrin. Though tuberculosis. This necessitated her
Pierre and Edel formed part of the staying in a sanatorium in the foothills
same set – meeting together, playing of the Wicklow mountains from Febru-
tennis together, dancing together – ary 1932. Sometime before Christmas,
Pierre did not know of Edel’s intense Edel decided to leave the sanatorium.
prayer life or that she felt drawn to A few years later, Frank Duff asked
the life of a contemplative nun and Edel if she would like to go to Africa
was planning one day to enter the to establish the Legion there. Edel
26
was enthusiastic about this idea. Carmelite convent. Her last surviving
Because of Edel’s health, Duff faced a letter was written to Frank Duff on
barrage of criticism. He was accused 9 May 1944, three days before her
of sending Edel to her death. Duff death. Edel died on 12 May 1944 and
remained firm and so Edel arrived in was buried in the same cemetery in
Nairobi, Kenya in November 1936. Nairobi as Bishop Joseph Shanahan.
One of the problems that Edel quickly More than 600 of Edel’s letters still
encountered was the difficulty of get- survive and they enable us to follow
ting white, brown and black people her movements in Africa in great
to work together. In Nairobi, she tells detail. Another major source is the
us that she received staunch support testimony given by eye witnesses for
from Fr Tom Maher, an Irish Spiritan. her canonisation process during the
She wrote of him, ‘He is a very zealous period 1963 to 1971. The words love,
priest and also very practical and joy, peace appear in almost every
shrewd.’ Fr Tom happened to testimony.
be a cousin of my father, ©Fernan
The late Belgian Cardinal
and Edel’s description of do
V/ Léon-Joseph Suenens of
him is very accurate! Brussels-Malines wrote
Sh
From 1937 on- a biography of Edel

ut
ters
wards, Edel travelled with the title Edel

tock
in four countries Quinn – A Heroine

then under British of the Apostolate.
control – Kenya, V/Shu
This book has been
rA tters
Uganda, TanganyikaKuche toc
k translated into many
(now Tanzania) and languages and has
Zanzibar, establishing 1940's Ford Coupé made Edel’s life-story
the Legion. She bought widely known.
a Ford Coupé for £65 which In 1957 the Archbishop of
she christened the ‘Rolls Royce’. She Nairobi initiated the process for her
also visited Mauritius, Malawi and Beatification and many witnesses
flew to South Africa. We can marvel were examined, mainly in Africa and
at her continuous travel and dedica- Ireland. The Vicar General of Mauritius
tion to her mission of establishing the was speaking for many when he said,
Legion, especially given the fact that ‘I want to lay special emphasis on her
her health was rapidly deteriorating. constant joy; she was always smiling;
She spent time in a sanatorium in she never complained; she was always
Johannesburg in May 1941. The word at people’s disposal, never stinting
Fiat (‘Let it be’) was often on her lips – her time.’ Her cause for canonisation
meaning a total submission to the will is still under consideration.
of God. On 15 December 1994 Pope St
In late 1943 Edel returned to Nairo- John Paul II declared Edel Quinn
bi for the last time. She stayed in the ‘Venerable’.
27

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Feature

A few years later, Frank Duff asked Edel if she

From 1937 on- a biography of Edel

wards, Edel travelled with the title Edel

in four countries Quinn – A Heroine

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