Recent stories of Irish women and the Eucharist

Born in 1907 in Kanturk in North Cork, Edel Mary Quinn was one of Ireland's great twentieth-century lay apostles as well as an outstanding member of the Legion of Mary which she joined in 1929.  She went as an envoy to East Africa in 1936 and died at the age of 36 in 1944. Her cause for canonisation remains active. In 1994 she was declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II, recognising the heroic virtue of her life.  Although reports of favours and healings have been attributed to her intercession, no miracle has yet been officially approved for her beatification.  Many who have studied her life have remarked that her perseverance despite illness seems extraordinary, leading some to describe her life itself as a kind of miracle.

According to one source, her given name at baptism was Edelweiss (the name of a tough but beautiful white alpine flower which was shortened to Edel).  This account, however, is not confirmed by other sources as far as I can tell.  I did find her birth certificate through a public online search and it turned up as Edelle at birth.  I do like the image and some literary license seems justified in this case.

Her family moved from town to town as her father worked for a bank. It is believed that a French man named Pierre Landrin who was manager of a tile company in Dublin where Edel worked proposed marriage to her. God had other plans for Edel. She had hoped to become a nun. Yet illness redirected her vocation and ultimately prepared her for the mission that would make her known throughout East Africa.  Following a diagnosis of tuberculosis in 1932 Edel spent 18 months in a sanatorium in County Wicklow.