Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy in New Zealand - UC Research ...

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four years later, and with her outstandinz qualities of
mind and heart vras elected S~perior
of the Carlow Convent
in 1842. This office she still filled when, in 1849,
she generously answered Bishop p;)mpallier' s appeal f'or
volunteers for his hazardous mission in a land shalcen
by earthquakes and distressed by native wars.
r brave
and cheerful spirit counted not the cost, nor did it
suggest to her that on accoui1t of age -
she was nmv past
her prime -
she might well co:r.unend to someone younger,
the sponsoring of such an arduous underta1cing.
Prom
her sev~n
yeaPs' experience as Mother Superior in
Carlow, L~other
Cecilia well icnew the burdensome cares
attached to that
fice, yet from' 1850 to 1868, she bore
that ydce unflinchingly, guiding her Auckland c onununi ty
through the toilsome years of furPow digging by "superin- (1)
tending every detail connected. with the pioneering vroPk
of the young cmrununi ty. 11
Pi red with apostolic zeal r3.nd
defiant of danger, ther•e hover•ed about her a radiance of
love and helpfulness as she struggled heroically with the
scantiest resources to secure a foothold in the land of her
adoption. Her (~) ardent piety and high executive ability
so noteworthy in her life in Auckland, nave becone
a treasured tradition.
In 1868 she was given a well-
1. nseventy-fifth Ann::..versary'' op. cit. Page
2. Ibid. Page 23.