Hidden. Sister Margaret Walsh

Born in Canada, Sr Margaret was one of those Sisters whom we know very little about. A popular name in the Community, this Sr Margaret was the first in our Community; last month I wrote about Sr Margaret Dempsey, who was the second; the third is remembered by some of us, having joined in the 1960s and died just last year. But back to Margaret Walsh, the first Sr Margaret. Margaret Jane Walsh was born in 1830 in Newfoundland, Canada. She was professed as a CAH lay Sister on St Peter’s day 1881, and died on January 15th 1883, aged 52. Her funeral took place just days later on the 18th January, at Ditchingham. I presume that she is buried in the CAH section of Ditchingham Cemetery. She had been in religion 4 years, taking her Clothing back to 1879, or more likely (as she died in January) 1878. This gives her a three year Novitiate, longer than choir Sisters, as was customary.  In the 1881 census, she is registered at the Community House (pictured, pre-1900).  

What else do we know? Lay Sisters had a different rule to choir Sisters, spending less time in Chapel and having less prayer time, although they still had some time for this. There is information about lay Sisters in our Archives, and I will know more when I have had time to study it. During the 1881 Census, she would still have been a Novice, as it took place on the 3rd April and Sr Margaret was professed in June, which probably explains why she is in the Community House. Unfortunately, it does not tell us whether she remained there after Profession, or whether she spent time working in another house. She would have been one of the oldest lay Sisters; only Sr Maria, born in 1811, was older. But on the other hand, she would still have been fairly junior in rank, having been professed only recently. There were seven lay Sisters who had entered earlier then her; another, Sr Janet, was professed later in 1881. Twenty years younger than Sr Margaret, she would have been a fellow novice but, unlike her, was from the local area.

Except that I have no proof that Sr Margaret was not a local woman herself. All I know is that she was born in Canada. I cannot find her in any census, UK or Canadian, earlier than 1881, so I have no knowledge of her background or family. I do not know when or why she came to England from Canada; whether her family travelled back when she was young or whether she came once she had grown up. What work she must have done, in either country; whether she came to know the Community in the UK, or whether she travelled from Canada specifically to join us. I just do not know, and I am unlikely to find out.

What prompted her to join the Community in her late 40s? Had she felt the calling for a time, but not been able to follow it through? Was she waiting to find the right Community? Or was it something she discovered as life went on? We just do not know. Yet, there is something appropriate in this. Hiddenness has long been a part of the Community’s life. In the old Convent building [Community House], each room is named after a particular virtue. Thankfulness was a store room used for old cards, craft materials etc; Quietness may well have been the lay Sisters’ sitting room before the distinction between lay and choir Sisters came to an end; Joy was a spare sitting room, often used to see visitors. Hiddenness was, if I remember correctly, on one of the doors leading into the Novitiate.

Our life is not exactly hidden: no woman who wears a habit can expect to blend in amongst the general population, especially when we still wore veils. Moreover, our various works did mean we were fairly well-known locally, especially in the Ditchingham area. We were not hidden away. Hiddenness took on another form. It is about not boasting; about a life given to Community where what I do is part of what we do. The work each Sister does, whatever that may be, is part of the Community’s offering, rather than something to identify yourself with, to take the wrong sort of pride in. Our identity is as Sisters, is about our beloved-ness by and given-ness to God, not about the fact that ‘this is what I have done’. Rather this is what I have been given to do. Some Sisters did spend many years, decades in some cases, in the same work, and they have become identified with it. Sr Gwyneth, for instance, and Sr Augusta, who both spent many years at All Hallows Hospital. Nevertheless, there was still a hidden element there. On leaving a particular work, each Sister is supposed to let go, and let her successor take over (admittedly, sometimes easier said than done). Hiddenness is about doing what we have been asked to do, doing what needs to be done, doing what is our particular work of the moment, without that becoming essentially what makes me ‘me’, because what we do is done for God, and who we are is found in God. We may well enjoy what we do, and it may be what suits us, but the aim, increasingly, is to glorify God, not ourselves, however long it takes us to get to there, and however far we are on the journey.