Rose Whitty, (November 24, 1831 – May 4, 1911) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Dominican

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated ''Sr.'' or Sist.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to pr ...

and founder of

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

s. She was a native of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. Of her two sisters one became a

Religious of the Sacred Heart , image = RSCJnuevo.jpg, , image_size = 150px , caption = , abbreviation = Post-nominal letters: RSCJ , formation = , founder = Saint Sr. Madeleine Sophie Barat, R.S.C.J. ...

; the other, like herself, joined the Dominican Order as a religious sister of the

Third Order Regular The Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Penance or simply the Third Order Regular of St. Francis ( la, Tertius Ordo Regularis Sancti Francisci) is a mendicant order rooted in the Third Order of St. Francis which was founded in 1221. The mem ...

. Whitty entered St. Catherine's Convent,

Sion Hill Sion Hill is a National Historic Landmark in Havre de Grace, Maryland, notable as an example of high-style Federal architecture and as the home of a family of prominent officers of the United States Navy. Work began at Sion Hill around 1785 ...

, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, in her 19th year, 25 March 1849. Seventeen years later, at the request of Bishop Patrick Moran, who then had charge of the Eastern

Vicariate A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

of South Africa, she with five others began their work at

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, S ...

, 23 November 1867. She served for 25 years as prioress of Rosemary Convent, which she had founded. The

diamond jubilee A diamond jubilee celebrates the 60th anniversary of a significant event related to a person (e.g. accession to the throne or wedding, among others) or the 60th anniversary of an institution's founding. The term is also used for 75th annivers ...

of her

religious profession In the Catholic Church, a religious profession is the solemn admission of men or women into consecrated life by means of the pronouncement of religious vows, typically the evangelical counsels. Usage The 1983 Code of Canon Law defines the ...

was celebrated in 1910, and a Mother Rose

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

was founded as an appropriate memorial of her long devotion to the work of education. Whitty's good health continued till within a month or two of her death in her 80th year. With every mark of public veneration her remains were laid to rest in the convent cemetery of Emerald Hill Priory, one of the convents which she had founded, on 6 May 1911.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitty, Rose 1831 births 1911 deaths 19th-century Irish nuns Burials in South Africa Dominican missionaries Dominican Sisters Irish emigrants to South Africa Irish Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in South Africa South African Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns