About Sister Consilio

Nursing

After completing her leaving certificate she began training as a nurse in the North Infirmary Hospital in Cork. The hospital was run by The Sisters of Charity.

The Sisters of Charity encouraged their nurses to do visitations of the sick or needy on Gurranabraher—a local housing estate. The nurses who chose to do so, went in pairs and were easily recognisable in their navy uniform coats. Sr. Consilio spent most of her off duty in Gurranabraher where she got to know and love the people. Years later when she was doing her midwifery in St. Finbarr’s Hospital, Cork she found herself once more in Gurranabraher – this time in the capacity of a midwife.

Entering A Vocation

Upon completion of Sr. Consilio’s training as a nurse, she took steps to answer her calling in life. Sr. Consilio joined the Sisters of Mercy, in Athy, Co. Kildare, on 8 September 1959.

As part of Sr. Consilio’s training as a nun she taught second standard in the Primary School. . In her second year she taught infant boys and fifth standard. She also got her first taste of work in St. Vincent’s Hospital, Athy. The Matron, Sr. Dominic, was her mentor who had a profound effect on the young Sr. Consilio.

Awakening of concern for the homeless and addicted

During Sr. Consilio’s time working in St. Vincent’s Hospital, Athy, she would come in contact with, and befriend, many “road men”—those men of no fixed abode who went from county home to county home, and found temporary lodgings in a little house at the bottom of the garden at St. Vincent’s. They got their at a side table in the main dining room. She would come to know these men well from her work in the kitchen; she also looked after their sleeping accommodation and chatted with them at nighttime. In her own words she said

I was interested in them and found them to be intelligent, often well educated people. Some of them had even changed their names as they didn’t want to be recognised—they were so ashamed of their lifestyle. I often talked to them about their families and encouraged them to write home, particularly if their mothers were alive. I often thought how my mother would worry if a brother of mine were in a similar position. As time went on I began to realize more and more that these people were my brothers, and I said to myself: ‘Some day, somewhere, somehow, I will have a place that these people can call home

In 1965 Sr Consilio founded Cuan Mhuire and dedicated her life to the work of the charity.

Sr Consilio is still actively involved in the organisation’s work in assisting and treating people with alcohol addiction and dependency. She has grown the organisation from very humble beginnings and, over the course of forty years, Cuan Mhuire is now one of the largest charity organisations in the country