SJC History in Ireland

In 1860 Father Leman C.S.Sp., invited the Sisters of St.Joseph of Cluny to Blanchardstown, Dublin, which was then a poor rural area. Ireland was the third European country (after France and Italy) to be privileged with a Cluny foundation, when Mother Callixte Pichet and two other Sisters arrived in Dublin.

Local people were employed making roads, working in flour and woollen mills, in the candle-making factory and in the cattle mart. Children form the region also went to work in the factories, running errands, learning trades etc. Consequently, they could attend school for only a short time each day.

The primary schools in the locality wer not even furnished. Yet, despite poverty and irregular attendance, Inspector O'Carroll reported in 1860 that Blanchardstown Boy's school was ranked in the top then schools of this district.

Against this background on the 13th December 1860, three French Sisters, with Archbishop Cullen's permission, took up residence in Blanchardstown village in utter poverty.

The Sister's new dwelling house had priviously been the home of the Holy Ghost Fathers and was formerly a Carmelite Convent. It originally served as a local seminary, St.Brigid's, dating back to 1810. In the very first year of the Sister's stay in Blanchardstown, nineteen Irish girls asked to enter the Religious Life. Since 1860 some 1,500 Irish girls have followed in the footstep of Blessed Anne-Marie Javouhey. They have devoted their lives to the provision of education and health service at home and abroad.

The Convent building in Blanchardstown was unsuitale for development. Consequently, Sr. Callixte, the Superior, purchased Uplands, also called Mount Sackville, with a view to establish a Girl's Boarding School. The Sisters transfered to from Blanchardstown  to Mount Sackville in Februar 1863. From this date onwards Mount Sackville, Chapelizod, Dublin, served as a link between Ireland and France.