1934 – 2026
Born: 11th March 1934
Entered Religious Life: 25th January 1952
Died: 8th May 2026
Sr Mary Joseph was born in Lixnaw Co Kerry to John Barrett and Nora Barrett (nee Lynch) on the 11th March 1934. Lixnaw, was her homeplace where her personality was formed and her Christian faith was nurtured. It was the home she loved to return to for holidays when she was able.
She entered the Religious Sisters of Charity at the age of eighteen and made her First Profession on the 17th August 1954.
She was given the name Sr Frances Josepha when received as a Novice and many of the family and Sisters remember her as Sr Frances. Later in life she returned to her baptismal name Sr Mary Joseph. Whichever name she was known as, she was the same lovable person.
After her first profession she was missioned to St Vincent’s Hospital, Stephen’s Green, founded by Mary Aikenhead, foundress of the Religious Sisters of Charity. There she worked in the catering department. During the next nine years she ministered in Howth, St. Patrick’s, Kilkenny and Ballaghaderreen.
She moved to Airdrie in 1965 and spent ten years in the catering department there. She then spent two years in Basildon doing Parish Visitation before moving to Witney (England) where she went to Plater College to study Pastoral Ministry. Following her studies she did parish work in Chester, Macclesfield and Basildon. She spent approximately seventeen years in the English/Scottish Province as it was known then before returning to Ireland.
She was known as a very sociable person and it seems that wherever she went she made friends for life. One woman in Airdrie, named Betty and her husband remember her fondly as the one who taught Betty how to cook. What a wonderful life-skill to pass on to someone else and there is no doubt that there were others besides Betty to whom she imparted her gifts.
Joseph seemed to love her time in the English/Scottish Province and always kept up with the friends she had there. Up to a few months before her death, she was keen to know what was happening in that part of the Congregation remembering Sisters and friends she knew when she was there.
Her ministries varied and developed over the years, from catering, parish visitation, pastoral work and on four different occasions she was appointed as Assistant Local Leader of communities in both England and Ireland. While she was in Seville Place she directed the Day Care Centre there.
Looking at her history, it seems that Sr Mary Joseph was a person who moved willingly from place to place when asked and where she was most needed.
In 1996 she was missioned to Loyola House, in Merrion which in its early days was an assisted living community and Joseph’s kindness and generosity to the other sisters was well known. She regularly travelled by bus into Clery’s on O’Connell Street (a large department store in the centre of the city) to buy clothes for the other sisters in Loyola.
Loyola House had its own history, changing from an assisted community space to a full-time nursing home and when Loyola closed suddenly in 2020 she with the 13 other sisters had to be transferred to other nursing homes.
Joseph was transferred to Beechlawn Nursing Home on Grace Park Road, Drumcondra, Dublin and for a while was reasonably mobile and actively participated in the activities there.
The years took their toll on Joseph and it was while she was in Beechlawn Nursing Home that her health began to fail in earnest. She seemed to be able to accept each stage of her life with an equanimity and patience that was admirable.
In Beechlawn Nursing home she was lovingly cared for by the Sisters and staff for the last six years of her life.
She was patient even when her health diminished still further following a fall and she became more and more disabled eventually being confined to bed completely. In May 2026 there was a further deterioration in her health and she died peacefully on the 8th May 2026.
Her faith seemed to help her through the worst troubles. The readings at her funeral Mass speak of her faith in God, in Mary and in her trusted Patron Saint, St Joseph, who was her constant ‘go to’ person.
In her breviary, she kept a copy of the hymn to St Joseph that was sung at the reposing service. At the presentation of gifts at her funeral Mass, her grand-niece Klara brought a small statue of St. Joseph that Sr Joseph gave to her many years ago.
May St Joseph welcome her into her Heavenly home and present her to God and to Our Lady.
May she rests in peace. Amen.
