A Tribute to Sister Mel Kenny


 


I first met Mother Mel at St. Joseph's Convent, St. Joseph, Trinidad, in 1948, when I became a boarder there at age 9. I was one of the two students who were presented for the Cambridge School Certificate in December, 1953, and were entered at St Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain, because the Secondary School was not yet registered.  I last saw her in 1954 when I left the Convent Boarding School. I corresponded with her once in St. Lucia, a few years after that.

 

At about 6.30 during the 6 a m. Mass and while Holy Communion was given, three men entered the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Dressed in robes and holding cutlasses and flaming torches, they began chopping members of the congregation and setting others on fire. Later they walked up to the altar and set it on fire . At the same time they chopped Irish Nun, Sister Teresa Egan, who was at the time giving Holy Communion.   She died later at the Victoria Hospital.

In the end, some 12 other persons were injured,three seriously: Eucharistic Minister Victor Reyes, Mark Beaubrun and Father Charles Gaillard, who suffered burns.

Listen to Mother Mel tell her story..................

News Video


 

  

During my stay at St. Joseph's Convent, St. Joseph, all the boarders attended the new Secondary School, where Sr. Mel Kenny was the Principal. Whatever education I have, I owe it all to Mother Mel, who played a very important role in my early childhood development.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On December 31, 2000, in St. Lucia, Sr. Mel Kenny after many years of educating our Caribbean mothers and daughters, had a terrible experience at the Cathedral in Castries, St. Lucia, when tragedy struck the Roman Catholic Community there.