As the information from Ireland washes over our Catholic world, I feel the devastation of the culture that allowed systemic abuse. I have to grieve for generations of victims. I wonder how the religious involved were affected by the conditions they lived in.
A few years ago I read about Little Nellie of Holy God: the small, ill, Irish child who was taken home to heaven during her fourth year of life. This little one showed extraordinary appreciation for the Eucharist, and for Jesus’ presence within the Sacrament and within the people around her.
Nellie and her siblings were sent to different “charitable” schools in Ireland following their mother’s death. Their father was in the military and could not take care of them. Nellie was taken in by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, and resided at Sunday’s Well.
This was an industrial school in Cork. Nellie lived there for the last eight months of her life.
Nellie was ill with tuberculosis, as was her mother. After she had arrived at the school, one of the sisters discovered a problem with her spine. Little Nellie was living in pain. While Nellie was disciplined for her tantrums and behavior, after her deformity was discovered, she received more appropriate care.
Nellie had deep affection for the Infant of Prague. It seems that the Child Jesus danced for Nellie! She loved “Holy God” and was moved to tears over His sufferings. Nellie could tell whether or not her caregivers had received the Eucharist that day. She instinctively knew when there was Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel.
In December 1907, Nellie was allowed to receive the Eucharist, having received special permission from the bishop. She had desired this gift so much in the prior months. She was very happy. Before her death in February 1908, she received “Holy God” about 32 times.
Nellie’s life and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament helped influence Pope Pius X to allow children to make their First Communions before the age of 10. Quam Singulari was promulgated in 1910.
Nellie is buried in the Convent Cemetery at Sunday’s Well. The convent was destroyed in a fire in 2003. There are photos of the ruins and Nellie’s grave on the internet.
However, the convent was home to a laundry that the “students” of the school worked in. It was one of the kind of laundries that was described in the film Magdalen Sisters in 2002.
Nellie lived and died and revealed Jesus’ sacramental presence in one of the very places where young people were severely abused.
I do not believe that Nellie’s life and witness was a sign of “Holy God’s” approval of the abuse that happened there. I suspect it was prophecy, a call to honor God’s special children.
Little Nellie of Holy God, pray for us and for our children!
