Margaret Aylward, 1810–1889: Lady of Charity, Sister of Faith (review)

Margaret Aylward, 1810-1889: Lady of Charity, Sister of Faith. By Jacinta Prunty. (Dublin: Four Courts Press. Distributed in the United States by ISBS, Portland, Oregon. 1999. Pp. 192. $25.00 paperback.)

The history of the career of Margaret Aylward (1810-1889), first director of the Ladies of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul in Dublin, and foundress of St. Brigid's Orphanage as well as the Sisters of the Holy Faith, provides insight into the workings of the nineteenth-century Irish Catholic Church and sheds much light on the particular challenges facing even the most formidable and capable women who sought to contribute to its social mission. By dedicating herself to countering proselytization among the poorest of Dublin's poor through the provision of practical charitable assistance, furthermore, Aylward served as a guardian (if a self-appointed one) of Irish Catholic identity. Through education and the boarding-out in the countryside of orphans, and indeed through her constant clarion calls to the Irish Catholic "upper orders" to remember their obligations toward the poor, Aylward insisted on the centrality of faith to the Irish national character, and on the essential unity of the Irish Catholic people. The success of Margaret's career, in the face of ill health, imprisonment, and the opposition of English Protestant missionary societies as well as many within her own Church, is a testament not only to her own strength of character, but also to the powerful chord her message struck among many in Ireland during this crucial phase of the Devotional Revolution.

Jacinta Prunty has provided us with an able and engaging account of Aylward's career, beginning with her Waterford childhood and two failed attempts at a religious life, proceeding through her arrival in Dublin and her assumption of a leadership role with the Ladies of Charity, the foundation of St. Brigid's orphanage (1857) and schools (1860), and culminating in the establishment of the Sisters of the Holy Faith (1866). We come to know Margaret Aylward primarily through her professional accomplishments and associated personal trials. In that sense the book is less a biography and more an attempt to provide an account of the development of a career of public service and a set of institutions (although Prunty does provide us with a thoughtful and revealing account of Aylward's personal spirituality). This is in part a consequence of the availability of sources, but it also speaks to the centrality of Aylward's work to her sense of purpose. A woman of remarkable strength of character and a genuine leader, Aylward was nothing short of driven in her pursuit of social justice. Her forthrightness, her public persona, and her talent for enlisting the aid of the powerful in behalf of her crusade against proselytization (Joseph Dixon, the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, successive Archbishops of Dublin Paul Cullen and James McCabe, and Tobias Kirby, the Rector of the Irish College in Rome, were all her strong supporters) marked Aylward out as one of the most influential women of her day in Ireland.

Prunty's account is clearly and even elegantly written. The research is first-rate and reveals the kinds of details that allow for a proper appreciation of Aylward's career and the institutions she established. There is a wealth of useful tables and interesting illustrations and photographs included, and the volume is very nicely produced. If there are less contextualization and analysis than some might hope for, particularly in regard to what Aylward's story might tell us about the changing role of women in the nineteenth-century Irish Church, what is offered is thoughtful and measured. Meanwhile, there is enough intriguing evidence and anecdote presented to provide plenty of food for historical thought.

Paul A. Townend
The University of Chicago

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