By Seamie Briscoe
On Sunday the 9th of November the Drogheda Male Voice Choir will take part in the RTE Televised main morning Mass from the RTE studios at Montrose. This Mass will be dedicated to the memory of Mother Mary Martin on the 50th anniversary of her death which occurred on the 27th of January 1975.
The Mass congregation will comprise of the Sisters from the MMM order who will also participate in the celebration of the Mass with celebrant, Rev Father Ciprian Solomon who is attached to the Mornington Parish.
The announcement of Mother Mary’s death 50 years ago created great sadness in the town of Drogheda and brought many townspeople and dignitaries to pay their respects to this remarkable person who had been the first woman to be granted the Freedom of Drogheda on the 6th of June 1966.
She was given the equivalent of a State Funeral. One of the most notable lines from Cardinal Conway’s homily at her funeral service was; she was a woman ‘decades before her time’ not just in medicine and nursing but in business administration, social science and in the art of communication. Those words are as relevant today as they were 50 years ago.
The Medical Missionaries of Mary, which she founded, continues to provide all of those qualities in many parts of the world in which they continue serve. The establishment of Our Lady Of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and its ancillary services also bear testimony to her vision and foresight from which the town of Drogheda and it’s outer region continue to benefit from over the years.
The relationship of the Drogheda Male Voice Choir with the Medical Missionaries order has developed and grown over the years since the choir’s formation in 2013. The Drogheda Male Voice Choir and Father Ciprian Solomon celebrate a Christmas Mass and follow with a Musical Recital each year for the Sisters in the Motherhouse at Beechgrove.
As the Musical Director of the Drogheda Male Voice Choir, David Leddy says; “This is one of our musical highlights of the year when we also remember our own past deceased members of the choir as well as remembering the MMM Sisters who have departed this life. We truly enjoy sitting down with the Sisters afterwards and listen intently to their stories of their wonderful lifetime experiences imparting their spiritual and medical services in many parts of the world. They are marvellous ladies and are so dedicated in their humanitarian generosity”.
The Commemorative Mother Mary Martin 50th Anniversary Mass will be televised at 11am on Sunday the 9th of November from the RTE studios in Montrose.
