The Missionary and the Boat
The OLA Provincial Archive recently unearthed a picture of two OLA Sisters making their way from Ireland (via Liverpool, U.K. and Accra, Ghana) to Nigeria during the 1940’s. Here we recount the missionary journey of Sr. Ita Gilmore, a Glaswegian, and Sr. Josephine Birmingham, a native of Co. Galway.
Srs. Ita Gilmore (left) and Josephine Birmingham making the long boat trip, just like the thousands of missionaries who travelled between these shores and Africa for many hundreds of years. Source: OLA Provincial Archive.
Until very recently, the boat played a central role to the spread of Christianity from St. Patrick who arrived, by boat, from Britain to St. Columcille (also known as St. Columba) who later used the boat as a means to bring the faith to Scotland. Later again, Irish missionaries would travel across the seas to Africa in large numbers to share the light of the Gospel across the continent. This practice continued for hundreds of years. Until the early 1960’s and the expansion of air travel, virtually all missionaries who made the journey to Africa travelled by boat.
Srs. Ita Gilmore and Josephine Birmingham knew this journey very well. The early 1940’s were turbulent years for all those travelling across the seas. Many boats and lives were lost due to frequent bombings by German ‘U Boats’ during World War II. As a result, it was also a time when travel was greatly curtailed due to the dangers of sea travel. After the war, the ship building industry boomed with orders to replace the ships lost at sea. While the exact date of the above picture is not known, we still have many sources which help tell the life story of these two missionaries.
St. Ita Gilmore
Sr. Ita Gilmore was born in Well Street, Glasgow, Scotland on the 19th April, 1909. Like St. Colmcille, who is credited with bringing Christianity to Scotland, she felt a calling to go on mission and help spread the Gospel. In January 1928, she entered Ardfoyle Convent, Cork. After her profession in Ardfoyle and further preparations for the missions, she set out for Lagos, Nigeria in August 1932. In those days, it was not uncommon to for a ‘missionary tour’ to last six, seven or eight years. For almost fifty years, Sr. Ita worked on the missions, teaching in and managing OLA schools, catechetics, and engaging in the myriad of tasks of the missionary - in stations stretching from Lagos and the neighbouring Convent of Ebute Meta, to Abeokuta and Ibadan in the West, to Zawan in the Northern Province, and out to Topo in the Lagoon.
Sr. Josephine Birmingham
Like Sr. Ita, Sr. Josephine Birmingham spent many years of her missionary life in Nigeria. Sr. Josephine was born in Cloughballymore, Kilcolgan, Co. Galway on the 13th April, 1921. She completed her novitiate in 1944. As a trained Domestic Science teacher, Sr. Josephine left for her mission field of west Africa where she spent many long years. She taught in various schools in Warri, Sapele, Asaba, Kaduna, Agbor and Ibadan. In addition to teaching, she looked after orphans and was renowned for her motherly, loving care of these children.
On her return from west Africa, Sr. Josephine spent time ministering to others in Leigh, Lancashire. She also ministered in Dublin and Rostrevor where she made lasting friendships. Later, she spent fourteen years at the OLA-run Castlemacgarrett nursing home close to Claremorris, Co. Mayo where she endeared herself to staff and residents alike.
Lives well lived
Both Sr. Ita and Sr. Josephine have since gone home to God. Sr. Ita went to her eternal reward on the 19th February 1989. In her obituary, Sr. Una Nelly asked:
“What now remains of her long years of toil and of exile from her homeland?”
She concluded:
“Certainly the rich harvest of her friendships with the children she taught, the parents she visited, the men and women who crowded into St . Mary's and the Cathedral compounds and who today form, with their families, the backbone of the Church in Nigeria. And of course the poor: in her quiet, unobtrusive way, Sr. Ita had a special care for them through-out her life. It is her 'quiet way' we all remember. Always gentle and placid, she readily entered into the spirit of whatever was afoot - school sports, harvest thanksgiving, Girl Guides, school plays and concerts.”
Sr. Josephine made her final journey home to God on the 24th April, 2002.
In her obituary, Sr. Maura Smith shared some insight on the life of the Galway native:
"‘She was a gentle lady’, that's how the nurses in the hospital described Sr. Josephine. She was truly gentle and peaceful; a woman of deep prayer with complete trust in the Divine Mercy whom she invoked many times a day. Sr. Josephine was a very happy, contented person - full of the joys of life. She certainly believed life should be lived to the full. She was happiest catering for groups - especially for big groups on joyous occasions. Everyone was welcomed with a céad míle fáilte wherever she was stationed.”
