Cusack, Margaret Anne (1832–1899)
Cusack, Margaret Anne (1832–1899)
Irish nun, reformer, and writer. Name variations: Sister Mary Frances Clare; the Nun of Kenmare. BornMargaret Anne Cusack near Dublin, Ireland, in 1832; died in Warwickshire, England, in 1899.
Margaret Anne Cusack began her religious life by joining the Anglican sisterhood in London, England. She converted to Roman Catholicism in 1858, taking the religious name Sister Mary Frances Clare. From 1861 to 1884, Cusack conducted the celebrated convent of Poor Clares, which she established at Kenmare, County Kerry, and organized for the purpose of providing poor and friendless girls with an education. When in 1884 she established the Sisters of Peace, a similar order but with a wider range, not only did Leo XIII sanction the work but Cusack received the hearty support of Christians, both Catholic and Protestant. Cusack visited the United States in 1886. Embittered in later life, she reverted to Anglicanism and attacked Catholicism. Among her many published works are the Students' History of Ireland and Woman's Work in Modern Society. Cusack also published pamphlets on women, biographies of saints Patrick, Columba, and Bridget , as well as works of fiction, such as Ned Rusheen (1871) and Tim O'Halloran's Choice (1877). Her autobiography The Nun of Kenmare was published in 1889, the year before her death.