Founding Sisters
Founding Sisters 1911,
St Aloysius College Archives
Mother Clare Murphy
1851 – 1936
Julia Murphy was born on 24 July 1851 in Buenos Aires of Irish parentage; her parents having migrated from Ireland to settle in the Argentine. She entered the Mercy Convent in Buenos Aires in 1868, was Professed in 1871 and came to Adelaide nine years later with the founding group in 1880. She was a gifted musician, a first-class pianist and organist and taught music to senior St Aloysius pupils for some years.
Mother Clare trained the Convent Sisters’ Choir who were at that time noted for their beautiful choral music, especially on important liturgical occasions, such as religious Receptions and Professions. She was a close friend of the presiding Archbishop of Adelaide, Dr O’Reily, himself a noted musician and composer – they appreciated each other’s gifts. Mother Clare used to preside at the Chapel Organ after the new Chapel was built in 1922 and accompanied the Sisters’ Choir. When Carmel Bourke was a senior girl, on a few special occasions, such as for the opening of the Chapel and its first Mass, some of the pupils from the school choir were chosen to help to augment the Sisters’ Choir. It was here that she had a chance to see and hear the gifted Mother Clare in action.
According to Sr Carmel Bourke, boarder and later Principal (1945 – 1953) Mother Clare Murphy was probably the most outstanding and gifted of the Argentinian-born Sisters who came to Adelaide in 1880.
Mother Clare, together with Mother Claver and Mother Cecilia, were elected to the office of Government within seven years of their arrival in Adelaide in 1880. With this election, the burden of responsibility now fell on the younger Argentinian members of the founding group. This could not have been easy, trying to establish themselves in a new country. But a measure of their success was the fact that these three Sisters continued to be re-elected for many years, a sign of the confidence in which they were held. In the elections of 1887, Mother Clare, at the age of thirty-six, was elected Superior, with Mother Claver Kenny her assistant and Mother Cecilia Cunningham the Mistress of Novices.
Mother Clare continued to be elected to leadership roles but in 1920 she was not allowed to stand for re-election. The Archbishop at the time, Robert Spence ruled that she was ineligible. He was unhappy that Mother Clare and Mother Cecilia had left Adelaide in 1911 while holding office and had been re-elected by the Sisters in 1914 while still overseas. He also disapproved of them remaining away until 1920, even though World War I prevented their return and despite the significant financial support they brought back for the Archdiocese. When elections were held again in 1923, both Mother Clare and Mother Cecilia were elected back into office.
In retrospect, Carmel Bourke recognised that Mother Clare’s somewhat aloof yet dignified manner, which earned her the respect of students, was likely shaped by the fact that she had held positions of authority for thirty-nine years, the greater part of her life having been lived in Adelaide. Her wisdom, sound judgment and vision were reflected in the successful consolidation and expansion of the Congregation during the first forty years of its establishment.
Mother Clare was twenty-eight years when she came to Adelaide. She died on 12 December 1936 aged eighty-five and is buried in the West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide.
Compiled by Sr Mary-Anne Duigan
Edited by Jacqui Jury, Deputy Principal (Teaching & Learning) 2024
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Our Beginnings
Cunningham Memorial Chapel
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References
Bourke, C. (1991). Some early recollections of Angas Street (from 1920 to 1954). St Aloysius College.
McLay, A. (1996). Women on the move: Mercy’s Triple Spiral. Sisters of Mercy Adelaide.