Deirdre Raftery’s new book, specially commissioned for the Bicentenary of the foundation of Mary Ward’s Institute in Ireland.Frances Teresa Ball returned to Ireland from her formation at the Bar Convent in York in August 1821. She began the first IBVM community and school in Dublin and, in so doing, established the beloved name Loreto.
The book was officially launched at the UISG Centre in Rome on the afternoon of Thursday, 19 May 2022. Present, were the IBVM and CJ Generalate teams; representative members of the two congregations from Ireland, England, Spain and Canada, along with some of the Friends of Mary Ward, students resident in the Rome community, technical staff from UISG kindly provided by Sr Pat Murray; the Irish ambassador, sisters from both branches who happened to be in Rome and were delighted to be invited to join in, and the almost one thousand IBVM/CJ sisters and school pupils who were present via zoom and Youtube from around the world.
Deirdre Raftery is professor of the history of education at the University College Dublin. Author of many publications, she is an elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She has held many awards including a Fulbright (Boston College) and a visiting fellowship at the University of Oxford.
Book launch of Professor Deirdre Raftery’s new book ‘Teresa Ball and Loreto Education: Convents and the Colonial World 1794-1875’