Delany Relics

Archives

Delany Relics

As the College Archivist, I am often asked by the Brigidine community, “What is your favourite object in the Archives?”. There are so many amazing objects it’s almost like picking your favourite star in the night sky, but there are objects that stand out in my mind which have interesting appearances, curious origins, or mystery surrounding them.

This was certainly the case with the oldest collection items in our archive: the relics of Dr Daniel Delany. A mystery from the beginning, we didn’t know where they came from, who they once belonged to, or how they ended up in our collection. But I always knew they were meant for more than being hidden away in our archive, and with the support of the Patrician Brothers, our little relics connected our community in a whole new way.

A relic is an object of religious significance from the past, which usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or admired person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangible memorial. There were two relics in our collection. The first was a lock of hair inside a silver pendant, which was worn by one of our Brigidine Sisters. The second was a little more confronting – a small, brittle envelope enclosing pieces of hair, cloth and wood fragments from the exhumation of Dr Daniel Delany’s body. The following is an excerpt from the memories of Mother Margaret Mary:

I was professed in 1905. Early in that period, a guess at 1911 or 1912, I was a young nun and I remember the mosaic being put down in the Sanctuary. Dr Delany was buried inside the Sanctuary. His remains were taken up and the coffin was put on chairs before he was re-buried outside the sails opposite the epitaph. I was a very young nun and an old nun asked me to go and see the remains. All the nuns were going out. I went. But I had no interest at the time, in fact I was afraid of the dead. Now I see how wonderful it was to have seen the remains. He was nearly one hundred years dead at the time. Being buried in the Church, the ground about the coffin was very dry. While the mosaic was being laid down the lid was taken off the coffin. When the air got in, I remember seeing the vestments falling into dust. The skeleton was there and his hair. Nuns took pieces of his hair and vestments away. Some of the hair went out to Australia.

Framed relics of Dr Daniel Delany

The relics were distributed throughout the world to the members of the Brigidine and Patrician Orders associated with Dr Daniel Delany. Our records indicated that the relics were transferred from the Brigidine Provincial Collection by Archivist, and our past Principal, Sr Anita Murray, to our College Archives in 2007. It is unclear how these came into Provincial Archives however they were most likely donated by a Brigidine Sister.

The relics in the envelope are over 100 years old and are severely degrading so the Archives needed to put some preservation methods in place. It was time to reach out to our Brigidine community for guidance. We first spoke with Sr Anita Murray, and the current Provincial Archivist Sr Kathleen Butler, and then contacted our associated Patrician Brothers Archivist, Br Stephen Sweetman. In our meetings, Br Stephen suggested the relics could be placed on display at the Delany College in Granville; a fitting home for Dr Daniel Delany’s remains to be honoured.

These small pieces of history were finally coming out of their box after decades and into the light to be known and appreciated. The relics were beautifully framed together with the history of their origin and presented to Delany College on Delany Day, 16 June 2021.

Delany Day celebrates Dr Daniel Delany as Founder of Delany College and the Patrician Brothers. Delany College invites students from Sydney-based Patrician associated schools to participate in the event. The students are divided into mixed school groups and attend workshops to learn about Delany’s life and symbols, sing hymns and Irish songs, and prepare for the liturgy.

Students from each College were chosen to participate in the liturgy, reciting the Prayers of the Faithful and the Gospel readings. This liturgy reflected on the connections and spirit of our community linked through our congregation Founder, Dr Daniel Delany. The relics were presented by Brigidine College Year 10 students, Erin Rothemund and Sabina Arianayagam, to representatives of Delany College.

We are so often looking forward, but on this day we all took a moment to look back; to find out who we are, where we came from and why we are here today. We found where we belong in the world and united two stories creating a connection with not only the present, but all that came before, and set a foundation for all that will come next. As an archivist, I now truly appreciate that, while much of my work is in the background, it does make a difference.

JESSICA MOORE ARCHIVIST DR DANIEL DELANY

Dr Daniel Delany is the Founder of the Brigidine and Patrician Orders in Tullow, Ireland.

In 1747, Daniel Delany was born in Paddock, Ireland to a staunch Catholic and wealthy farming family. Intellectually brilliant and with a sensitive disposition, at the age of 16, Delany decided to become a priest. Ireland had a turbulent social and political climate at the time, so he was smuggled out of the country to a college in Paris to begin his studies. In 1770, Daniel Delany was ordained a Priest and returned to Ireland where unrest and crime was still rampant. His first appointment as priest curate was to Tullow at the end of 1777. He organised Sunday school for adults as well as children. He tried sermons and house-to-house visitation. He enlisted the help of the wives and mothers in trying to remedy some of the deplorable behaviour in the parish. Daniel gathered some children and started a choir, teaching them to sing at Mass and at Vespers. From hymn singing he progressed to prayer and religious instruction. As the youth learned to sing and read, they acquired a new sense of dignity and classes were formed. The numbers increased so much so that Daniel Delany had to enlist the help of young women and men whom he trained with great care. The parish of Tullow was slowly being transformed. Daniel Delany was curate for only six years when he was appointed coadjutor to Bishop O’Keeffe in 1783.

Brigidine College St Ives presenting the relics to Delany College