The windows are appropriately placed either side of the existing marble memorial plaque, erected in St Patrick’s Church in 2002. The Emigration window is dedicated to all those who left Addergoole Parish over the years and their families, wherever they might be.
The Titanic window, depicting Boat 16 being lowered, is likely to be one of the very few church Titanic themed windows worldwide. It is based on what survivor, Annie Kate Kelly, who became Sister Patrick Joseph, an Adrian Dominican Sister in Michigan USA remembered.
Annie was standing in line waiting to enter Boat 16. A man accompanying two woman was refused entry. One woman said: “I’ll not leave my husband”, and the other “I’ll not leave my brother”. They were Catherine and Mary Bourke from Addergoole.
Annie, next in line, was given a place. As the lifeboat was lowered she looked up and saw her cousin, Pat Canavan, and the others including James Flynn. As the window depicts, Pat was holding his rosary beads and waving.
The lifeboat’s capacity was 65, but it was not full. There were 12 other passengers who also boarded at Queenstown and were saved in this boat, which was lowered at 1.20am. Eight were from Co Longford, one from Co Kildare and three from Co Galway. A Galway survivor, Ellie Mockler from Caltra, also became a nun with the Sisters of Mercy, Sister Mary Patricia.
Only two more of the Addergoole Fourteen survived in other boats, Delia McDermott and Annie McGowan. Delia was saved in Boat 13 and Annie McGowan could not recall the boat she was rescued in.
The official dedication and blessing of the windows will take place as part of our Cultural Week, 8th – 15th April 2012, and will be a lasting legacy to the memory of all our emigrants.
Click here to download pictures of the windows and accompanying text.
Society members, Bridie Syron and David Donoghue, are descendants of ‘The Addergoole Fourteen’. They took on the task of securing the funding for the windows from descendant relatives and friends; here, in America and the UK. American descendants of the three survivors generously donated the cost of the Titanic Window.