Offaly-based nun celebrates her 100th birthday with family and friends

OFFALY-based nun Sr Bosco Daly celebrated her 100th birthday over the weekend with family, friends and Sisters of Mercy colleagues in Tullamore.

Most Rev Denis Nulty, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin said the native of Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath has become Ireland's 457th centenarian and the 11th Mercy Sister to reach the milestone.

In his homily at a Mass before a celebration dinner in the Convent of Mercy, Bishop Nulty, revealed that the oldest Mercy nun in Ireland, Sr Patricia O'Neill, is 107 and the country's fifth oldest person.

“So Bosco, you've a few more years to catch up,” he remarked.

The year 1925 also saw the birth of Maureen Potter, Barbara Bush, Margaret Thatcher and the bishop's own mother. “All strong women in their own right, though Bosco, you've outlived all of them.”

Bishop Nulty, who knew Sr Bosco from her time with the Sisters of Mercy in Drogheda, outlined that she had entered the convent in Drogheda in 1944, was finally professed in 1950, trained as a teacher in Carysfort, Dublin, before becoming one of four nuns selected to go on mission to Ballwin, Missouri in 1957.

One of her pupils at the Holy Infant school in Ballwin was a boy, Timothy Dolan, who went on to become a priest and is now Cardinal of New York.

“He was among your pupils in first and second grade and you prepared him for First Holy Communion and he never forgets to reference and acknowledge your teaching role in the journey of faith,” said the bishop.

“He's a very frequent visitor here to Tullamore as he was to Drogheda before.”

He likened Sr Bosco to St John the Baptist, a man who taught others to follow Jesus, and said she had been a teacher all her life, working in Drogheda for 32 years after her 22 years in the United States.

He also thanked Sr Bosco and the other sisters in Drogheda for providing a “home from home” for the priests of the town.

“I think of the little and big parties we enjoyed, the hot whiskies you insisted we imbibe after Easter vigil.”

The year of Bosco's birth was, like 2025, a jubilee year for the church, and 100 years ago the nun had responded to a call from Pope Pius XI for missionary activity around the world.

“You and so many others responded to that call in being part of the mission from Drogheda to Ballwin, from the Meath Mercies to Missouri.”

The bishop also mentioned the cheque from President Michael D Higgins, saying: “It is said that there's a store in 34th Street, New York, Macy's, well worth a visit next time you think about it.”

When Sr Bosco was presented with the cheque and a letter from President Higgins by Sr Cecilia, Sisters of Mercy, Tullamore, she laughed and asked: “How much is it?”

In his letter of congratulations, the president wrote of the many remarkable changes to all aspects of our lives in the last century but added: “In so many other ways however the human condition remains the same and we continue with similar preoccupations, ambitions, worries, challenges and joys as those shared by countless generations before us. Yet, it is the gift of our lives to try and make it better, nios fearr.

“You have played your own important part in shaping and crafting the world we inhabit today, bringing your own energy, experience and wisdom to your work, family and community life. As President of Ireland I congratulate and thank you for that important contribution.”

The chief celebrant at the Mass, Fr John Garry, said that during her century-long journey Sr Bosco had been a beacon of faith, love and service.

Fr Garry also referred to her good humour and as she mixed with guests and well wishers afterwards, Sr Bosco confirmed that quality still exists to those who asked how she was, saying: “I'm alright, I'm not too bad any day. All I'm afraid of is that I'm going to live to be 100 and something. How would you get out of that?”

Prior to her birthday Sr Cecilia said Bosco's long life was due to her natural gift of good health as a child and an adult and long walks to school with plenty of fresh air.

Speaking today, Sr Bosco smiled and attributed her longevity to the tablets she'd been taking for about 20 years.

She also recalled hearing a very young Timothy Dolan tell her he was thinking of become a priest and said she had “coaxed him along”.

She said she loved her time in America. “I'd go back again.”

Sr Bosco was christened Julianna Daly but when she went to primary school in Kilbeggan her name was changed to Sheila, the Irish for Julianna.

Her parents were Thomas Daly and Mary Casey, Ballymacmorris, Kilbeggan, and she was the second oldest of five children.

Her brothers were Hubey and Edward (Ned), and Peter Paul, who died when he was 17. Her sister was Maureen.

Sr Bosco has said she decided to enter the convent because her neighbour Kathleen Fox was a nun in Longford and Mother Philomena, Mercy Sisters, Kilbeggan suggested she go to Drogheda instead of Longford.

Her first profession was on August 20, 1947 and her final profession was on August 20, 1950.

She was in Carysfort from 1950 to 1952 and in Ballwin, Missouri from 1957 to 1979. Sr Bosco returned to Drogheda in 1979 and came to Tullamore in 2011.

Sr Bosco is pictured above on her 100th birthday with her first cousin Nanny Scully, Croghan (left), Sr Cecilia and Mary Keegan, Kilbeggan, a native of Mountbolus whose late husband Sean was also a first cousin of the nun