Obituaries

Mary O’Donovan obituary: Secondary school founder with radical views on education for girls

Founder of Scoil Mhuire in Cork believed girls’ education was being neglected, and she also objected to the education system’s excessive focus on exam results

Mary O'Donovan co-founder of Scoil Mhuire, looking through an old school register. Photograph: Denis Scannell

Sat Nov 26 2022 - 05:00

Born: February 28th, 1924

Died: October 2nd, 2022

In 1951, 28-year-old Mary O’Donovan founded Scoil Mhuire, a secondary school for girls in Cork, with her friend, Kathleen Cahill, and her sister Joan O’Donovan, who would later join the Dominican Order. At that age, Mary O’Donovan already had many achievements to her credit. She matriculated at 15 and entered University College Cork at 16 in 1941, graduating with a BA in French and English in 1944. After obtaining a Higher Diploma in Education in 1946, she was awarded an MA in 1947.

That same year, she was given a travelling studentship but because of the situation in postwar France was unable to pursue the doctorate she had planned on the poetry of Ronsard. Instead, she became involved in teacher training and lectured at Sedgley Park Training College in Manchester from 1949-51. There she met the co-founder of Scoil Mhuire, Kathleen Cahill.

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Mary O’Donovan returned to her native city convinced of the need for investment in the education of girls. Her concerns were rooted both in questions of gender (money in families went to the education of boys) and pedagogy – she believed that the Irish education system remained over-focused on examination results. She wanted to implement modern, progressive methods, which would stir curiosity and excitement in pupils.

They were brought out of their school, on 2 Sydney Place, Wellington Road, to the courthouse to see the law in action; to symphony concerts in City Hall

For Mary O’Donovan, education was not just learning and scholarship. It was about values and vision. She wanted girls to be exposed to so much more than the school syllabus. At a time when girls were seen as subaltern citizens, she wanted them to be independent and responsible. The initial cohort of 70 girls was given an education in the broadest sense of the word. They were brought out of their school, on 2 Sydney Place, Wellington Road, to the courthouse to see the law in action; to symphony concerts in City Hall, under the baton of Aloys Fleischmann. In the summer, they went on an annual picnic, taking the ferry from Fountainstown to Ringabella.

Mary O’Donovan, or Mary O, as she was known affectionately by her pupils, encouraged her pupils to develop their talents and achieve their full potential in all areas of the curriculum and beyond

There was no question of simply studying a Shakespeare play for an exam. A Shakespeare play was performed and acted yearly by each class. Language classes placed emphasis on the spoken language and on literature. In the eulogy given at Mary O’Donovan’s funeral, Prof Máire Mulcahy, a former pupil of the school, remembered fondly how they were even encouraged to speak Latin. Long before STEAM and wellbeing became focal points in education, Mary O’Donovan, or Mary O, as she was known affectionately by her pupils, encouraged her pupils to develop their talents and achieve their full potential in all areas of the school curriculum and beyond.

The success of the school was such that a junior school was opened in 1954. It was at this point also that the school amalgamated with Scoil Íte, the school founded by Mary and Annie MacSwiney, members of Cumann na mBan and sisters of Terence MacSwiney.

Scoil Mhuire was one of a number of independent schools for girls founded in or around that time in Cork. Others were Miss O’Sullivan’s on the South Mall, St. Brigid’s College founded by Noreen O’Callaghan, and Regina Mundi founded by Daisy Corrigan. Only Regina Mundi and Scoil Mhuire are still open today. Those schools changed the architecture of women’s education in Cork. Despite being Catholic in ethos, they were secular in structure. As Prof Caroline Fennell of UCC said when Mary O’Donovan was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2012: “Whichever view you take, young women in Cork had the education and the opportunity as to whether and what to write or do, in part at least, due to other women, and in particular, Mary O’Donovan, whom we honour here today.”

‘Wonderful speech’

Scoil Mhuire has continued to grow and expand. Today it has more than 400 pupils, and more than 5,000 women have graduated from the school. After she retired as principal in 1989, Mary O’Donovan became the school manager. When she entrusted that responsibility to her friend Máire Uí Ríordáin, she became the school trustee, continuing to participate actively in the life of the school, travelling from her home in Bishopstown by taxi when she could no longer drive.

Her connection to the school remained undimmed. Her 98th birthday was celebrated by pupils and staff

The school was refurbished in 2015. As Máire Mulcahy recalled: “By then in 2015, Mary was bent double. But she pushed herself up straight to smile at us over the dais and deliver a wonderful speech, without a note!’ Ill health saw her spend her final two years in a residential community, but her connection to the school remained undimmed. Her 98th birthday was celebrated by pupils and staff alike.

Mary O’Donovan was born in Cork. Her parents were Nellie and James M O’Donovan, both UCC graduates. He was later a professor of medicine in UCC. She went to school in St Angela’s College, Cork and later to Loreto Rathfarnham in Dublin as a boarder.

After her death on October 2nd, her family (Sister Joan O.P. and brother Tom) and the extended school community, led by senior school principal Regina Butler, junior school principal Suzy Webster, and school manager Máire Uí Ríordáin, honoured her life in the Dominican Church in Cork.

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