Venerable Edel Mary Quinn (September 14, May 12, 1944)

STORY TIME CHILDHOOD : Father: Charles Quinn; a banker Mother: Louisa Burke Date Of Birth: 14 th September, 1907 (Adele) During her childhood, her father's career brought the family to various towns in Ireland, including Tralee, Co. Kerry, where a plaque was unveiled in May 2009 at Bank Of Ireland House in Denny Street commemorating her residence there between 1921 and Edel Quinn felt a call to religious life at a young age. She wished to join the Poor Clares but was prevented by advanced tuberculosis. After spending eighteen months in a sanatorium, her condition unchanged, she decided to become active in the Legion of Mary, which she joined in Dublin at age 20. She gave herself completely to its work in the form of helping the poor in the slums of Dublin.

Life in the Legion of Mary – In 1936, at age 29 and dying of tuberculosis, Quinn became a Legion of Mary Envoy, a very active missionary to East and Central Africa, departing in December 1936 for Mombasa. Edel settled in Nairobi having been told by Bishop Heffernan that this was the most convenient base for her work. By the outbreak of World War II, she was working as far off as Dar es Salaam and Mauritius. – In 1941, she was admitted to a sanatorium near Johannesburg. Fighting her illness, in seven and a half years she established hundreds of Legion branches and councils in today's Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and Mauritius.

End of Story – All this time her health was never good, and in 1943 she took a turn for the worse, dying in Nairobi, Kenya of tuberculosis in May She is buried there in the Missionaries' Cemetery. – The cause for her beatification was introduced in She was declared venerable by Pope John Paul II on December 15, 1994, since when the campaign for her beatification has continued.

Virtues Possesed by Edel Quinn – Faith: Total Dependence on God, Through Mary. – Absolute reverence for the Holy Eucharist – Attends mass sometimes twice on sundays – Normal Lifestyle; played Piano, golf, dancing, – Looks beyond human effort – Desire to forge ahead – Not apathetic – Why cant we trust our lady?

What People are saying after her death – Blind Boy receives Sight – Surgery forestalled – Nervous breakdown healed – Fr. Hilton is healed from Ulcer in the leg.

Canonization Process – Started in 1956 and opened formally in 1963 – 76 Dioceses and 258 witnesses examined! – 15 th December, 1994, Pope John Paul II declared her a Venerable

Prayer for the Beatification of Venerable Edel Quinn – Eternal Father, I thank you for the grace you gave to your servant, Edel Quinn, of striving to live always in the joy of your presence, for the radiant charity infused into her heart by your Holy Spirit and for the strength she drew from the Bread of Life to labour until death for the glory of Your name in loving dependence on Mary, Mother of the Church. – Confident, O Merciful Father, that her life was pleasing to you, I beg you to grant me, through her intercession, the special favour I now implore , and to make known by miracles the glory she enjoys in Heaven, so that she may be glorified also by your Church on earth, through Christ Our Lord, Amen

Venerable Edel Mary Quinn (September 14, May 12, 1944)