Paths to our Lord…Celebrating 50 years as a Poor Clare

On a cold, crisp morning in August 1971, two young women excitedly rang the doorbell at the convent door of the Poor Clares in Drumshanbo, Co Leitrim. Sr Agnes and three other nuns clothed came to the porch and seemed surprised to see the fresh-faced pair, who, it later emerged, had hitched from Donegal.

Judith Blackburne, then a qualified midwife, had asked her friend to make the journey with her after she came across an advert for the Poor Clares in the Standard newspaper just a few days earlier.

“The ad just jumped out at me, and when I read it, I was saying yes yes yes to all the questions it was asking, like ‘do you love the blessed sacrament’…I told my friend Maria that we would come back from Donegal to Dublin via Drumshanbo. That’s how strongly I felt about it”

They say the Lord works in mysterious ways, and, while Judith had a calling from a young age, her path to the Poor Clares was not straightforward.

“I was nursing in Dublin, and one of my patients had a friend in the Dail. It was the bank holiday, and this TD (Paddy Harte) was supposed to pick us up around 6pm, but he didn’t come until 8pm. Because of that, I was flicking through the paper and saw the ad. When I told Sr Agnes about it, she was amazed as the ad was not supposed to be published until they had proofread it! She told me they were having a meeting about vocations, and now here the two of us were! I think they were hoping both of us would join, but it would just be me”

Sr Judith was professed as a Poor Clare in 1972 and celebrated her Golden Jubilee in a packed church full of friends and family on December 8th 2024.

To say she’s lived an ‘interesting’ life is at best an understatement. Her father Denys was an RAF pilot who lost his job when the war ended. He and his wife Pamela were living in London, and, after Judith was born, the family moved to Kenya. They returned home to England about three years later for the birth of her brother Jeffrey. Because of the shortage of work, they moved to Perth, Australia where her father gained employment as a flight simulator. Raised as church of England, the plans and dreams they had for their daughter did not include religious life.

“I wasn’t raised a catholic, and my parents weren’t too happy about me going to a catholic school. But the school (Santa Maria College) ran by the mercy sisters was the closest to us. There was a bus stop near our home, and it took me to and from the school every day. I wasn’t one bit interested in the mass before I went there. But I remember I went to a mass at Santa Maria aged 13 or 14 and I saw the priest hold up the host and I was so overcome… I fell in love with Jesus.. One of the teachers, Sr Paschal really helped me on my journey with the Catholic faith, but.. when I told my parents about my calling, they weren’t happy at all.. they were disappointed in my choice.. But I did as they asked.. I obeyed their wishes to wait until after I turned 21 to continue on my path”

On the 8th of December 1966, Judith was received into the Church in Perth. She trained as a nurse and despite a fledgling romance, was quite sure her heart was simply not in it. She broke it off and travelled to Drogheda where she studied midwifery.

“I was working as a midwife but nothing really appealed to me until I saw that ad…”

When she arrived at the convent there were 28 nuns. Today there are just five, including Sr Judith.

“Honestly, I don’t think anyone thought I’d last five minutes. I remember not long after I got here I was asked to do adoration. I looked out and saw the mountain and realised I was enclosed. I told Jesus ‘I’m done. This is a big mistake’. But then I got this feeling I was needed. I couldn’t leave Jesus. I know now that God wanted me to climb other mountains.”

Sr Judith’s devotion to her faith is unwavering. Clothed in a Franciscan habit with white veil, when she greets you in the parlour her accent may pique your interest, but her infectious smile and kind eyes literally warms the space around you.

“I’m very happy. I feel like I’m radiating Christ and it’s my life here that makes me so happy. We live on the goodness of others, and everyone is so good to us. I’m grateful that God led me on such a wonderful journey to this place. They (poor Clares) took a chance taking me in, they put up with me, and they and this whole community has looked after me. I’ve made lots of wonderful friends”

As a poor Clare, the sisters may leave the convent only on compassionate grounds, medical appointments or for reasons pertaining to their training. “Would you believe that only a few months ago I set foot in a shop in Drumshanbo for the first time. I had to go get a passport photo taken in Sheila Tighes!”

They rise at 5:30 for private prayer, and their working day starts at 9am. While she admits to having a ‘terrible sweet tooth’, Sr Judith makes time to bake ‘good wholesome food’, play with the dogs Toby and Teddy, and is an avid gardener. She grows her own vegetables and plants and has even won a competition for her towering sunflowers!

Sr Judith says that while “life with God is never lonely” when it comes to devotions in the Poor Clares, they are “praying for a miracle... I think people are caught up in social media and the rush of life and don’t have the quiet time needed to reflect any more. It’s a beautiful life and I’m so happy God took me on this path”.

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