A NUN who worked in the missions in Africa for over 60 years, and now lives in the Convent in Ballynahinch, turned 100 years old on Monday past.
Sister de Chantal was born in County Derry (near Swatragh) as Annie Harkin on 5 February 1924. Sr de Chantal is one of seven children. She has a brother, Colm, and a sister, Kathleen, both still alive and they both live in County Derry.
Her father bought the Deer Park near Drumkeeragh Forest, outside Ballynahinch, when she was about 12 and the family moved to the area. She then attended Assumption Grammar School in Ballynahinch. At the age of 16 Sr de Chantal entered the community in 1940 when she joined the religious order of the Missionary Sisters of the Assumption which was very young, even for the time. She made her first profession in 1943 and her final profession in 1946.
Normally a first profession would have been done in South Africa but due to the war it was unsafe to sail there at the time. So Sr de Chantal took her first profession as a sister in Ballynahinch. Sr de Chantal trained as a teacher in Ireland and in 1947 she took up her first teaching post in Sommerset East in South Africa. She would spend all her working life in the missions in South Africa, from 1947 to 2011.
The Missionary Sisters ran various schools in South Africa and Sr de Chantal was assigned to work in most of these schools throughout her life. She was located in various places, including Port Elizabeth, Malvern, Grahamstown, Umtata and Pretoria, among others. She was a school principal for about 20 years in total, across five schools.
While in South Africa she was Mother Superior in three of the convents. She also had roles as a bursar and in the General Archives collation in the Convents in South Africa. Sr de Chantal was known as an extremely hardworking teacher and Sister. She was dedicated to her work in the schools, to her community and her religion and didn’t allow herself to have many distractions. She was regarded by her colleagues as a wonderful teacher, very artistic, was a force of nature and always full of wonderful ideas. She always kept herself busy but loved reading and to this day will read whenever she can.
Sr de Chantal returned to Ballynahinch in 2011 after retiring from the missions. She assisted in supporting the Ballynahinch community from then on. Since returning to Ballynahinch she has developed dementia and sadly this has slowed her down. However, she still loves to read, watch TV and keeps everyone entertained with her witty remarks. Sr de Chantal never has a bad word to say about anyone and never complains and those who work and live in the convent regard her as someone who is a joy to be with.