According to Sister Carmel Bourke, boarder and later Principal (1945 – 1953) Mother Clare Murphy was probably the most outstanding and gifted of the Argentinian-born Sisters who came to Adelaide in 1880. She was born Julia Murphy on 24 July, 1851 in Buenos Aires of Irish parentage, her parents having migrated from Ireland to settle in the Argentine.
Mother Clare entered the Mercy Convent in Buenos Aires in 1868, was Professed in 1871, and came to Adelaide 9 years later with the founding group in 1880. She was a gifted musician, a first-class pianist and organist, and taught music to senior St Aloysius pupils for some years. Mother Clare trained the Convent Sisters’ Choir who were at that time noted for their beautiful choral music, especially on important liturgical occasions, such as religious Receptions and Professions. She was a close friend of the presiding Archbishop of Adelaide, Dr. O’Reily, himself a noted musician and composer – they appreciated each other’s gifts. Mother Clare used to preside at the Chapel Organ, after the new Chapel was built in 1922, and accompanied the Sisters’ Choir. When Carmel Bourke was a ‘senior’ girl, on a few special occasions, such as for the opening of the Chapel and its first Mass, some of the pupils from the school choir were chosen to help to augment the Sisters’ Choir and Bourke had a chance to see and hear the gifted Mother Clare in action.
Mother Clare, together with Mother Claver and Mother Cecilia, were elected to the office of Government within 7 years of their arrival in Adelaide in 1880. With this election, the burden of responsibility now fell on the younger Argentinian members of the founding group. This could not have been easy, trying to establish themselves, foreigners and virtually unknown, in a new country. But a measure of their success was the fact that these three Sisters continued to be re-elected for many years, a sign of the confidence in which they were held. In the elections of 1887, Mother Clare, at the age of 36 years, was elected Superior, with Mother Claver Kenny her assistant, and Mother Cecilia Cunningham the Mistress of Novices.
Mother Clare continued to be elected to positions of responsibility but when the elections were held in 1920, she was not allowed to stand for Office. This was due to the intervention of the presiding Archbishop, the redoubtable Robert Spence O.P. who pronounced her ineligible for re-election. This interdict was due to the fact that she and Mother Cecilia had earned his displeasure by leaving Adelaide (in 1911) while holding office and being re-elected “in absentia” by the Sisters in 1914. They also incurred his disapproval by staying away until 1920, even though they were prevented from returning during World War 1, and despite the fact that they brought back a considerable benefaction for the whole Archdiocese. When the next elections were due in 1923, both Mother Clare and Mother Cecilia were re-elected into Office.
In retrospect, Carmel Bourke could see that the rather aloof and dignified mien of Mother Clare, who was much respected by students, was probably due to the fact that she had been given positions of authority for 39 years – the greater part of her life spent in Adelaide.
Her wisdom, good judgment and vision, no doubt, was due to the success of the consolidation and expansion periods of the Congregation in the first 40 years of their establishment.
Mother Clare was 28 when she came to Adelaide. She died on 12 December 1936 aged 85, and is buried in the West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide.
By Sr Mary-Anne Duigan and edited by Jacqui Jury, 2024
References
(ed.) 1996, Women on the move: Mercy’s Triple Spiral, Sisters of Mercy, Adelaide.