Eileen’s Cause heads to Rome

16 August 2024. The diocesan phase of the Cause for the Canonisation of Servant of God, Eileen O’Connor, is officially completed. Most Rev. Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP signs the final decree for the acts of the cause at Cathedral House, alongside members of the Eileen O’Connor tribunal and the historical commission.Archbishop Fisher and Diocesan Postulator, Rev. Fr. Anthony Robbie will formally present the decree, along with documents compiled by the tribunal and commission over the past four years evidencing Eileen’s case for sainthood, to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints in Rome in October. Also in attendance were Rev. Monsignor Robert Sarno, a retired U.S. priest who worked in the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints in Rome for many years; Episcopal Delegate to the tribunal, Rev. Fr. Julian Wellspring; President of the Historical Commission, Dr. Jocelyn Hedley; and members and staff of Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor. Eileen O’Connor was born in 1892 and died 1921, aged only 28. She suffered from tuberculosis of the spine, spinal curvature, stunted growth, periods of blindness, long periods of paralysis and extreme nerve pain, amidst other ailments. Eileen offered her suffering up to God and dedicated her life to his mission, founding the Our Lady’s Nurses of the Poor – widely known as the ‘Brown Nurses’ – alongside Rev. Fr. Edward McGrath msc.(Photo: Alphonsus Fok).