History of Mother Kevin
Mother Kevin, first named Teresa Kearney, was born in County Wicklow, Ireland on April 28th April, 1875.
Her father died in an accident three months before she was born; later, her mother remarried and had three more children. They were a happy united family, but when Teresa was ten years old, tragedy struck again with the death of her mother.
Her grandmother, Granny Grennell, brought the young Teresa to her home, and provided love, security, and a deep faith.
At fourteen years of age, Teresa became an Assistant Teacher with the Sisters of Mercy (from Ireland). At sixteen, her grandmother died. A year later, Teresa went to teach in a school in Essex, searching for what God was asking of her. On the advice of her Spiritual Director, she applied to the Franciscan Sisters of St. Mary’s Abbey, Mill Hill, London, with a calling to serve the African American community.
She made her Perpetual Vows, as Sister Mary Kevin of the Sacred Passion. Her motto was "For Thee, Lord", a sentiment that inspired her for the rest of her life.
In 1902, a Mill Hill Father, Bishop Henry Hanlon, approached the Franciscan Sisters Mill Hill requesting Sisters for Uganda. Having seen firsthand the desperate needs of women and children there, the Bishop was convinced that it was necessary to have Sisters engaged in health care and education ministries. He was well aware that the impact of preaching the Gospel was greatly lessened if people were in need of healing, education and vocational skill.
Sister Kevin was one of the Sisters chosen for this new mission. With five Sister companions she left for Uganda on December 2nd 1902. She arrived in Africa in January of 1903 with nothing but her bible, a prayer book, 3 habits, and her love for the people.
Mother Kevin (a sign of the African people’s love for her…they reverently called her “Mama Kevina”) noticed the high child mortality rate and that that many women were dying during childbirth. She wasted no time in starting healthcare and education services for women.
Her first clinic and classroom was under a huge mango tree at Nsambya. The clinic that began under a mango tree at Nsambya, Kampala, Uganda in 1903 became a hospital, then a training School for Uganda Registered Nurses. Secondary Schools, Teacher Training College and Home craft Centers followed.
Nsambya Hospital is the biggest catholic founded hospital in Uganda. The hospital today has 460 beds and treats 500 to 700 patients on a daily basis, with over 5000 babies delivered every year. Mother Kevin also led her sisters in fighting against illiteracy, noting that this was a major contributing factor to the numerous deaths among women and children. Among Mother Kevin’s special projects were the two centers, one at Buluba, one at Nyenga, to care for Leprosy patients––a truly Franciscan Ministry.
To organize the work and train additional workers Mother Kevin was given permission to found the Little Sisters of St Francis in 1923.
The need for more Sisters for Africa was a priority for Mother Kevin. She got permission from Mill Hill Abbey to start a "Uganda Novitiate", in Holme Hall, Yorkshire. This was opened on 2nd February 1928.
Many young women from England, Scotland and Ireland flocked to Holme Hall, to join the new missionary endeavor in East Africa.
Mother Kevin did not only speak of the love of God, she lived that love in everything she did. She worked for the people and with the people. Her days always started early, together with the sisters at prayer, in the gardens, at the clinic with sick, and ended with prayer.
She was the very first person to start cutting down the tree that was then used to bake bricks for building the sisters’ first chapel. Mother Kevin was a woman of faith and courage that propelled her life. She challenged the indigenous people by cutting the “sacred tree” the ‘holy” dwelling in which the “white rooster” (which is what Nkokonjeru means) lived. For years people had been worshiping in that spot of the Nkokonjeru, and this was the very spot that Mother Kevin chose for their first chapel to be built. To date, the chapel stands; in that place of prayer not to the gods but to the one true God whose love Mother Kevin came to share with the African people.
At the time, there was growing political instability in Uganda, economic hardships and the insecurity for non-Ugandans. Meanwhile the number of girls attracted to Mother Kevin and her work were growing in leaps and bounds. For these reasons, a second novitiate was opened at Bahati-Nakuru, (about 150 miles west of Nyrobi, Kenya in 1932 for the candidates from Kenya.
Again due to wars and rebel activities, a third novitiate was founded at Palisa-Tororo Dioceses to accommodate vocations from Eastern and Northern parts of Uganda because traveling from one area to the other was made impossible by the fighting.
It was the wish of Mother Kevin that The Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi (LSOSF) become missionaries to their own people and later extend their mission, vision and charism to other parts of the world.
Shortly before she died, she said to her congregation of Little Sisters and also put it in writing, “My dear ones, you are to be missionaries my children, that means you must open your hearts to the needs of the world. Your little corner of vineyard may be Africa, but remember the needs of the whole church. Your prayers, sacrifices, and mission must embrace Africa, United States, China, India, Europe… the whole world, the whole church”
Mother Kevin taught the LSOSF to love and serve God in the church and world today. The spirit of Mother Kevin still lives on in the vocation of the Little sisters as they contemplate God in prayer and share the fruits of contemplation with others through their apostolate, giving special attention to the needs of all those who are physically, spiritually, psychologically, emotionally, and mentally poor.
Adhering to Mother Kevin’s call, the communities of LSOSF, including over 700 sisters give services in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, and Europe. In the U.S., they minister to people with disabilities, visit those in nursing homes and those who are shut-in, and serve in hospital follow-up and bereavement ministries.
At seventy-seven years of age, Mother Kevin had the developed the vision she had longed for over the decades. A great burst of missionary endeavor began - new missions were opened in Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, USA Scotland and South Africa, including outreaches to the blind and physically handicapped. The American Novitiate was opened in 1954.
The vision and the spirit is the same as when Mother Kevin and the pioneer band arrived in Uganda in January 1903 - to help empower the women and girls of Africa by offering health care, education and development skills. But the scenario is very different, and the challenges are too...... In 100 years of missionary work we have seen the rise of a vibrant Catholic Church in all these countries, and the emergence of a multitude of highly educated and motivated women, including African Sisters, ready to help build a just and open Christian society. But, because of AIDS, famine, wars, corruption in high places and anti Christian influences of all kinds the task is daunting. The hope for Africa’s way forward is from the ordinary people, the grass roots, working together for justice, self-help, community-building, home-based health care, community schools, skills training and more.
In her final years, Mother Kevin knew that the needs and challenges of the time were great and younger Sisters who shared her vision and zeal could cope better. She relinquished her post as Superior General in 1954 and Mother Alcantara White was elected to succeed her at the General Chapter held in January 1955. Mother Kevin was appointed Superior of their Boston Convent and characteristically she threw herself into the work of raising funds for the many needy projects in Africa. Tirelessly she traveled, talked, prayed and inspired always hoping to return one day to her beloved Uganda. But the end came unexpectedly. Quietly at the end of a busy day, Mother Kevin died peacefully in her sleep on the 16th October 1957. Her Sisters and friends in three continents dearly missed her. A great missionary of our time has finished her tasks on earth, but her vision lives on.
The remains of Mother Mary Kevin Kearny, OSF were returned to her beloved Nkokonjeru where she can rest in peace in the place of the White Rooster and where she began her missionary journey to serve God’s people over 100 years ago.
You can sponsor a child in the Mother Kevin CARITAS Program and continue the mission of Mother Kevin by supporting those she helped most; children in desperate need.