The murder of Sister Theresa Egan, four days after her December 27 th 73rd birthday, during an attack on worshippers at Sunday Mass on Old Year's Day 2000 in St Lucia's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, has received worldwide media attention, so there is not much more to be said or written about the actual attack which took place as the nun ran from the Cathedral, and not while she was distributing Holy Communion as has been reported.
Sister Mary Margaret (Moloney), principal of the Maria Regina Grade School for many years, and an old friend of the slain nun, believes that the mix up stems from the fact that Sister Teresa Corbie, a Trinidadian with similar saint name, was giving communion: "Sister Theresa Egan did not hand out communion that morning because she had two sore fingers."
The two Irish women entered Gallen Priory in Ferbane, County Offaly, Ireland, one year apart in the 40's. "She was one year younger than I" says Sister Mary Margaret " but we made our novitiate together although I was one year ahead of her. I professed in 1948 and Sister Theresa in 1949."
Sister Mary Margaret's first remembrance of the nunnery was "of the finality about joining the convent, not like now where you can see your parents the next day. This didn't happen then and it was a sad time with lots of tears but joy afterwards getting to know each other. It was a very happy period in our lives."
Sister Mary Margaret remembers Sister Theresa as "a soft-spoken, gentle soul who was rather shy. She was very modest, very reserved, generous, a lovely sister to live with and had a good sense of humour. And a very prayerful and humble person."
In stature she was not as petite as Sister Mary Margaret but not much bigger either.
Sister Theresa Egan came from a very religious family of which there were five girls and three boys. All of the sisters became nuns; two were Cluny's, Sister Theresa, and her elder sister who died a few years ago in the Azores while the other three were of the Presentation Order. Two of her brothers belonged to a non-priest religious order, and the other remained unmarried.
When Sister Mary Margaret left Ireland in 1948, she went to the Convent in St Lucia, while Sister Theresa left in 1949 for Trinidad but by 1953 was sent to St Lucia where the two nuns caught up with each other until Sister Mary came to Trinidad in 1964."We were all so happy to meet again in St Lucia, there were several of us young sisters who had known each other before. There were some Trinidadians with us as well and we had very happy years in St Lucia."
Sister Theresa was a wonderful teacher, both at primary school and in the secondary level as well. "She was very good at Domestic Science." And although Sister Mary Margaret knew her co-sister so well, admits "even I did not know she had done so much teaching, as it would seem after her retirement she kept on teaching in various secondary schools and doing adult education.
Sister Mary Margaret was not chosen to attend the funeral of her Irish sister but did read the first lesson from the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord at last Monday's Mass of Solidarity organised by The Archdiocese of Port of Spain with the Cluny Sisters and the Catholic Community of the Archdiocese of Castries, at the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Trinidad.
The last time Sister Mary Margaret saw Sister Theresa Egan was at when she came to Trinidad for the celebration of her Golden Jubilee in 1999 at the local Cathedral when "we renewed old acquaintances and had good times together, she still had her sense of humour and we talked about our young days together and laughed a lot."