​Sean Ross Abbey

​Sean Ross Abbey
 
The Philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche said-  Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.
 
Sean Ross Abbey is to the South of Rosecrea in County Tipperary, Ireland.  
 
The Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary came to Sean Ross Abbey in 1932.
 
Sean Ross Abbey was a Mother and Baby Home, which operated from about 1932 to 1970. Babies born to unmarried girls in the home were put up for adoption, 487 of them into America. 
 
Returns for Sean Ross Abbey between April 1st, 1960, and March 31st, 1967, indicate that, of the 634 children adopted in that time, 111 went to the US, nine to England and two to Scotland.
 
Since 1932 the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary that ran,  Sean Ross Abbey’s Mother and Baby Home, sold approximately 1,789 Babies and Children from Sean Ross Abbey’s Mother and Baby Home. Many of the Babies and Children from Sean Ross Abbey’s Mother and Baby Home were sold illegally, as selling of Babies was illegal before 1953. 
 
The illegal selling of Babies and Children into North America and elsewhere was a huge and profitable business for both the Mother and Baby Homes and the Irish Catholic Church. 
 
Although the number of babies born at Sean Ross Abbey declined rapidly in the 1950s, adoptions greatly increased due to the introduction of a legal process of adoption in 1953.
 
The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith and the film Philomena, based on it, concern the controversial adoption of Michael Hess, born Anthony Lee to an unwed Mother, Philomena Lee at Sean Ross Abbey in 1952. 
 
The graves of an unknown number of unwed Mothers and babies are located in the unmarked area known as the Angels Plot.
 
In February 2018,  the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary that ran, Sean Ross Abbey’s Mother and Baby Home put it up for sale, a large part of the campus, exclusive of St. Anne's school and the cemeteries, which was to continue to be maintained by the Congregation of Sisters, and remain accessible. 

On 27 July 2020, Journalist Alison O'Reilly, uncovered the names of the 1,024 children who died in Sean Ross Abbey. The story was printed in the Irish Daily Star after the details were secured under the Freedom of Information Act. 

A total of 1,090 “ Babies & Children” died in Sean Ross Abbey’s Mother and Baby Home over a thirty-seven-year period. Though the number of 1,090 “ Babies & Children” is much higher, maybe over 2,000, the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary that ran, Sean Ross Abbey’s Mother and Baby Home, were criminally neglect in keeping records, because they knew they were committing crimes. 

The official death list, also revealed how 128 children died from "Marasmus" - meaning severe malnutrition. Again we cannot accept that figure, because the Nuns didn’t keep records, we can safely say, that over 1,500 died from neglect. 

“Marasmus is a severe form of protein-energy malnutrition caused by a long-term lack of calories, leading to extreme weight loss, muscle wasting, and emaciation”.

Child neglect is also a crime, the Babies & Children were deliberately starved to death by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary that ran Sean Ross Abbey’s Mother and Baby Home. 

“Child Neglect is defined as any confirmed or suspected egregious act or omission by a child’s parent or other caregiver that deprives the child of basic age-appropriate needs and thereby results, or has reasonable potential to result, in physical or psychological harm to the child. Child neglect encompasses abandonment; lack of appropriate supervision; failure to attend to necessary emotional or psychological needs; and failure to provide necessary education, medical care, nourishment, shelter, and/or clothing.” 

—(1) It shall be an offence for any person who has the custody, charge or care of a child wilfully to assault, ill-treat, neglect, abandon or expose the child, or cause or procure or allow the child to be assaulted, ill-treated, neglected, abandoned or exposed, in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering.  Irish Law-European Law. 

Affect hunger is the cosmic glue that binds the newborn to their mother. It is the invisible drive that anchors, guides, and warmly welcomes the infant into the world. The Cruel Nuns in all Mother and Baby Homes would always separate the new born Babies from their Mothers. 
The Babies would never receive a warm welcome from a group of vicious Nuns. According to the Nuns these Babies were the "spawn of the devil" In reality the real “Devil’s Spawn” were the Clerics that ran the Religious Institutions, who were inherently evil, deceitful, and murderous. 

No Nun ever died from Marasmus, and please remember that Sean Ross Abbey’s Mother and Baby Home had a working farm as part of their property. Also the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary were paid by the Irish Government for every child born at Sean Ross Abbey’s Mother and Baby Home. 

There is a long history of starvation, at all the Religious run Institutions throughout Ireland. Starvation was a weapon of mass control in all the Religious run Institutions throughout Ireland. As was, rape, beatings, torture, fear and death. Starvation itself was woven throughout the Religious run Institution in Ireland and as a tragic consequence of disease, and the cruelty of the Clerics that ran these Religious run Institutions. 

When I was in the Industrial School in Tralee, County Kerry, hunger and starvation was the norm for every boy in the Industrial School. Some boys in my Industrial School in Tralee, County Kerry died from starvation, as did many other boys and Girls in other Religious run Institutions throughout Ireland.

There is nothing ambiguous about starvation. There was no excuse as to why 128 children died from “Marasmus” in Sean Ross Abbey’s Mother and Baby Home. 

Starvation of Babies & Children was and is a crime against humanity, and an act of genocide according to the International Criminal Law. Child abuse can be categorised into four different types: neglect, emotional abuse, physical abuse and sexual rape.

The use of starvation by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary that ran Sean Ross Abbey’s Mother and Baby Home was a crime. And is explicitly prohibited under Article 54 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions and is defined as a war crime under Article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary that ran Sean Ross Abbey’s Mother and Baby Home, deliberately, deprived the Babies & Children of essential foods, water, and medicine and was illegal and morally indefensible. Famine can constitute a crime a crime against humanity, the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary that ran Sean Ross Abbey’s Mother and Baby Home committed such a heinous crime.

Other causes of deaths include convulsions and exhaustion, while two babies died from sun and heat stroke. One death certificate shows a child died from acute heart failure as a result of choking on porridge. 

The number of Babies & Children’s deaths in Sean Ross Abbey, is higher than the registered deaths in the Tuam mother and baby home where 796 children died, as well as the 817 in Bessborough in County Cork.

Official Records concerning the Sean Ross Mother and Baby Home show that more than 1,000 children and 29 mothers died there or in the District Hospital, Roscrea, where they were sent when they became very ill. 

What is shocking is that there is no evidence that any record of burials was kept by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, who owned and ran the Sean Ross Mother and Baby Home, despite a Canon Law requirement to keep a record of burials. There is no certainty about where these Babies and Children are buried.

         The Commission of Investigation said that an affidavit about the burials provided by the Congregation, The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary was "in many respects, speculative, inaccurate and misleading”. In other words, the Nuns lied. 

         The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary also said the Babies & Children buried at Sean Ross Abbey were buried without cost to local or Central Government. The Commission of Investigation dismissed this, saying it was -
“not true in respect of some, if not all, of the burials”, and said it had seen evidence of burial bills being sent to the local authority.
​
Owen Felix O’Neill