CRONAN, MARY ANN (1845-1920)

CRONAN, MARY ANN, Sister St Winnifred of the Congregation of Notre Dame; teacher, and superior at Newcastle, 1902-06; b. Sainte-Scholastique, Co. des Deux-Montagnes, Canada East, 20 Apr 1845, d/o Timothy Cronan and Mary Fitzgerald; entered religious life, 1864; d. Montreal, 17 Mar 1920.

Mary Ann Cronan grew up at St Thérèse, Que., where she attended the convent school and became fluent in French. After she finished her novitiate she taught school for forty-two years in the Maritimes. She was at Caraquet for a total of ten years and served as superior there prior to her transfer to Newcastle in the same capacity in 1902.

Cronan was "intelligente et dévouée," and as a superior she never became discouraged. "Joyeuse et confiante, elle accomplissait sa tâche avec courage et gaieté." Sick for a time after leaving Newcastle, she did not return to the classroom but took on less demanding duties within the order until her retirement to the infirmary in Montreal in 1916. She was approaching her seventy-fifth birthday at the time of her death in 1920.