History and Roots: Sister Alphonsus Mooney

Sister Alphonsus Mooney before entering the order, circa 1899.

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace were healers early on in their founding, starting healthcare ministries in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Many sisters have been nurses, caregivers or administrators of hospitals, nursing homes, and healthcare systems. In this issue, we bring you Sister Alphonsus Mooney, who received the Royal Red Cross decoration from King George V for her service during World War I. Sister Alphonsus later came to the United States and was the first administrator of Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, New Jersey, founded by the sisters in partnership with local doctors.

What follows is an excerpt about her included in From Dusk to Dawn, a history of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace by the Reverend P.R. McCaffrey, published 1932. Sr. Alphonsus would have been 34 years old when she cared for the injured in England during World War I.

“When war was declared between England and Germany in 1914, Mother Evangelista offered to the government the services of two Sisters who had been trained in the care of the sick. Since nurses were scarce, she felt it was her duty to do so. The offer was readily accepted by the authorities, and they were at once assigned to duty at one of the military hospitals in Nottingham. The two selected were Sisters Alphonsus and Monica. But they were received with a decided coldness by the nursing staff. Even the Catholic soldiers were suspicious of them, doubtful if they were in truth nuns of their religion, since it was unusual in Protestant England to find Catholic nuns received on the staff of non-Catholic hospitals. Indeed the “not wanted” attitude was so marked that the Sisters were not anxious to stay. They were therefore transferred to another hospital, this time a long trolley ride from the convent. They were received here with a somewhat better spirit; still, the reserve persisted. After a while, however, it began to yield to the attractive personalities of the two sisters, who found it especially easy to make friends with the nurses from Australia and South Africa. A piece of clever work on the part of Sister Alphonsus raised them considerably in the estimation of all. One of the soldiers had a piece of shrapnel lodged in his hip. For over a year it had baffled the probing of the surgeons. Then Sister found it and removed it so successfully that the patient was able to return home very shortly after.

The coldness that had marked the reception of the Religious proved to be chiefly due to that peculiar shyness of the layfolk of other denominations in their dealings with priests and nuns. All soon admitted that they had had quite wrong opinions about them and were generous enough to say that their advent had “raised the tone of the place.”

Sister Alphonsus in habit, date unknown.

Very soon Sister Alphonsus was recommended for the Royal Red Cross decoration in recognition of extraordinary fidelity to duty, but it was withheld on the plea of her period of service being too short. By now the hospital authorities were going out of their way to show the Sisters every courtesy. Amongst others, each evening an orderly was told off to conduct them safely along the long and lonely road to the street car. They were next transferred to a hospital nearer home, but one in which the work was exceedingly hard, as there was always a scarcity of nurses to look after the two hundred or more patients. The soldiers became very much attached to the Sisters, for they soon recognized the vast difference between the nurse who works for wages and the one who works only for God. Frequently they called at the convent, where Mother Evangelista welcomed them with a motherly kindness and by her sympathy induced them to talk of wife and children and home, a good influence for any man on active service. Here the Sisters continued to nurse till 1919, when most of the emergency hospitals were closed, including the Mapperley Road Military Hospital. Sister Alphonsus, who had now become universally known as “The White Sister,”* was again recommended for the R.R.C. in recognition of distinguished service. This time the conferring of the honor had the warm backing of all concerned. The elaborate ceremony of investiture took place at Buckingham Palace on May 15, 1919, amidst all the pomp and panoply of an English Court. His Majesty, King George, warmly thanked her for all she had done for the suffering soldiers and shook hands with her in congratulation, whilst Her Majesty, Queen Mary, remarked on the picturesqueness of the garb of a Catholic nursing Sister. The decoration is a cross patté, eight pointed, of red on white with a circle in the middle. On the front a bas-relief portrait of the King is included in the circle. In the circle on the reverse is His Majesty’s monogram, whilst the bars bear the date of the institution of the decoration (1883) and the words: Faith, Hope, Charity.”

*The White Sister refers to Sister Alphonsus’ white nursing uniform.

This article appeared in the Autumn 2024 issue of Living Peace.