Sr. Anna Canning (Mary Fidelis)
Sr. Anna Canning was born on 25th June 1932, to Patrick and Sarah Canning (nee Boyle). She was their third child and second daughter, in a family of seven, five girls and two boys. Throughout her life, Anna had a great closeness to her family. She wrote that her parents were “the first and most significant influence” on her life, teaching her “the importance of the spiritual dimension of life, of reliability, of doing what one believed to be right, of hard work and family loyalty,” virtues that Anna honoured throughout her life.
After her primary education at the local catholic primary school, Anna and two of her sisters attended St. Teresa’s Convent School, in Limavady run by the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions. Anna was academically very successful at school, something that was not lost on her teachers. But, reminiscing on those days, she spoke of her feelings of “inadequacy, inferiority and shyness” when she always found herself the youngest child in a class of older pupils. Nevertheless, she had happy memories of the Sisters who encouraged her academic striving and she attributed to the Sister who taught her English her love of the language and its literature.
It was while Anna was still in school in Limavady that Kathleen, the sister next to her in age, died shortly before her fourteenth birthday. Kathleen’s illness and death caused great grief to the family and it was a particularly difficult time for Anna, as they were very close in companionship, as well as in age. She was to say that it was their parents’ faith in God, their selflessness and their great love for each of their children that brought them through that time of sorrow.
Towards the end of her time at school Anna began to feel the call to religious missionary life and it was with her mother that she first talked about her desire to become a Sister. She felt her mother, “a woman of strong faith and piety, much more explicitly than my father” would understand. Her mother was indeed happy that her daughter was thinking of a religious vocation, but when her father was finally told, he was very opposed to the idea, as he felt Anna would be unhappy away from the family. He did, of course give his permission, eventually, and she travelled to Hastings in February 1949, on the first step of her long missionary journey.
After her First Profession, 1951, she was missioned to Chew Magna, Somerset, for two years, where she taught in the senior school. This was followed by three years in University, Cork, Ireland, where she excelled in English Literature and History, graduating in 1956. She had enjoyed her two years of teaching in Chew Magna and looked forward to taking up the post in a grammar school, to which she had been assigned. However, this did not happen. There followed for Anna, some years of serious illnesses, at times serious enough to summon her parents when it was thought she might not make it through. Indeed, Anna struggled with ill health throughout her life, but she did not allow it to interfere with her mission and her missionary journeys.
Further studies followed, in Maynooth College, Ireland, in the early 70’s, where she gained a degree in Divinity. This was followed by part-time lecturing in Moral Theology in St. Mary’s Teachers Training College, Strawberry Hill, London while, at the same time, she was facilitator of the Chew Magna community. Much later, Anna was to complete a Licentiate at the Gregorian University in Rome, specialising in Biblical Studies. In the early 1990’s she trained as a Spiritual Direction at the Jesuit Centre in London. Her studies were well used in the service of others. Frequently, she spent time in our various houses, helping the Sisters with Retreats and the development of their Spiritual Life, as well as giving individual Spiritual Direction and guiding Sisters in Temporary Vows
The 1970’s were exciting, hopeful years for us when the Congregation went back to its roots: Research was being carried out into our beginnings, our Charism and the Spirituality bequeathed to us by our Foundress, Euphrasie Barbier. This was in preparation for the writing of a new Constitutions, required of all congregations after Vatican 11. The writing of the final text was entrusted to Sr. Anna. She undertook the task with her usual competence, hard work and complete dedication. For her it was a work of love, the end result of which was the 1978 Constitutions.
She was elected to the General Council at the 1978 Chapter and re-elected in 1984. During the twelve years, in visitations around the Congregation, she promoted an understanding of our Charism and Spirituality through courses and retreats, much appreciated by the Sisters. She valued the personal encounters with Sisters throughout the Congregation and found the experiences energising and affirming.
When Anna completed her time in Rome, she was appointed to the provincial leadership team of UK/Ireland province, to which she brought the same commitment evidenced in all her other missions. It was towards the end of her time in this office, in 1995, that illness visited her yet again. As at other times, she eventually recovered from serious surgery and the treatment that followed. She was to write of that experience, “illness, especially the most recent, has deepened my awareness of the gift of human life with all its frailties and fragility; it has increased my appreciation of the simple things of life, of the value of friendship and of the spiritual dimension of the human person which can grow strong in illness as in ageing.”
Anna continued her mission of service to the Province and Congregation for many more years. She was invited to Vietnam and Davao for retreats and courses and was much sought-after at home as a spiritual director. She had always been generous with her time and talents and was available to Sisters who needed help with assignments and other work. Sisters, and others, appreciated her simplicity of approach and her lack of pretension.
However, in 2016, after a stint in hospital, she felt unable to continue her work and it was decided that she would go to St. Anne’s Sturry to recuperate. She hoped to return to Wealdstone to continue her work of Spiritual Direction: But she never regained her strength and her last two years on earth were painful ones, carried in faith, and being lovingly cared for by the Sisters and staff in St. Anne’s and by visits from members of her family. Quietly, she went home to God, on 31st May 2018, Feast of the Visitation of Mary.
Her funeral Mass was celebrated by her nephew, Fr. Liam McClery, a member of the Pallottine Order, and attended by her two surviving sisters, one surviving brother, four nieces, three nephews, including Fr. Liam and one grandnephew. Members of the Provincial Team were present with Sisters from the Kent and London communities. It was a beautiful, contemplative, simple liturgy, befitting Anna. Afterwards, she was laid to rese in the RNDM plot in the cemetery in Sturry. May she rest in peace and intercede for the Congregation she loved.
“Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for.” Hebrews 11:1