Magdalene Asylums were institutions for so-called "fallen women". Although popularly associated with Ireland, there is nothing distinctly Irish or Roman Catholic about them. Asylums for "fallen women" operated throughout Europe, Britain, Ireland, Canada and the United States for much of the nineteenth and well into the twentieth century. The first asylum in Ireland opened on Leeson Street in Dublin in 1767. Initially the mission was often to rehabilitate women back into society, whereas by the early twentieth century (at least in Ireland and Scotland) the homes became increasingly punitive and recarceral. In most asylums, the inmates were required to undertake hard physical labour, including laundry and needle work. They also endured a daily regime that included long periods of prayer and enforced silence. In Ireland, such asylums were known as Magdalene Laundries. It has been estimated that 30,000 women passed through Ireland's laundries. [1] The last Magdalene Asylum in Ireland closed on September 25, 1996.
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See Magdalene Society of Philadelphia
Magdalene Asylums grew out of the Protestant rescue movement in the UK and Ireland during the 19th century, which had as its formal goal the rehabilitation of women who had worked as prostitutes. In Ireland, the institutions were nicknamed for St. Mary Magdalene, who, according to Roman Catholic tradition, repented her sins and became one of Jesus' closest followers.
The Magdalene movement in Ireland was quickly appropriated by the Roman Catholic Church, and the homes, which were initially intended to be short-term refuges, increasingly turned into long-term institutions. Penitents were required to work, primarily in laundries since the facilities were self-supporting and not funded by the Roman Catholic Church.
As the Magdalene movement became increasingly distant from the original idea of the Rescue Movement, that is, to take prostitutes off the streets who could not find regular employment because of their background, the Asylums took on an increasingly prison-like character. Supervising nuns were instructed to enact strong measures that would discourage women from leaving and instead encourage them into penance. The Congregation of the Sisters of Misericordiae, for example, is described by the Catholic Encyclopedia thus:
In receiving patients, no discrimination is made in regard to religion, color, or nationality. After their convalescence, those who desire to remain in the home are placed under a special sister and are known as "Daughters of St. Margaret". They follow a certain rule of life but contract no religious obligations. Should they desire to remain in a convent operated by the Good Shepherd Sisters, after a period of probation, they are allowed to become Magdalens and eventually take the three vows of the Sisters Magdalen, which was formed by Saint Mary of St Euphrasia to meet the needs of the penitent desiring to enter a cloister within a cloister. Former penitents are barred from becoming Sisters in the Good Shepherd Community, but can apply to novitiates in other orders, such as the Ursulines.
Asylum records show that in the early history of the Magdalene movement, many women entered and left the institutions on their own accord, sometimes repeatedly. Lu Ann De Cunzo wrote in her book, Reform, Respite, Ritual: An Archaeology of Institutions; The Magdalene Society of Philadelphia, 1800-1850 (published in Historical Archeology, the journal of the Society for Historical Archaeology), that the women in Philadelphia's asylum "sought a refuge and a respite from disease, the prison or almshouse, unhappy family situations, abusive men and dire economic circumstances." Though some may have taken refuge in the institutions, the institutions contained physical, psychological, sexual and emotional abuse. Many women felt they needed the support of the institutions to survive, after the sisters thrived to make them feel the reasons for their refuge was their own fault.
According to Finnegan, because of their background as prostitutes, inmates (who were called "children") were regarded as "in need of penitence" and were required until the 1970s to address all staff regardless of age, as "mother". To enforce order and maintain a monastic atmosphere, the inmates were required to observe strict silence for much of the day, while corporal punishment was common, and passive-aggression was simply ignored:
"The woman who has never known the pollution of a single wicked thought - the woman whose virgin bosom has never been crossed by the shadow of a thought of sin! - the woman breathing purity, innocence and grace, receives the woman whose breath is the pestilence of hell!"—[Catriona Clear, Nuns in Nineteenth-Century Ireland, p.153; cited from Finnegan, p.20]
"It may be only a white-veiled novice with no vows as yet; and it may be an old white-haired penitent giving back to God but the dregs of a life spent in sin. It matters not. In the Home of the Good Shepherd the one is ever the 'Mother' while the other is always the 'Child'."—A priest wrote in 1931 Finnegan, p.42
"A sullen temper, often shown by refusing food, is best dealt with by silence. When a girl wakes up to the fact that no one takes any notice, nor is troubled (apparently at least) by her self-starvation, she gets weary of her self-imposed martyrdom and learns sense."—[Arthur J. S. Maddison, Hints on Rescue Work, A Handbook for Missionaries and Superintendants of Homes (1898); cited from Finnegan, p.31]
"The Rule of Silence was a major feature of the women's lives and continues well into the second half of the twentieth century."—[Finnegan, p. 24]
As the phenomenon became more widespread, it extended beyond prostitution, to unmarried mothers, developmentally challenged women and abused girls. Even young girls who were considered too promiscuous and flirtatious, or too beautiful, were sent to an asylum. This paralleled the practice in state-run asylums in Britain and Ireland in the same period, where many people with alleged "social dysfunction" were committed to asylums.
The women were typically admitted to these institutions at the request of family members (mostly men), priests and doctors. Without a family member on the outside who would vouch for them, some penitents would stay in the asylums for the rest of their lives, many of them taking religious vows.
Given Ireland's conservative sexual values, Magdalene Asylums were a generally accepted social institution until 1996....well into the second half of the 20th century. They disappeared with the changes in sexual mores – or, as Finnegan suggests, as they ceased to be profitable:
"Possibly the advent of the washing machine has been as instrumental in closing these laundries as have changing attitudes."—Finnegan
The sending of wayward women to Magdalene Asylums was an example of what many feminists regard as the phenomenon in which even alleged sexual misconduct by women is punished more harshly than sexual misconduct by men.
The existence of the Irish asylums was of little thought of until, in 1993, an order of nuns in Dublin sold part of their convent to a real estate developer. The remains of 155 inmates, which had been buried in unmarked graves on the property, were exhumed and, except for one body, cremated and reburied in a mass grave in Glasnevin Cemetery. This triggered a public scandal and became local and national news. In 1999 Mary Norris, Josephine McCarthy and Mary-Jo McDonagh, all asylum inmates, gave accounts of their treatment. The 1998 Channel 4 documentary Sex in a Cold Climate interviewed former inmates of Magdalene Asylums who testified to continued sexual, psychological and physical abuse while being isolated from the outside world for an indefinite amount of time. Allegations about the conditions of the convents and the treatment of the inmates of the Irish asylums were made in the film The Magdalene Sisters (2002), written and directed by Peter Mullan - a film which has been both acclaimed and criticised.
In May, 2009, the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse released a 2000 page report[2] recording claims from hundreds of Irish residents that they were physically, sexually or emotionally abused as children between 1930s and the 1990s in a network of state administered and church-run residential schools meant to care for the poor, the vulnerable and the unwanted. The alleged abuse was by nuns, priests and non-clerical staff and helpers.[3] The allegations of abuse covers many Roman Catholic and State run Irish Industrial schools, including the Magdalene Asylums.
Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse claimed:
"There were two types of inquiry, one drawing on contested evidence (Investigation Committee) and the other on uncontested evidence (Confidential Committee), which reported to the Commission. Between them the Commission received the evidence of over 1,500 witnesses who attended or were resident as children in schools and care facilities in the State, particularly industrial and reformatory schools."[4]
"Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Our_Lady_of_Charity_of_the_Good_Shepherd.   | The Magdalene Laundry - The Magdalene Laundry - CBS Sunday Morning - CBS News |
| | ''Review of Academic study of prostitution reform'' - Victorian Era book review: Prostitution: Prevention and Reform |
| | Catholic Encyclopedia articles - CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Magdalens |
| | In God's Name. - In God's Name | Culture | The Guardian |
| | Last Days of a Laundry - Wednesday, September 25, 1996: Last Days of a Laundry |
| | IMDb entry for "The Magdalene Sisters" - The Magdalene Sisters (2002) |
| | The Justice for Magdalenes Committee - Welcome to the Justice for Magdalenes |
| | IMDb entry for "Sinners" - Sinners (2002) (TV) |
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