The last Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ) boarding school for girls in the world, at Bruff, Co Limerick, is to stop taking boarders next month, ending a tradition which goes back to the 19th century.
Sister Veronica Carey, one of six nuns at the convent, said there were just five boarders remaining at Ard Scoil Mhuire, four Leaving Cert students and one transition-year student.
The management began phasing out boarders seven years ago, 138 years after it first started taking such pupils when the school opened in 1856.
Other schools belonging to the order which formerly took boarders are Laurel Hill in Limerick, established in 1844, and FCJ, Bunclody, Co Wexford, which was opened in 1861. "The other two have phased out boarders some time back, and we are the last one," Sister Carey said.
Among the former boarders at Bruff is the Limerick soprano, Ms Suzanne Murphy, who followed in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother in attending the college. The number of boarders peaked at 134 in the mid-1980s. The school, a co-ed establishment, has about 400 pupils.
Sister Carey has been at the convent since 1969 and is due to retire from teaching at the adjoining primary school, Scoil Dean Cussen, in June.
She said the boarding school had been a homely place. "In general, I would say people were happy and they made good friends." she said.
A reunion of past pupils would be held at the college on May 27th at 2 p.m.
The order was founded as a female equivalent of the Jesuits in France in 1820 by Marie Madeleine d'Houet and spread throughout Europe and to Canada, the US and Australia.
In its heyday, in the early 1900s, the convent at Bruff had 40 nuns.