Magdalene Laundries

[Beyond the veil of tears: Survivors of the Magdalene Laundries by Jerome Elam] "'As I looked back on all the years I had suffered within the dark halls and stone hearts that were called a Magdalene Laundry, I felt a warmth on my cheeks as a lifetime of pain rushed in and I struggled to free my tortured soul and finally escape the veil of tears.' Magdalene Survivor.

In August 1993, workers in North Dublin, Ireland discovered the bodies of 155 young women in a mass grave. The grave is on property once owned by the Catholic Church and the Sisters of Charity. Records of the deaths can not be found; only 75 of the women have been identified.

Finding the grave forced open a 150-year-old secret. All the women had been residents of a Magdalene Laundry, an institution run by the nuns of Our Lady of Charity.

It's history reaching back to the middle ages, the Magdalene Laundries are named after Mary Magdalene, a reformed prostitute who became a follower of Jesus. The Magdalene convents were created by the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages for repentant prostitutes. The institutions, however, shifted from being a refuge into forced labor camps for women accused of violating a strict feminine moral code.

The Magdalene story is a difficult and heart-wrenching journey into the price of innocence lost at the hands of a broken and corrupt system driven by misguided principles and unbridled greed..." Full text: Beyond the veil of tears: Survivors of the Magdalene Laundries Mt 7:16

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Magdalene Laundries