The story goes; When Jean Baptiste Debrabant decided to build Our Lady’s Bower Convent and Boarding School, he used the designs from his home in the south of France to save costs in this new venture.
Fact or fiction, the Boarding School has now closed precisely because of financial issues. After 130 years the La Sainte Union order of Roman Catholic Nuns can no longer afford to keep it running and pay for the care of an ageing population of sisters. In June of 2014 the last eleven boarders sat their Leaving Certificate, packed up their belongings and left.
In 'A Bower for Sisters' Aisling O' Rourke sensitively documents the final few months of Our Lady's Bower Boarding School and Convent in Athlone, County Westmeath in the Republic of Ireland, before it closed its doors in June 2014.
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