Mother Anne was indeed aware of that call from God to her when she was away from home ­ travelling in America where we are told she had the opportunity of becoming a renowned opera singer but was rather influenced on hearing the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen preaching in the St Patrick's Cathedral, New York.

One of a large family, Mother Anne was the fourth child of a family of fourteen children, eight girls and six boys. One of the boys also heard God's call and became a priest known to very many people especially in the Diocese of Motherwell as Monsignor Conroy sometime Vice Rector of Cardross Seminary and the first Vicar General of the Diocese of Motherwell. Five of the girls of the family became Carmelite Sisters and one, Margaret, a Franciscan Missionary of Mary who is happily here with us today along with another sister, Patricia and nephews and nieces and their families.