An Irish Sister honored in France for her bravery During Second World War

Who was Sister Marie Laurence ? 

Sister Marie Laurence/Kate McCarthy was a Franciscan sister from Cailais. Born in 1895 in Drimoleague, County Cork, Ireland, she arrived in France, in Calais, in 1913. She then worked as a nurse at Béthune Hospital during the First World War. After the Great War, she went to the United States. In 1940, she returned to the Béthune hospital where she treated soldiers and civilians. Although Ireland declared itself neutral during the Second World War, Sister Marie Laurence chose to join the Resistance network at the Musée de l'Homme. She helped around 120 Allied soldiers escape to England. On June 18, 1941, a spy posing as an Englishman showed up at the hospital. Sister Marie Laurence, finding his accent suspicious, confronts him. The Gestapo arrived a few minutes later to arrest the latter. She is imprisoned and interrogated for having transmitted strategic maps to the Resistance.

In 1942, she was sentenced to death, but her sentence was commuted to internment and deportation. She was detained in various prisons from June 1941 to August 1942, then deported until April 24, 1945, notably to the Ravensbrück women's concentration camp. After the war, Sister Marie Laurence returned to Ireland, to Cork. She received several decorations including the French Commemorative Medal of the 1939-1945 War and the Silver Medal of French Recognition. She then became mother superior of the Honan Home hospice in Cork. She died on June 21, 1971.