C&SI - Little Nellie of Holy God - An Irish Child Mystic who helped to guide a Pope - 19 April 2026 (S06E22b) (podcast excerpt)

On this weeks programme excerpt, John and Shane are delighted to speak to Sr Jennifer McAleer about the unique story of Ellen Organ, originally from Waterford and who lived and died in Cork aged just four years old and yet whose love of the Eucharist and of the Child Jesus led to a Pope changing the rules around when children could receive Holy Communion for the first time. Ellen, known as Little Nellie of Holy God was a unique little girl coming from very difficult family circumstances including the death of her mother from TB, and who end up living in the Good Shepherd Convent in Sundayswell in Cork with her sister Mary. But she demonstrated a most unusual awareness and relationship with God, a devotion beyond her years for the Eucharist and a close intimate friendship with the Child Jesus - or Holy God as she constantly called him. We discuss with Sr Jennifer the story of Little Nellie's life, her tragic death, the current status of unofficial devotion to this little angel of God and what her example says to us in 2026.

• Mystics of the Church blog - Nellie Organ
• Cork ECHO - Little Nellie of Holy God: A bright light in Good Shepherd’s pained past

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