Religious cult took our sister from us
She died alone and lonely and lay undiscovered in her Wexford home for two months. But 84-year-old Bridget was once full of the joys of life ... before she joined a secretive religious sect.
It's the Swinging Sixties and a young, carefree, woman from rural Wexford takes the boat to England to start a new life.
Bridget Crosbie, a beautiful, smart and popular figure, finds work in hotels in London and even in the Channel Island of Guernsey.
"She loved life," said a family member this week, adding "she was great fun, loved her family, she had boyfriends like every other young girl, was very artistic and was really a typical, everyday Irish girl."
She qualified as a midwife and worked in various London hospitals.
But by the end of the Seventies Bridget had changed.
Her family say it was around then that she joined the Palmarian Catholic Church - a secretive Spanish sect that broke away from the Catholic Church and has declared a series of its own 'popes'.
When Bridget returned home to Wexford, she became more indoctrinated she also became more reclusive in keeping with the sects' strict set of rules.
She had to wear a full-length dark dress and a make-shift habit. There was to be no social contact with any persons not dressed to the Palmarian dress code - even over the telephone.
All religious items not in keeping with the Palmarian teachings had to be destroyed, listening to modern music was banned as was attending non-Palmarian religious services such as weddings, funerals and christenings.
