Sr. M. Davnet, baptised Sara Gertrude and known as Sally, was born in Derry in December 1937, but she was definitely a Donegal person at heart as her early childhood was in Culdaff on the Inishowen peninsula and she attended the local primary school in Gleneely. For her secondary education she went to the St. Louis Convent school in Monaghan, entering MMM soon after her Leaving Certificate exams.