The report of the 796 “missing” children from the Tuam Children’s Home in County Galway (News from Britain and Ireland, 7 June) brought to mind a memory from my schooldays at a convent run by the Irish Brigidine Order in North Wales. During an RE lesson more than 60 years ago given by the mother superior when the virtues of the Religious life were being promoted, one of the class asked what the “criteria” were in order to enter the convent. Among other things, we were told that one had to be “ of legitimate birth”, a statement that, even in those more respectful days, brought a storm of protest from the class and the conversation was quickly shut down.Reports that so-called illegitimate children were in some cases denied baptism, and were treated