Two tears on an angelic face. An unearthly voice. Her pain laid bare. Sinead O'Connor's extraordinary power ballad Nothing Compares 2 U made her famous.

The Irish musician died last week, aged 56. Friends and fans remember a trailblazer with her unique voice, brazen skinhead and outspoken views. But O'Connor also had mental health struggles. She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorderA mental health condition caused by a traumatic, shocking or scary event. Any situation that someone finds traumatic can cause PTSD. .

O'Connor said thoughts of her dead mother triggered the real tears shed in her iconic 1990 video. O'Connor grew up in Dublin. Her parents split when she was eight. She said her mother abused her and urged her to shopliftTo steal from a shop by pretending to be a customer. .

Her stealing led her at age 14 to a Magdalene asylum. These institutions linked to the Catholic ChurchThe word Catholic means "universal". A Christian denomination with over a billion followers worldwide, led by the Pope. were later exposed as centres of abuse against women and girls. However, here a nun gave O'Connor a guitar and nudged her towards a career in music.

The nuns belonged to the Order of Our Lady of Charity. In the Bible, Saint Paul calls charity "the greatest" virtue. It is unconditional and selfless love.

O'Connor showed this love in her support of social causes, from anti-racism to LGBTQ+ rights and HIVA virus that damages your immune system. awareness. For her, music was a means of improving the world.

But to keep doing good things takes courage, said writer and activist Maya Angelou. For many, Sinead O'Connor's most inspirational quality was her bravery in risking her career to oppose cruelty and injustice.

In 1992 she tore up the popeThe bishop of Rome and the head of the worldwide Catholic Church. 's photo live on television. It was a protest against child abuse in the Catholic Church. She faced a backlash and it ended her pop career.

But her punkA subculture centred around a loud and fast-moving type of music popular in the 1970s. spirit lived on. "She did not compromise," says musician Tim Burgess. She did not hide away but risked ridiculeWhen someone is mocked or laughed at. and attacks in the media.

This enraged the singer Morrissey. "You praise her now only because it is too late," he told the press. "You hadn't the guts when she was alive." Instead of calling her "mad", people should have respected her courage and insight.

In 2018, the pope apologised for the "crimes" of the Catholic Church in Ireland. O'Connor had been right. "She was decades before her time," wrote journalist Caitlin Moran, "Rest in power, queen."

Yes: Faith, hope and charity are all very well - but you need a punk attitude to change the world. "The people who run the music industry," wrote O'Connor, are "frightened" of music and what it can do.

No: Courage is not a virtue on its own. You can be brave and bold and very wrong. Courageous people also need to be wise and kind otherwise their fearless actions will be foolish and even harmful.

Or... There is no greatest virtue. Sometimes we need patience, other times it is best to act. Bravery can get us into trouble and so can love. We need different skills and we need to know when to use them.