TheSisters of Mercy is areligious institute for women in theCatholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, byCatherine McAuley. In 2019, the institute had about 6,200sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independentcongregations. Notable achievements include the foundation of education and health care facilities around the world.
The Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy began whenCatherine McAuley used an inheritance to build a large house on Baggot Street,Dublin, as a school for poor girls and ahomeless shelter for servant girls and women. Local women assisted in the works of the house. There was no idea then of founding a religious institution; McAuley's plan was to establish a society of secular ladies who would spend a few hours daily in instructing the poor. Gradually the ladies adopted a black dress and cape of the same material reaching to the belt, a white collar and a lace cap and veil.
In 1828,Archbishop Daniel Murray advised McAuley to choose some name by which the little group might be known, and she chose that of "Sisters of Mercy", having the design of making the works of mercy the distinctive feature of the institute. She desired that the members should combine with the silence and prayer of theCarmelite, the active labors of aSister of Charity. The position of the institute was anomalous, its members were not bound by vows nor were they under a particular rule.
Archbishop Murray asked the Sisters of Mercy to declare their intentions as to the future of their institute, whether it was to be classed as areligious congregation, or to become secularized. The associates unanimously decided to become religious. It was deemed better to have this congregation unconnected with any already existing community.[1]
On theOctave of theAscension, 1829, the archbishop blessed the chapel of the institution and dedicated it to Our Lady of Mercy. This combination of the contemplative and the active life necessary for the duties of the congregation called forth so much opposition, that it seemed as though the community of twelve must disband; but it was settled that several of the sisters should make their novitiates in some approved religious house and after their profession return to the institute to train the others to religious life.
ThePresentation Sisters, whose rule was based on theRule of St. Augustine, seemed best adapted for the training of the first novices of the new congregation and McAuley, Elizabeth Harley and Anna Maria Doyle began their novitiate at George's Hill, Dublin, on 8 September 1830.[1] While they were in training, Frances Warde managed the affairs of the Baggot Street house.[2]
On 12 December 1831, Catherine McAuley, Mary Ann Doyle, and Elizabeth Harley professed their religious vows as the first three Sisters of Mercy, thereby founding the congregation. In 1839,Mary Francis Bridgeman professed her vows and joined the congregation.
In the 10 years between the founding and her death on 11 November 1841, McAuley established additional independent foundations in Ireland and England:[3] Tullamore (1836), Charleville (1836), Carlow (1837), Cork (1837), Limerick (1838), Bermondsey, London (1839), Galway (1840), Birr (1840), andSt Mary's Convent, Birmingham (1841), as well as branch houses of the Dublin community in Kingstown (1835) and Booterstown (1838).
The Sisters offered free schools for the poor, academies for the daughters of the rising middle class, and "houses of mercy", providing shelter for poor youth and women in Dublin and other cities who were in danger of being exploited. They were called upon by bishops in several major epidemics of cholera to nurse people in homes and in the public hospitals.[4]
Their services were in much demand. McAuley opened the first Convent of Mercy in England atBermondsey on 19 November 1839 for the education of children and the visitation of the poor, sick, and needy. MotherMary Clare Moore was appointed Superior. The convent was designed in the 'Gothic Style' byAugustus Pugin, his first purpose-designed religious community building. It was destroyed duringWorld War II.[5]
In May 1842, at the request ofBishop Fleming, a small colony of Sisters of Mercy crossed the Atlantic to found the congregation atSt. John's, Newfoundland. In 1846, the sisters arrived inPerth, Australia. In the United States, the first community of Sisters of Mercy was established inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1843, followed byProvidence, Rhode Island, in 1851.[6] Sisters from Limerick opened a house inGlasgow in 1849 and a band fromCarlow, Irland arrived inNew Zealand, in 1850. In 1860,St Catharine's Convent was founded in Edinburgh and in 1868, the English community established houses inShrewsbury and on the island ofGuernsey.[1]
At the request of the bishop ofMahikeng, Dr Anthony Gaughran, sisters came to South Africa to found convents there. Mother SuperiorTeresa Cowley led a group from the convent inStrabane, with the group acting as nurses to the military during the siege of Mahikeng.[8]
In 1992 leaders of the various congregations formed the "Mercy International Association" to foster collaboration and cooperation. The Mercy International Centre is located in Dublin, and as of 2021 the association members are the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of Australia, the Sisters of Mercy of Great Britain, the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy (Ireland), the Nga Whaea Atawhai o Aotearoa Sisters of Mercy New Zealand, the Sisters of Mercy of Newfoundland, and the Religious Sisters of Mercy (Philippines).[9]
Sisters of Mercy is an international community of Roman Catholic women religious vowed to serve people who suffer from poverty, sickness and lack of education with a special concern for women and children. Members take vows ofpoverty, chastity, and obedience, the evangelical counsels commonly vowed in religious life, and, in addition, vows of service.[10]
They continue to participate in the life of the surrounding community. In keeping with their mission of serving the poor and needy, many sisters engage in teaching, medical care, and community programs. The organization is active inlobbying and politics.
The Sisters of Mercy are constituted as religious and charitable organizations in a number of countries. Mercy International Association is a registered charity in Ireland.[11]
In 1869, Sister of Mercy,Susan Saurin, brought suit against her superiors accusing them of bullying, assault and imprisonment. She sought £5,000 in damages. The "Great Convent Case" opened atWestminster Hall with heightened press interest given Victorian antipathy to all things Roman Catholic.[12] TheDaily Telegraph made a special publication on the "Inner Life of the Hull Nunnery Exposed" to cover the trial.[13] Saurin won her case and was awarded fifty pounds in damages.[14]
In May 2009, the institute was among four religious congregations for women that came under scrutiny and criticism for their part in runningMagdalene laundries in past decades, where women were brought by the state, or their families, for being unmarried and pregnant, or for other reasons. The report found that girls supervised by congregations or orders, chiefly the Sisters of Mercy, suffered much less sexual abuse, but instead endured frequent assaults and humiliation.[15]
The Mercy Sisters have noted they were not compensated for caring for the women and that the laundries were not profit-making ventures. "We acknowledge fully the limitations of the service we provided for these women when compared with today's standards and sincerely wish that it could have been different. We trust that the implications of the changed context are understood by the wider society."[16]
In 2011, as part of their Sculpture Trail initiative, theEnnis Tidy Towns Committee erected a statue at the site of the old St. Xavier's Primary School, now theClare Museum.[17] Created by Barry Wrafter, it was commissioned to celebrate the work of the Sisters of Mercy since their coming to the town in 1854.[18]
In 1849Bishop Pompallier visitedSt Leo's Convent inCarlow, Ireland, seeking sisters to emigrate; eight left from St Leo's, led byMother Mary Cecilia. They travelled to New Zealand, learningMāori along the way, establishing the Sisters of Mercy inAuckland as the first female religious community in New Zealand in 1850.[22][23]
Michael O'Connor was born inCobh, Ireland. In June 1841, O'Connor was appointed Vicar General of Western Pennsylvania, and two years later, Bishop of the newly constitutedDiocese of Pittsburgh. He traveled to Rome for his consecration and on his return, stopped in Ireland to recruit clergy for his new diocese, obtaining eight seminarians from St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, and seven Sisters of Mercy from Carlow, Ireland. The sisters arrived in Pittsburgh in December 1843, with Frances Warde as superior.[36] Mercy Hospital inWilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania opened 1898.[37]
In 1858, Mother Mary Teresa Maher led a group of ten Sisters of Mercy to Cincinnati from Kinsale, Ireland.[38] In 1892, the eleven Sisters of Mercy came to Cincinnati at the invitation of ArchbishopJohn Baptist Purcell. They soon opened a Night School for Young Women. Mercy Hospital inHamilton, Ohio was founded in 1892.Mother of Mercy High School was founded in 1915. They also direct Bethany House Services for homeless women and children.[39]
By the 1920s, there were 39 separate Sisters of Mercy congregations across the United States and Latin America. In 1929, the "Sisters of Mercy of the Union" was founded, merging many of the congregations into one single entity with nine provinces. Seventeen communities remained independent. A federation of all the Mercy congregations was formed and in the 1970s, and a common constitution was developed. Further work toward consolidation continued, and in July 1991, the "Sisters of Mercy of the Americas" was established. In December 2018, the sisters marked 175 years in the United States.[16]
In July 2017 "Mercy Education System of the Americas" (MESA) was formally established to unite and serve the Mercy education ministries in Argentina, Belize, Guam, Honduras, Jamaica, the Philippines and the United States.[40]
TheReligious Sisters of Mercy of Alma are a separate congregation of women religious. They developed from the Sisters of Mercy, and were established as an institute of pontifical right, in 1973.[41]
The Sisters founded dozens of hospitals in the United States,[43] and sponsors, or co-sponsors, six health systems. The organization also operates health care ministries in Belize, Guam, Guyana, Peru and the Philippines.[16]
In 1892, they foundedMercy Hospital inHamilton, Ohio. "With lots of heavy industry in Hamilton at the time, there was a lot of need for emergency care for accident victims."[46]
In 1916, the Sisters of Mercy established Sisters of Mercy's St. Joseph's Sanitarium, inAsheville, North Carolina, to treattuberculosis patients, which later became St. Joseph's Hospital. In 1998, St. Joseph's Hospital was sold toMemorial Mission Hospital. The Sisters continue to operate urgent care centers in the Asheville area, under the name Sisters of Mercy Urgent Care.[48]
^Arnstein, Walter L.,Protestant Versus Catholic in Mid-Victorian England (London: University of Missouri Press, 1982), pp. 3-4ISBN978-0826203540
^SAURIN, Susannah Mary; STAR, Mary Ann (1869).The Inner Life of the Hull Nunnery exposed ... being a full report of the great trial, Saurin v. Starr and another ... reprinted from the London Daily Telegraph. London, Manchester [printed.OCLC503732394.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Sisters of Mercy".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
