Founding The Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy began when
Catherine McAuley used an inheritance to build a large house on Baggot Street,
Dublin, as a school for poor girls and a
homeless 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 the
Carmelite, the active labors of a
Sister 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 a
religious 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. 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.
Expansion ,
County Tipperary In the 10 years between the founding and her death on 11 November 1841, McAuley established additional independent foundations in Ireland and England: Tullamore (1836), Charleville (1836), Carlow (1837), Cork (1837), Limerick (1838), Bermondsey, London (1839), Galway (1840), Birr (1840), and
St 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. Their services were in much demand. McAuley opened the first Convent of Mercy in England at
Bermondsey on 19 November 1839 for the education of children and the visitation of the poor, sick, and needy. Mother
Mary Clare Moore was appointed Superior. The convent was designed in the 'Gothic Style' by
Augustus Pugin, his first purpose-designed religious community building. It was destroyed during
World War II. In May 1842, at the request of
Bishop Fleming, a small colony of Sisters of Mercy crossed the Atlantic to found the congregation at
St. John's, Newfoundland. In 1846, the sisters arrived in
Perth, Australia. In the United States, the first community of Sisters of Mercy was established in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1843, followed by
Providence, Rhode Island, in 1851. Sisters from Limerick opened a house in
Glasgow in 1849 and a band from
Carlow, Irland arrived in
New Zealand, in 1850. In 1860,
St Catharine's Convent was founded in Edinburgh and in 1868, the English community established houses in
Shrewsbury and on the island of
Guernsey.
Crimean War With the
London Times reporting appalling conditions at the front, the War Office appealed for volunteer nurses. On 14 October 1854,
Bishop Thomas Grant, of
Southwark approached the Sisters at
Bermondsey.
Boer War At the request of the bishop of
Mahikeng, Dr Anthony Gaughran, sisters came to South Africa to found convents there. Mother Superior
Teresa Cowley led a group from the convent in
Strabane, with the group acting as nurses to the military during the siege of Mahikeng. ==Mercy International Association==