The Venerable Mother Catherine Elizabeth McAuley (born on September 29, 1778, at Stormanstown House, in Dublin, Ireland – died November 11, 1841, at the House of Mercy she had built on Baggot Street, Dublin) was an Irish nun, who founded the Sisters of Mercy in 1831.[1] The Order has always been associated with teaching, especially in Ireland, where the nuns taught Catholics (and at times Protestants) at a time when education was mainly reserved for members of the established Church of Ireland.[clarification needed]
Catherine McAuley's father was prosperous, when she inherited a considerable fortune at the age of 48, she chose to use it to build a house where she and other compassionate women could take in homeless women and children to provide care and an education for them.
She never intended to found a community of religious women. The church (clergy and people) of the time, however, were not supportive of groups of lay women working independently of church structures. Catherine's clerical mentor urged her to form a religious Institute. Catherine and two other women entered the formation program of the Presentation Sisters to formally prepare for life as women religious. At the end of one year they professed vows and returned to the House of Mercy. The Sisters of Mercy consider December 12, 1831, the day of their founding as a religious community.
Catherine lived only ten years as a Sister of Mercy, Sister Mary Catherine, but in that time she established twelve foundations in Ireland and two in England. At the time of her death there were 150 Sisters of Mercy. Shortly thereafter, small groups of sisters left Ireland to establish new foundations on the east and west coasts of the United States, in Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina.
Total worldwide vowed membership is about 10,000. The Mercy International Centre in Dublin, Ireland is the international "home" of Sisters of Mercy worldwide.
In 1978, the cause for the beatification of the Servant of God Catherine McAuley was opened by Pope Paul VI, and in 1990, upon recognition of her heroic virtues, Pope John Paul II declared her Venerable. This places her on the path towards possible sainthood.[2]
Legacies
- All Hallows' School, Brisbane
- Catherine McAuley Primary School, Craigmore, South Australia
- Saint Mary's College, ([Ipswich, Queensland])
- Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School (Chicago)
- Catherine McAuley High School (Westmead, NSW)
- McAuley Catholic College in Grafton, NSW, Australia
- McAuley High School (Cincinnati, Ohio)
- McAuley High School (Joplin, MO)
- Catherine McAuley High School (Portland, Maine)
- Catherine McAuley High School, Brooklyn, New York
- The McAuley School in Doncaster, Yorkshire, England
- Mother of Mercy High School (Cincinnati, Ohio)
- Mercy High School (Burlingame, California)
- Mercy High School (Middletown, Connecticut)
- McAuley Place Living Center Muskegon, MI
- Saint Catherine Academy Belize City, Belize
- St Catherine's College, Wellington, New Zealand
- Salve Regina University, (Newport, Rhode Island)
- Mount Mercy Academy (Buffalo, NY)
- Trocaire College (Buffalo, NY)
- McAuley High School, Otahuhu, Auckland, New Zealand
- Lauralton Hall, Academy of Our Lady of Mercy (Milford, Connecticut)
- http://www.mercedes.wa.edu.au/ Mercedes Girls Collage, (Australia)
also in st benidits her house colour is red
References
- ^ "Sisters of Mercy". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10199a.htm.
- ^ Catherine's Canonization Cause at Mercy International Association
Mercy College, WA, Australia
External links
- Sisters of Mercy of the America
- Mercy Volunteer Corps
- Mercy Associates
- Mercy International Centre
- Catherine's Canonization Cause
- Catherine McAuley Westmead,Australia
- McAuley Foundation, Australia
- Catherine McAuley High School of Portland, Maine
- The McAuley High School of Cincinnati, Ohio
- Mother McAuley High School of Chicago, Illinois
- The McAuley School, Doncaster, United Kingdom
- Mount Aloysius College, Cresson, Pennsylvania
- Mercy College of Northwest Ohio
- Mount Mercy Academy, Buffalo, New York
- Trocaire College, Buffalo, New York
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