Life story of venerable catherine mcauley biography
Venerable Catherine McAuley: Aspects of her Life and Spirituality
Catherine’s Story (based on A Prophet of Mercy by Angela Bolster)
Talk given at the Mercy Associate Conference (Great Britain) on October 4th 2008
Used with permission of Mercy Associates (GB)
18th century view of the Royal Exchange one of "Malton's views of Dublin"
Dublin of the early 18th century was the lovely flamboyant city of Grattan’s Parliament, a city of splendid mansions housed an aristocracy where wit and fashion excelled and where Handel’s Messiah had its premiere in 1742.
Dublin of this time also housed Europe’s most unsanitary slums, where huge numbers of poor people lived deprived and powerless. This splendour and squalor paradox revealed the best and worst results of two centuries of deliberate Government policy which spawned the Penal Code. This code was aimed at reducing the Catholic Irish to the “status of a miserable people without property or education …” The immediate results of the Penal Code were distressing and very painful but the Code itself failed to accomplish its intent.
Catherine McAuley was born on September 29th 1778 at Stormanstown House, the eldest of three children of James McGauley and Elinor Conway. (Elinor changed the family name to McAuley after her husband’s death and Catherine used this version thinking that it was her father’s).
Catherine died aged 63 on November 11th 1841 at the Convent of Mercy in Baggot Street an unintentional foundress of a religious congregation, whose actions were motivated by the Gospel of Jesus Christ and who discovered early in her life that her love for Christ was inextricably bound to her love of others and who defined Mercy as the virtueCatherine died aged 63 on November 11th 1841 at the Convent of Mercy in Baggot Street an unintentional foundress of a religious congregation, whose actions were motivated by the Gospel of Jesus Christ and who discovered early in 19th-century Irish nun and saint For the English historian, see Catharine Macaulay. Venerable Catherine McAuley RSM Sister Mary Catherine McAuley Catherine McAuley, RSM (29 September 1778 – 11 November 1841) was an Irish Catholicreligious sister who founded the Sisters of Mercy in 1831. The women's congregation has always been associated with teaching, especially in Ireland, where the sisters taught Catholics (and at times Protestants) at a time when education was mainly reserved for members of the established Church of Ireland. Catherine Elizabeth McAuley was born at Stormestown House in Dublin, Ireland, to James and Elinor (née Conway) McAuley. Her father died in 1783 when she was five and her mother died in 1798. Catherine went first to live with a maternal uncle, Owen Conway, and later joined her brother James and sister Mary at the home of William Armstrong, a Protestant relative on her mother's side. In 1803, McAuley became the household manager and companion of William and Catherine Callaghan, an elderly, childless, and wealthy Protestant couple and friends of the Armstrongs, at their estate in Coolock, a village northeast of Dublin. For 20 years she gave catechetical instruction to the household servants and the poor village children. Catherine Callaghan, who was raised in the Quaker tradition, died in 1819. When William Callaghan died in 1822, Catherine McAuley became the sole residuary legatee of their estate. Catherine McAuley inherited a considerable fortune and 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 education for them. A location was selected at the junction of Lower Baggot Street and Herbert St The Sisters of Mercy came to Melbourne in 1857 and have been at the forefront of healthcare and advocacy in Victoria for more than 150 years. We build on the rich charism of other religious orders with whom we share our commitment to mission, to inform the care we provide today. The Venerable Catherine McAuley founded the Sisters of Mercy in Dublin in 1831 to provide compassionate assistance to the poor. Her legacy continues today through the Sisters of Mercy and the many ministries of health, education, advocacy and community service they deliver — and through the hands of thousands of people who follow in Catherine’s footsteps working for organisations like Mercy Health. Mercy Health is a Ministry of the Institute of Sisters of Mercy Australia and Papua New Guinea. Catherine McAuley was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1778. Dedicating her life to caring for the poor, particularly women, Catherine opened the House of Mercy in 1827: a facility built to house and educate poor women. In 1831 Catherine made her Profession of Vows and created the Order of the Sisters of Mercy. Sisters of Mercy should be particularly kind — the kindest people on earth, with the tenderest pity and compassion for the poor. The Sisters of Mercy went on to found convents, schools and hospitals across the globe. They arrived in Australia in 1846, led by Mother Ursula Frayne. The Australian congregation established schools and convents around the country and opened their first hospitals in Brisbane and Sydney. Following a devastating influenza pandemic, the Sisters of Mercy opened their first Victorian hospital — St Benedict’s in Malvern — in 1920. They established a reputation for excellence in care and hospitality that has grown in strength to this day. The success of St Benedict’s allowed the Sisters to open Mercy Private Hospital in East Melbourne in 1934, Mercy Maternity Hospital (later renamed Mercy Hospital for Women) in 1971, a Today's Mercy Quote It is my hope and prayer that after the period of darkness and winter has accomplished its purpose, we shall see the bright promise of another spring. M Concilia Moran Catherine McAuley was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1778. In 1824 she used her inheritance from an Irish couple she had served for twenty years to build a large House of Mercy where she and other lay women would shelter homeless women, reach out to the sick and dying and educate poor girls. The House on Baggot Street opened in 1827. To give these efforts greater stability, Catherine and her co-workers founded a new religious congregation. On 12 December 1831, she and two others professed their vows as the first Sisters of Mercy. Before her death on 11 November 1841, Catherine founded convents and works of mercy throughout Ireland and England. Her StoryCatherine's Dublin In God Alone This 23 minute historical drama recreates the life and times of Catherine McAuley in a compelling way. View the Film Articles, videos, audio tracks, web links and video clips on Catherine McAuley, the founding of the Sisters of Mercy and the issues Mercy is addressing today, can be downloaded or viewed here. View Resources Your whole life should be a continual act of praise and prayer. Letter to Catherine McAuley Words from Catherine Establishment of Federation of Sisters of Mercy February 21, 1968 "Heaven would not be valued unless we had grievances to wean us from the things of this world." M Vincent WhittyCatherine McAuley
Born (1778-09-29)29 September 1778
Dublin, IrelandDied 11 November 1841(1841-11-11) (aged 63)
Dublin, IrelandLife
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