As the building progressed, it excited much attention. Various were the speculations as to the object for which it was intended. Some said it was a whim of Miss McAuley, who did not know what to do with all her money. Others were of opinion that it was a convent; but then a doubt arose on this point, as the few existing convents were in poor remote districts, and this building was being erected on a valuable site, and close to the most fashionable quarter. The institution was opened for the reception of destitute. young women and female orphans, and the education of poor girls, on September 24, 1827.' Miss McAuley commenced with two associates; but very soon the numbers increased; and a new work was added, in the visitation of the sick poor in the hospitals and in their own homes. As time moved on, and the ladies saw the good that resulted from their labours, and felt the more than human happiness which only those who are so engaged, from the sole motive of the love of God and their neighbour, can experience, they applied to the Archbishop, the Most Reverend Doctor Murray, to form them into a religious congregation. Having maturely considered the matter, and communicated with the Holy See, the Archbishop gave his cordial assent to their wishes. He decided that the rule of the Presentation Order, with some modification to meet the special objects of the new institute, was the most suitable to be adopted; and accordingly he gave permission to Miss McAuley and two of her associates, Miss Doyle and Miss Harley, to make their novitiate in the Presentation Convent of George's Hill, which they entered for the purpose, on September 8, 1830. On December 12, 1831, these three ladies made their solemn profession, the usual term of two years' probation hav The Feast of Our Blessed Lady of Mercy. 2 See Chapter VII. Rules and Constitutions of the Presentation Order. George's Hill Convent, Dublin, established in 1794, is a filiation of the mother house of the order, the South Presentation Convent, Cork, founded by Miss Nagle. It now numbers 17 nuns, and has 600 poor children attending its schools. ing been abridged to one, by the authority of the Archbishop.' On the same day, they returned to their house in Baggot Street; and this is the date of the institution of their congregation, which was called, by the desire of the foundress, the Religious Sisters of Mercy. The Archbishop appointed Miss McAuley, now Sister Mary Catherine, the first Mother Superior. She lived to establish fourteen convents, viz. Baggot Street in 1831, Kingstown in 1834, Tullamore and Charleville in 1836, Carlow and Cork in 1837, Booterstown and Limerick in 1838, Naas and Bermondsey in 1839, Galway, Wexford, and Parsonstown in 1840, and Saint Marie's, Birmingham, in 1841. The introduction of the Sisters of Mercy into England was the foundation at Bermondsey, a brief account of which may be useful here, as illustrating the manner in which not unfrequently convents have been established in places where they were previously unknown. A few Catholic ladies, some of them converts, had formed themselves into a lay association, for visiting and relieving the poor of that populous quarter, looking after the instruction of the children, and performing other works of mercy. After some time they desired to have their association constituted a religious community; and, with the Bishop's sanction, two of their number, Miss Agnew and Miss Taylor, both converts, proceeded to Cork, and entered the convent of Mercy in that city, as postulants. They were professed in Cork on August 19, 1839, and, with four sisters of the Cork house, took possession of their new convent in Bermondsey on November 19 following. This young community was, and is still, presided over by Mrs. Moore, late Reverend 3 'As is usual, in such cases, in taking the vows, they included in the vow of obedience, the carrying out of what the Church should approve in the new institute, such as the visitation and relief of the sick poor, &c. 2 The Right Reverend Doctor Griffiths, the Vicar Apostolic of the London district. Doctor Thomas Griffiths was consecrated bishop on October 28, 1833, and died August 12, 1847. 3 Niece of Sir Andrew Agnew, and authoress of 'Geraldine, a Tale of Conscience.' The two first volumes of this work, a religious novel, were published before, and the third after, the authoress became a nun. Mother of the convent of Cork, and one of the earliest associates of Mrs. McAuley, the foundress. On December 12 of the same year, six more ladies, who had joined them, received the white veil, in the fine church of Bermondsey, attached to the convent.' The ceremony, at all times most impressive, and then being conducted on a more than ordinarily grand scale, in deference to the wishes of the family of one of the ladies who took the veil on the occasion,2 attracted much attention. There were several bishops, and thirty-six priests in the sanctuary, and over five thousand present in the congregation. Since then, now over thirty years, the community of Bermondsey has unceasingly ministered to the temporal and spiritual wants of the poor of that populous district. The convent of Birmingham was Mrs. McAuley s last foundation. On her return from this work, the Sisters noticed, with pain, that her health was greatly broken. From that time she continued to decline; and calmly passed away from the scene of her pious labours on November 11, 1841, being fiftyfour years old. A short time before her death, Mother McAuley had the gratification of learning that the rules and constitutions of her congregation had received the formal approval and confirmation of the Holy See, in a rescript, under date July 5, 1841. Although established only forty years, the Congregation of Mercy now flourishes in all English-speaking countries. Besides numbering 133 convents in the United Kingdom, it has its communities all over the United States and British North America, and in Buenos Ayres, Australia and New Zealand: and, every year, these communities are sending out new colonies, and diffusing more and more widely the blessings which accrue to the poor, the ignorant, and the suffering wherever the congregation is known. 1 Built after the designs of the elder Pugin, whose name will long be honoured, as the great restorer of ecclesiastical architecture in these countries. 2 During the Crimean war, fourteen Sisters went out, to nurse the sick and wounded British soldiers. For this purpose several convents furnished their contingents. Two sisters went from Baggot Street, Dublin, two from Cork, three from Kinsale, two from Charleville, two from Carlow, and three from Liverpool. These formed an independent corps; but several Sisters from the English convents also went out, and were attached to Miss Nightingale. Their services were highly spoken of, at the time, by all who witnessed them. The estimation in which they were held was gracefully testified by officers and men, in paying the last honours to one of the Liverpool Sisters, who died on the scene of her charitable labours. The wide range of active duties of charity, undertaken by the Sisters of Mercy, will be found, in detail, in another chapter. Here it may be well to mention, that, in accordance with the design of the pious foundress, each convent is obliged to have attached to it, as far as its means permit, and the circumstances of the place require, poor schools for girls, a House of Mercy for destitute young women of good character, and a female orphanage, all conducted by the Sisters, in addition to their main work of the visitation and relief of the sick poor. The great variety of their special works-all works of devoted charity and great public usefulness-will be seen in a visit to their six convents in Dublin and its environs, which may be accomplished in one day. At Baggot Street, a community of thirty-five nuns conduct extensive poor schools, in which there is an average daily attendance of 1,000 children, who are classed, by age and proficiency, through a series of graded schools. There are also training schools of female teachers for public schools and private tuition, numbering 60 under training. Here also is a House of Mercy, in which 82 young women are supported, instructed, industrially employed, and ultimately provided with situations. 1 Chapter XXVII. Statistics of Convents. No less than 500, on the average, are thus provided for in the year. At Booterstown, the nuns, seven in number, educate 550 poor children; and also conduct a certified industrial school attached to their convent.1 At Glasthule, near Kingstown, there are convent schools accommodating 253 pupils. Here also is a Magdalen asylum, containing 33 penitents under the management of the Sisters. The women are employed at laundry work, and the institution is self-supporting. At Golden Bridge, the community attend to 350 children in the poor schools; and conduct Saint Vincent's Reformatory, in which are 80 inmates. This institution is conducted under the convict prison rules, and not as a juvenile reformatory. It was established for adult female convicts in 1856. The Sisters regularly visit Mountjoy Convict Depôt, and instruct the women there. Any of these women who are considered eligible for an intermediate prison are transferred from Mountjoy to Golden Bridge. Government allows the nuns five shillings a week for the maintenance of each convict. The inmates are industrially employed; and all their earnings are put by severally for their benefit. Thus, at the expiration of their term of detention, some are sent home to their families, with a little capital, and others are enabled to emigrate. Lately, one of these young women, about to embark at Queenstown for New York, called on the Sisters of Mercy, at Saint Marie's of the Isle Cork, and showed them a sum of ten pounds, after paying for her passage -all her own earnings. The element of hope thus fostered is a powerful aid to the Sisters in their work of reformation. The Golden Bridge Refuge is most favourably mentioned in the Reports of the Directors of Convict Prisons in Ireland, as a most valuable adjunct to the Convict system, and of great utility to the women in providing them with suitable means of employment, and keeping them from falling back into a course Certified November 10, 1870. See Chapter XVII. |