Sowing the Seed

The Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy began in Dublin, Ireland, on December 12, 1831, the day on which Catherine McAuley and two companions made first vows. Within ten years, the Rule and Constitutions of the Order had received formal approval from Rome and thirteen branch houses had been established.

In 1840, Bishop Fleming, on one of his many trips from Newfoundland to Ireland, visited Catherine McAuley and presented her with a request for a community of Sisters for his island mission. His plans found a ready response in the foundress and the annals of the Sisters of Mercy record that she herself “would gladly have been the first Sister of Mercy to set foot” in Newfoundland. Meanwhile, Bishop Fleming made arrangements for Francis Creedon, an Irish girl who had lived in Newfoundland for several years, to make her novitiate with Catherine McAuley and return to Newfoundland with two companions to found a Convent of Mercy. In May 1842 Bishop Fleming’s request was granted as Frances Creedon, Ursula Frayne, and Rose Lynch began their Atlantic crossing on the Sir Walter Scott. They arrived in St. John’s on June 3rd and received accommodations at Carpasia, Bishop Fleming’s residence, until a convent could be built for them. Their first months in their new mission were spent visiting the sick and the poor in their homes.It was not until May 1843 that the Sisters opened Our Lady of Mercy School on Military Road.

First Mercy Profession in the World

Early in 1843, Maria Nugent, a native of Waterford, Ireland, who had been living in St. John’s, joined the community. She made profession of vows on March 25th, 1843 as Sister Mary Joseph and has the distinction of being the first Sister of Mercy professed in the New World.

Unless the Seed Dies…

In November 1843 Sisters Ursula and Rose returned to Ireland, and for the next four years, Sisters Francis Creedon and Mary Joseph Nugent divided their time between teaching in the school and visitation of the sick. A typhus epidemic broke out in St. John’s in 1847, and the two sisters spent long hours at St. John’s Hospital, giving consolation and care to those afflicted with the dreaded disease. Sister Joseph fell victim to typhus and died on June 24th, 1847. Sister Francis was left alone, and it was due largely to her dedication, courage and perseverance that the Congregation survived and grew in Newfoundland. In April 1848, her niece Agnes Nugent came to join her. By the time Sister Francis died on July 15th, 1855, two other Irish women had crossed the Atlantic to join the Sisters of Mercy in Newfoundland and on July 2nd of that year, the first Newfoundlander, Anastasia Tarahan (later named Sister Mary John Baptist) was accepted into the community. In the next fifteen years under the leadership of Sister Mary Xavier Bernard, successor of Sister Francis, forty Sisters were professed, fifteen of whom were Newfoundlanders.

First, the Shoot…

The increasing number of Sisters encouraged Sister Mary Xavier to expand into new foundations. An orphanage had been opened at Mercy Convent in 1854 in response to the terrible plight of orphaned girls in Newfoundland. In 1859 with the transfer of the orphanage to the Belvedere property, St. Clare’s Boarding School for girls began at Mercy Convent. The expansion of the order outside St. John’s began with the establishment of a convent in Brigus in 1861. Before she died in 1882, Sister Mary Xavier Bernard had established foundations in Burin, Petty Harbour, St. Lawrence and Conception Harbour.

In 1884, as a result of the wisdom and vision of Mother Mary Bernard Clune, St. Bride’s Academy opened at Littledale as a boarding school for young women. In 1895 St. Bride’s became recognized as a training school for Catholic female teachers and for the next eighty years played a key role in education in Newfoundland.

Rooting of Mercy on the West Coast

The first foundation of the Sisters of Mercy on Newfoundland’s west coast took place at Sandy Point in 1893. It was the dream of a wealthy American convert to Catholicism, Mrs. Henrietta Brownell, who persuaded the Sisters of Mercy of Providence, Rhode Island, to send four of their Sisters to begin a mission with her in the St. George’s Diocese. With the transfer of the Episcopal See from Sandy Point to St. George’s, the convent was relocated there in 1898.

In 1916 there were nine Convents of Mercy in Newfoundland - six in the Archdiocese, two in Harbour Grace Diocese and one in St. George’s - each house being independent. Archbishop Roche initiated the move towards amalgamation and on July 1st, 1916, the people of Newfoundland were notified that the convents of Mercy would come under one central administration. Mother Bridget O’Connor became the first Mother General of the Sisters of Mercy and Littledale was designated as the novitiate house. By 1927, six new Convents of Mercy were founded in Newfoundland and the growing Congregation had one hundred twenty sisters.

Evolving Ministries

From the time of their arrival in Newfoundland, the Sisters of Mercy have been involved in ministry to the sick and dying. This involved primarily visitation of the sick in their homes and in institutions. In 1922, in response to a long felt need for a Catholic Hospital in St. John’s, St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital came into being. Its twenty-bed capacity soon proved inadequate for the needs and in 1939 the hospital moved into a new building. At the same time St. Clare’s began its School of Nursing. In 1958 the Sisters of Mercy entered into a new phase of ministry when they agreed to administer and operate the newly constructed St. Patrick’s Mercy Home for the Aged and Infirm.

New Shoots

The Sisters of Mercy continued to expand to many different areas of the province. In 1961 the boundaries of Mercy were pushed beyond Newfoundland with the establishment of a mission in Monsefu, Peru. 1984 saw the spread of the Sisters of Mercy to Labrador, as a mission was opened in the small island community of Black Tickle. With changing times, new needs emerged and Sisters of Mercy continue to respond with energy and creativity in new and diverse ministries.

Mercy International Association

In 1993 the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of Newfoundland, along with other Mercy groups around the world, formed Mercy International Association. This international network fosters communication among all who share the charism of Catherine McAuley and facilitates the planning and implementation of shared projects related to the mission of Mercy in today's world. In the same year Mercy International Centre, the home of Catherine McAuley and the site from which she ministered to the poor in Dublin, was officially dedicated as a place of renewal, heritage and hospitality. Sisters of Mercy from around the world are now able to come to the original House of Mercy to engage in ministry or to spend time in the sacred space where Catherine McAuley lived and died.

Today and Beyond

Today Mercy ministry in Newfoundland and Labrador and Peru is carried out in a variety of ways by women shaped and inspired by the vision of Catherine McAuley. In this last decade of the twentieth century, in a rapidly changing world, beset by grave political, social and economic upheaval, Sisters of Mercy are facing challenges not unlike those faced by Catherine McAuley, Francis Creedon and their companions. In order to respond to the manifold needs of Church and society in these times, Sisters of Mercy are being challenged to find and to live out new ways of being faithful to the Spirit of Mercy, which Catherine McAuley bequeathed to her Sisters as their special charism and the distinctive mark of the Congregation.