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62-751: Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School was established as the Academy of the Sisters of Mercy in 1861 by the Sisters of Mercy . The school shares a campus with Gwynedd-Mercy College . In 1861, the Sisters of Mercy established the Academy of the Sisters of Mercy in Philadelphia. The Academy began in Assumption Parish and later changed location to a residence at Broad Street and Columbia Avenue in Philadelphia. By August 1863, there were 28 students. Over

124-417: A group of friends with whom he shared a life of prayer. Later as bishop he invited his priests to share a community life with him. Augustine followed the monastic or religious life as it was known to his contemporaries, drafting rules for the monks and nuns of Roman Africa. Like St. Basil , Augustine's view diverged from that of the earlier eremitical approach of strict physical austerities. In The Ways of

186-471: A group of ten Sisters of Mercy to Cincinnati from Kinsale, Ireland. In 1892, the eleven Sisters of Mercy came to Cincinnati at the invitation of Archbishop John Baptist Purcell . They soon opened a Night School for Young Women. Mercy Hospital in Hamilton, Ohio was founded in 1892. Mother of Mercy High School was founded in 1915. They also direct Bethany House Services for homeless women and children. By

248-849: 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 . 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

310-519: A monastic Iawgiver. Augustine's influence also extended to women's monasteries in Gaul , where the Rule of Caesarius was adopted either wholly or in part, as, for example, at Sainte-Croix of Poitiers , Juxamontier of Besançon , and Chamalières near Clermont . But it was not always enough merely to adopt the teachings of Augustine and to quote him; the author of the regula Tarnatensis (an unknown monastery in

372-450: A more contemplative life are allowed to follow special devotions in private. Fasting and abstinence are recommended only in proportion to the physical strength of the individual, and when the saint speaks of obligatory fasting he specifies that such as are unable to wait for the evening or ninth hour meal may eat at noon. The nuns partook of very frugal fare and, in all probability, abstained from meat. The sick and infirm are objects of

434-514: 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 the Octave of the Ascension 1829

496-415: A special concern for women and children. Members take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience , the evangelical counsels commonly vowed in religious life, and, in addition, vows of service. They continue to participate in the life of the surrounding community. In keeping with their mission of serving the poor and needy, many sisters engage in teaching, medical care, and community programs. The organization

558-596: A special publication on the "Inner Life of the Hull Nunnery Exposed" to cover the trial. Saurin won her case and was awarded fifty pounds in damages. In May 2009, the institute was among four religious congregations for women that have come under scrutiny and criticism for their part in running Magdalene laundries in decades past, where women were brought by the state or their families for being unmarried and pregnant, or for other reasons. The report found that girls supervised by congregations or orders, chiefly

620-529: A wide scale from the twelfth century onwards and continues to be employed today by many orders, including the Dominicans , Servites , Mercederians , Norbertines , and Augustinians . In 388, Augustine returned from Milan to his home in Thagaste . He then sold his patrimony and gave the money to the poor. The only thing he kept was the estate, which he converted into a monastic foundation for himself and

682-592: Is active in lobbying and politics. The Sisters of Mercy are constituted as religious and charitable organizations in a number of countries. Mercy International Association is a registered charity in Ireland. In 1869 Sister of Mercy Susan Saurin brought suit against her superiors accusing them of bullying, assault and imprisonment, and claiming £5,000 in damages. The "Great Convent Case" opened at Westminster Hall with heightened press interest given Victorian antipathy to all things Catholic. The Daily Telegraph made

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744-465: Is the oldest monastic rule in the Western Church . The rule, developed by Augustine of Hippo (354–430), governs chastity, poverty, obedience , detachment from the world, the apportionment of labour, the inferiors, fraternal charity, prayer in common, fasting and abstinence proportionate to the strength of the individual, care of the sick, silence and reading during meals. It came into use on

806-484: The Rhone valley ) introduced into his work the entire text of the letter addressed to the nuns, having previously adapted it to a community of men by making slight modifications. This adaptation was surely made in other monasteries in the sixth or seventh centuries, and in his "Codex regularum" Saint Benedict of Aniane published a text similarly modified. For want of exact information we cannot say in which monasteries this

868-796: The Trinitarian Order . At the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) it was accepted as one of the approved rules of the church. It was then adopted by the Order of Preachers in 1216 when their order received papal recognition. It was also adopted by the Order of St Augustine in 1256, by the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit in 1308 and by the Order of Mercy . By the fifteenth century there were over 4500 houses in Europe following

930-750: The "Sisters of Mercy of the Americas" was established. In December 2018, the sisters marked 175 years in the United States. In July 2017 "Mercy Education System of the Americas" (MESA) was formally established to unite and serve the Mercy education ministries in Argentina, Belize, Guam, Honduras, Jamaica, the Philippines and the United States. The Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma are a separate congregation of women religious. They developed from

992-617: The 1920s there were 39 separate Sisters of Mercy congregations across the United States and Latin America. In 1929 the "Sisters of Mercy of the Union" was founded, merging many of the congregations into one single entity with nine provinces. Seventeen communities remained independent. A federation of all the Mercy congregations was formed and in the 1970s, a common constitution was developed. Further work toward consolidation continued, and in July 1991,

1054-578: The Catholic Church , Augustine observed contemporary criticisms of the methods of the Eastern hermits in the Egyptian desert. It was said that their extreme isolation and excessive asceticism "were no longer productive" for the church or society. In response to this, "Augustine promoted poverty of spirit and continence of the heart while living in the milieu of a town such as Hippo." In Hippo,

1116-514: 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

1178-415: The Rule of Saint Benedict, following the set of ancient texts known as the 'Rule of Saint Augustine'. These clerics were widely known as Canons Regular (in order to distinguish them from the traditional 'secular' canons who followed the older, Carolingian 'rule of Aachen'. ), 'Augustinian canons', 'canons of St Augustine', 'Austin canons' or 'Black canons', Observance of this rule was approved for members of

1240-468: The Sisters at Bermondsey . Together with other nuns, six Bermondsey Sisters of Mercy, including Mary Bernard Dickson , travelled to Crimea to work under Florence Nightingale . 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

1302-485: The Sisters of Mercy of the Americas include: [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Sisters of Mercy". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company. Rule of St. Augustine The Rule of Saint Augustine , written in about the year 400, is a brief document divided into eight chapters and serves as an outline for religious life lived in community. It

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1364-493: The Sisters of Mercy purchased the Spring House Public School to house the elementary division. The high school remained in the facility that was built in 1955. Over the years, Gwynedd Mercy Academy has evolved its programs in response to changing needs. In Montgomery County there was a great need for specialized classrooms for Art and Music and for a Performing Arts Center. The first phase of construction

1426-588: The Sisters of Mercy, and were established as an institute of pontifical right in 1973. The Sisters founded dozens of hospitals in the United States, and sponsors, or co-sponsors, six health systems. The organization also operates health care ministries in Belize, Guam, Guyana, Peru and the Philippines. In 1883, they founded The Retreat, A Home for Friendless Girls for unwed expecting mothers in Toledo, Ohio . The hospital changed names and locations several times over

1488-433: The Sisters of Mercy, suffered much less sexual abuse but instead endured frequent assaults and humiliation. The Mercy Sisters have noted they were not compensated for caring for the women and that the laundries were not profit-making ventures. "We acknowledge fully the limitations of the service we provided for these women when compared with today's standards and sincerely wish that it could have been different. We trust that

1550-732: The affairs of the Baggot Street house. On 12 December 1831, Catherine McAuley, Mary Ann Doyle, and Mary Elizabeth Harley professed their religious vows as the first Sisters of Mercy, thereby founding the congregation. In 1839 Mary Francis Bridgeman professed her vows and joined the congregation In the 10 years between the founding and her death on 11 November 1841, McAuley had 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

1612-448: The archbishop blessed the chapel of the institution and dedicated it to Our Lady of Mercy. This combination of the contemplative and the active life necessary for the duties of the congregation called forth so much opposition that it seemed as though the community, now numbering twelve, must disband; but it was settled that several of the sisters should make their novitiates in some approved religious house and after their profession return to

1674-435: The chapel at stated hours and according to the prescribed forms, and comprising hymns, psalms, and readings. Certain prayers are simply recited while others, especially indicated, are chanted, but Augustine enters into no minute details, and leaves it to the custom of the local diocese, although it is clear from his other writings that the community celebrates daily Eucharist with the local Church. Those sisters desiring to lead

1736-556: The clergy by the Council of Lateran (1059) and another council held at Rome four years later. Adoption of the Rule of St Augustine subsequently spread rapidly through Western Europe. The early Victorine Canons embraced the Rule of St Augustine in 1113. In the year 1120, Norbert of Xanten chose the Rule of St Augustine as he founded the Premonstratensian Order . It was adopted by John of Matha in 1198 in founding

1798-587: The clerical or canonical communities established in the eleventh century for the effective counteracting of simony and clerical concubinage. The religious life of the Bishop of Hippo was, for a long time, a matter of dispute between the Canons Regular and the Hermits of St. Augustine , each of these two families claiming him exclusively as its own. It was not so much the establishing of an historical fact as

1860-497: The demands of a rapidly changing society, with its increasing urbanisation, growing literacy, and shifts in distribution of wealth and power. While in some cases this resulted in reforms aimed at restoring observance of the Benedictine Rule to its original purity, trimming away later additions, there also developed groups of clerics (or 'canons') living in community in a more rigorously ascetic lifestyle than that followed by

1922-463: The eighth and ninth centuries. The rule given them by Saint Chrodegang , Bishop of Metz (742-766), is almost entirely drawn from that of Saint Benedict, and no more decided traces of Augustinian influence are to be found in it than in the decisions of the Synods of Aachen (816–819) , which may be considered the real constitutions of the canons Regular. For this influence we must await the foundation of

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1984-458: The following documents: The last is a treatise on eremitical life by Saint Ælred, Abbot of Rievaulx, England, who died in 1166. The two preceding rules are of unknown authorship. Letter 211 and Sermons 355 and 356 were written by Augustine. Saint Augustine wrote this letter in 423 to the nuns in a monastery at Hippo that had been governed by his sister and in which his cousin and niece lived. Though he wrote chiefly to quiet troubles incident to

2046-489: The foundation of the monastic life but attached no less importance to fraternal charity, which consists in living in peace and concord. The superior, in particular, was recommended to practice this virtue (though not, of course, to the extreme of omitting to chastise the guilty). Augustine leaves her free to determine the nature and duration of the punishment imposed, in some cases it being her privilege even to expel nuns that have become incorrigible. In Augustine's conception,

2108-803: The implications of the changed context are understood by the wider society." In 2011, as part of their Sculpture Trail initiative, the Ennis Tidy Towns Committee erected a statue at the site of the old St. Xavier's Primary School, now the Clare Museum . Created by Barry Wrafter, it was commissioned to celebrate the work of the Sisters of Mercy since their coming to the town in 1854. In 1849 Bishop Pompallier visited St Leo's Convent in Carlow , Ireland, seeking sisters to emigrate; eight left from St Leo's, led by Mother Mary Cecilia . They travelled to New Zealand, learning Māori along

2170-407: The institute has about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations . They also started many education and health care facilities around the world. 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 shelter for homeless servant girls and women. She

2232-462: The institute to train the others to religious life. The Presentation Sisters , whose rule was based on the Rule of St. Augustine , seemed best adapted for the training of the first novices of the new congregation and Miss McAuley, Miss Elizabeth Harley, and Miss Anna Maria Doyle began their novitiate at George's Hill, Dublin, on 8 September 1830. While they were in training, Miss Frances Warde managed

2294-429: The labour of monks is inspired by the treatise De opere monachorum . The teaching concerning religious poverty is formulated in the sermons "De vitâ et moribus clericorum suorum". The influence of Augustine, however, was nowhere stronger than in southern Gaul in the fifth and sixth centuries. Lérins and the monks of that school were familiar with Augustine's monastic writings, which, together with those of Cassianus, were

2356-468: 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 was, moreover, desirous 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

2418-473: The main entrance and lobby, a chapel with movable seats to accommodate 50 persons, and an auditorium which seats 525. Also included in that phase are storage areas, a dressing room and a TV studio. Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Roman Catholic Church . It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley . As of 2019,

2480-422: The members of his monastic house lived in community while yet keeping to their pastoral obligations. For Augustine, 'the love of neighbour was simply another expression of the love of God." He saw the call to service in the church a necessitas (necessity) to be heeded, even if it compromised a personal desire for contemplation and study. One of the elements of communal living was simplicity of lifestyle. Regarding

2542-487: The military during the siege of Mahikeng. In 1992 leaders of the various congregations formed the "Mercy International Association" to foster collaboration and cooperation. The Mercy International Centre is located in Dublin. Members of the Association are: Sisters of Mercy is an international community of Roman Catholic women religious vowed to serve people who suffer from poverty, sickness and lack of education with

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2604-531: The mine from which the principal elements of their rules were drawn. Saint Caesarius , Archbishop of Arles, the great organiser of religious life in that section chose some of the most interesting articles of his rule for monks from St. Augustine, and in his rule for nuns quoted at length from Letter 211. Saints Augustine and Caesarius were animated by the same spirit which passed from the Archbishop of Arles to Saint Aurelian, one of his successors, and, like him,

2666-444: The monk is obliged to devote himself to serious labour. In several of his letters and sermons is found a useful complement to his teaching on the monastic life and duties it imposes. In his treatise, De opere monachorum , he inculcates the necessity of labour, without, however, subjecting it to any rule, the gaining of one's livelihood rendering it indispensable. Monks of course, devoted to the ecclesiastical ministry observe, ipso facto,

2728-429: The most tender care and solicitude, and certain concessions are made in favour of those who, before entering religion, led a life of luxury. During meals some instructive matter is to be read aloud to the nuns. Although the Rule of Saint Augustine contains but a few precepts, it dwells at great length upon religious virtues and the ascetic life, this being characteristic of all primitive rules. In his sermons 355 and 356

2790-404: The nomination of a new superior, Augustine took the opportunity to discuss some of the virtues and practices essential to religious life as he understood it: he emphasised such considerations as charity, poverty, obedience, detachment from the world, the apportionment of labour, the mutual duties of superiors and inferiors, fraternal charity, prayer in common, fasting and abstinence proportionate to

2852-460: The persecution of the Vandals, and was used by small groups of hermit monks and nuns, as well as by diocesan priests living in cathedral communities with their bishop. Augustine's writings influenced the development of Western monasticism . His Letter 211 was read and re-read by Saint Benedict, who borrowed several important texts from it for insertion in his own rule. Saint Benedict's chapter on

2914-425: The precept of labour, from which observance the infirm are legitimately dispensed. These, then, are the most important monastic prescriptions found in the rule of and writings of Saint Augustine. "De vitâ eremiticâ ad sororem liber" is a treatise on eremitical life by St. Ælred , Abbot of Rievaulx , England, who died in 1166. Between 430 and 570 Augustine's rule was carried to Europe by monks and clergy fleeing

2976-461: 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

3038-464: The saint discourses on the monastic observance of the vow of poverty. Augustine sought to dispel suspicions harboured by the faithful of Hippo against the clergy leading a monastic life with him in his episcopal residence. Goods were held in common in conformity with the practice of the early Christians. This was called "the Apostolic Rule". At the same time, individuals do not receive precisely

3100-587: The same treatment in Augustine's Rule, since the needs of each person are different. Bishop Aurelius of Carthage was greatly disturbed by the conduct of monks who indulged in idleness under pretext of contemplation, and at his request St. Augustine published a treatise entitled De opere monachorum wherein he proves by the authority of the Bible, the example of the Apostles, and even the exigencies of life, that

3162-472: The settling of a claim of precedence that caused the trouble, and as both sides could not in the right, the quarrel would have continued indefinitely had not the Pope Sixtus IV put an end by his Bull "Summum Silentium" (1484). By the eleventh century, various monks felt that the Rule of Saint Benedict (which had been the standard model for monastic life for the last five centuries) no longer satisfied

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3224-539: The strength of the individual, care of the sick, silence, and reading during meals. This letter contains no such clear, minute prescriptions as are found in other monastic rules , such as that of Saint Pachomius or the anonymous document known as "the Rule of the Master ". Nevertheless, the Bishop of Hippo is considered to have been a "law-giver" and his letter was to be read weekly, that the nuns might guard against or repent of any infringement of it. He considered poverty

3286-433: The superior shares the duties of her office with certain members of her community, one of whom has charge of the sick, another of the cellar, another of the wardrobe, while still another is the guardian of the books which she is authorised to distribute among the sisters. The nuns make their own habits, which consist of a dress, a cincture, and a veil. Prayer, in common, occupies an important place in their life, being said in

3348-534: The use of property or possessions, Augustine did not make a virtue of poverty, but of sharing. Augustine wrote frequently on prayer, but prescribed no specific method, system, or posture; although he highly endorsed the psalms . Several of his friends and disciples elevated to the episcopacy imitated his example, among them Alypius at Tagaste , Possidius at Calama , Profuturus and Fortunatus at Cirta , Evodius at Uzalis , and Boniface at Carthage . The title, Rule of Saint Augustine, has been applied to each of

3410-1085: The way, establishing the Sisters of Mercy in Auckland as the first female religious community in New Zealand in 1850. Michael O'Connor was born in Cobh , Ireland. In June 1841, O'Connor was appointed Vicar General of Western Pennsylvania, and two years later, Bishop of the newly constituted Diocese of Pittsburgh . He traveled to Rome for his consecration and on his return, stopped in Ireland to recruit clergy for his new diocese, obtaining eight seminarians from St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, and seven Sisters of Mercy from Carlow, Ireland. The sisters arrived in Pittsburgh in December 1843, with Frances Warde as superior. Mercy Hospital in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania opened 1898. In 1858, Mother Mary Teresa Maher led

3472-707: The years before closing as Riverside Mercy Hospital in 2002. In 1892, they founded Mercy Hospital in Hamilton, Ohio . "With lots of heavy industry in Hamilton at the time, there was a lot of need for emergency care for accident victims." In 1893, they founded Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa In 1916, the Sisters of Mercy established Sisters of Mercy's St. Joseph's Sanitarium, in Asheville, North Carolina , to treat tuberculosis patients, which later became St. Joseph's Hospital. In 1998, St. Joseph's Hospital

3534-555: The years the Academy experienced many changes and eventually moved to the Taylor Estate in Gwynedd Valley, where the Sisters converted stables and erected a science building to serve the Academy and College from 1947 to 1955. In April 1955, construction of the building for the elementary and secondary schools was completed and the Academy of Mercy became Gwynedd Mercy Academy. Enrollment continued to increase and in 1982,

3596-456: Was assisted in the works of the house by local women. 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 Miss McAuley to choose some name by which

3658-552: Was completed in August 1999. A new library, Art and Music rooms, music practice rooms, a writing lab and a tiered lecture hall, as well as new tennis courts and a track were included in this first phase. Enrollment increases and student talents highlighted the need for continued development of a Performing Arts Center. The Renaissance Campaign was organized to finance the second phase which was completed in March 2004. This area encompasses

3720-612: 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

3782-473: Was done, and whether they were numerous. Letter 211, which has thus become the Rule of Saint Augustine, certainly constituted a part of the collections known under the general name of "Rules of the Fathers" and used by the founders of monasteries as a basis for the practices of the religious life. It does not seem to have been adopted by the regular communities of canons or of clerks which began to be organised in

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3844-575: Was sold to Memorial Mission Hospital . The Sisters continue to operate urgent care centers in the Asheville area, under the name Sisters of Mercy Urgent Care. Mercy Health is an nonprofit Catholic healthcare organization in the Midwestern United States, and is headquartered in the suburban western St. Louis County suburb of Chesterfield, Missouri . Healthcare systems sponsored by, co-sponsored by, or with historical ties to

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