Venerable Sr Mary Augustine Aikenhead RSC
(Mary Frances Aikenhead)
Foundress of the Religious Sisters of Charity
Mary Frances Aikenhead was born on Friday, January 19, 1787, in Daunt's Square (off Grand Parade), in the city of Cork (County Cork). She was the daughter of Dr David Aikenhead, an apothecary and a member of the Anglican Church of Ireland, and Mary Stackpole, from a Roman Catholic aristocrat family. Her grandfather, also named David Aikenhead, was a Scottish gentleman who relinquished his military profession, married a Limerick lady, Miss Anne Wight and settled in Cork. Mary was baptized in the Anglican Communion on April 4, 1787, at Saint Anne's Anglican Church, in Shandon. Mary was quite frail and probably considered to be asthmatic and it was recommended that she be fostered with a nanny. Mary was fostered out to John and Mary Rourke, a poor Roman Catholic couple, who lived on higher ground on Eason's Hill, Shandon, Cork. It is thought that Mary was secretly baptized a Roman Catholic from this early age by Mary Rourke, who was a devout in her catholic faith. Her parents would visit every week until she was six years old, in 1793, when her father decided he wanted her to rejoin the family in Daunt's Square. The Rourkes also joined the family and worked as servants to the family.
By the early 1790s, Dr Aikenhead had become interested in the principles of the United Irishmen. On one occasion Lord Edward Fitzgerald disguised as a Quaker sought refuge in the Aikenhead home. He was enjoying dinner with the family when the house was surrounded by troops with the sheriff at their head. The visitor managed to disappear and reach safety across the river. The house was searched but because of the loyalty of his apprentices who knew and kept the doctor's secret, no incriminating documents were found.
Around the age of nine, Mary began to spend a good deal of time visiting her maternal grandmother, where she was exposed to Catholic beliefs and practice through her widowed aunt, Mrs. Gorman. After her father retired, be became ill and was received into the Roman Catholic Church before dying on December 15, 1801. Six months later, at the age of fifteen, Mary was baptized a Roman Catholic on June 6, 1802.
In 1808, Mary went to stay with her friend Anne O'Brien in Dublin. Here she witnessed widespread unemployment and poverty and soon began to accompany her friend in visiting the poor and sick in their homes. She was active in works of charity but she had failed to find a religious institute devoted to charitable work. She shared this idea with Archbishop Murray, Bishop Coadjutor of Dublin who was a friend of O'Brian. Murray returned later and said that he would bring a French order to Ireland if Aikenhead would lead it. To prepare for this task she became a novice from 1812 to 1815, in the Convent of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin at Micklegate Bar, in York. On September 1, 1815, the first members of the new institute professed their vows. She received, the religious name she kept till death, Sister Mary Augustine. She was appointed Superior-General. Added to the traditional three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, was a fourth vow: to devote their lives to the service of the poor. At the time that Aikenhead established set her congregation, there were only a hundred women religious in Ireland, all enclosed contemplatives. The next sixteen years were filled with the arduous work of organizing the community and extending its sphere of labor to every phase of charity, chiefly hospital and rescue work. She and her sisters were the first women religious to visit prisoners in Kilmainham Gaol.
In 1831, overexertion and disease shattered Aikenhead's health, leaving her an invalid. Her activity was unceasing, however, and she directed her sisters in their heroic work during the plague of 1832, placed them in charge of new institutions, and sent them on missions to France and in 1835 to the penal colonies of Australia. In 1834, Archbishop Daniel Murray and Mother Mary Augustine founded Saint Vincent's Hospital.
She died in Harold's Cross in Dublin, on Thursday, July 22, 1858, at the age of 71, having left her institute in a flourishing condition, in charge of ten institutions, besides innumerable missions and branches of charitable work. She is interred in the convent cemetery attached to Saint Mary Magdalen Convent (Donnybrook), in Dublin.
Mary Aikenhead was given the title, Servant of God in 1921. On March 18, 2015, a decree was issued proclaiming her heroic virtues, thus entitling her to be referred to as the Venerable Mary Aikenhead.
The Mary Aikenhead Heritage Centre details Mary's life and the Religious Sisters of Charity. It is in Dublin at Our Lady's Hospice, Harolds Cross in the building called Our Lady's Mount. This is where Mary Aikenhead spent the remainder of her life. The building was later used to establish Our Lady's Hospice in 1879.
(Mary Frances Aikenhead)
Foundress of the Religious Sisters of Charity
Mary Frances Aikenhead was born on Friday, January 19, 1787, in Daunt's Square (off Grand Parade), in the city of Cork (County Cork). She was the daughter of Dr David Aikenhead, an apothecary and a member of the Anglican Church of Ireland, and Mary Stackpole, from a Roman Catholic aristocrat family. Her grandfather, also named David Aikenhead, was a Scottish gentleman who relinquished his military profession, married a Limerick lady, Miss Anne Wight and settled in Cork. Mary was baptized in the Anglican Communion on April 4, 1787, at Saint Anne's Anglican Church, in Shandon. Mary was quite frail and probably considered to be asthmatic and it was recommended that she be fostered with a nanny. Mary was fostered out to John and Mary Rourke, a poor Roman Catholic couple, who lived on higher ground on Eason's Hill, Shandon, Cork. It is thought that Mary was secretly baptized a Roman Catholic from this early age by Mary Rourke, who was a devout in her catholic faith. Her parents would visit every week until she was six years old, in 1793, when her father decided he wanted her to rejoin the family in Daunt's Square. The Rourkes also joined the family and worked as servants to the family.
By the early 1790s, Dr Aikenhead had become interested in the principles of the United Irishmen. On one occasion Lord Edward Fitzgerald disguised as a Quaker sought refuge in the Aikenhead home. He was enjoying dinner with the family when the house was surrounded by troops with the sheriff at their head. The visitor managed to disappear and reach safety across the river. The house was searched but because of the loyalty of his apprentices who knew and kept the doctor's secret, no incriminating documents were found.
Around the age of nine, Mary began to spend a good deal of time visiting her maternal grandmother, where she was exposed to Catholic beliefs and practice through her widowed aunt, Mrs. Gorman. After her father retired, be became ill and was received into the Roman Catholic Church before dying on December 15, 1801. Six months later, at the age of fifteen, Mary was baptized a Roman Catholic on June 6, 1802.
In 1808, Mary went to stay with her friend Anne O'Brien in Dublin. Here she witnessed widespread unemployment and poverty and soon began to accompany her friend in visiting the poor and sick in their homes. She was active in works of charity but she had failed to find a religious institute devoted to charitable work. She shared this idea with Archbishop Murray, Bishop Coadjutor of Dublin who was a friend of O'Brian. Murray returned later and said that he would bring a French order to Ireland if Aikenhead would lead it. To prepare for this task she became a novice from 1812 to 1815, in the Convent of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin at Micklegate Bar, in York. On September 1, 1815, the first members of the new institute professed their vows. She received, the religious name she kept till death, Sister Mary Augustine. She was appointed Superior-General. Added to the traditional three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, was a fourth vow: to devote their lives to the service of the poor. At the time that Aikenhead established set her congregation, there were only a hundred women religious in Ireland, all enclosed contemplatives. The next sixteen years were filled with the arduous work of organizing the community and extending its sphere of labor to every phase of charity, chiefly hospital and rescue work. She and her sisters were the first women religious to visit prisoners in Kilmainham Gaol.
In 1831, overexertion and disease shattered Aikenhead's health, leaving her an invalid. Her activity was unceasing, however, and she directed her sisters in their heroic work during the plague of 1832, placed them in charge of new institutions, and sent them on missions to France and in 1835 to the penal colonies of Australia. In 1834, Archbishop Daniel Murray and Mother Mary Augustine founded Saint Vincent's Hospital.
She died in Harold's Cross in Dublin, on Thursday, July 22, 1858, at the age of 71, having left her institute in a flourishing condition, in charge of ten institutions, besides innumerable missions and branches of charitable work. She is interred in the convent cemetery attached to Saint Mary Magdalen Convent (Donnybrook), in Dublin.
Mary Aikenhead was given the title, Servant of God in 1921. On March 18, 2015, a decree was issued proclaiming her heroic virtues, thus entitling her to be referred to as the Venerable Mary Aikenhead.
The Mary Aikenhead Heritage Centre details Mary's life and the Religious Sisters of Charity. It is in Dublin at Our Lady's Hospice, Harolds Cross in the building called Our Lady's Mount. This is where Mary Aikenhead spent the remainder of her life. The building was later used to establish Our Lady's Hospice in 1879.
Venerable Sr Mary Augustine Aikenhead RSC
(Mary Frances Aikenhead)
Foundress of the Religious Sisters of Charity
Mary Frances Aikenhead was born on Friday, January 19, 1787, in Daunt's Square (off Grand Parade), in the city of Cork (County Cork). She was the daughter of Dr David Aikenhead, an apothecary and a member of the Anglican Church of Ireland, and Mary Stackpole, from a Roman Catholic aristocrat family. Her grandfather, also named David Aikenhead, was a Scottish gentleman who relinquished his military profession, married a Limerick lady, Miss Anne Wight and settled in Cork. Mary was baptized in the Anglican Communion on April 4, 1787, at Saint Anne's Anglican Church, in Shandon. Mary was quite frail and probably considered to be asthmatic and it was recommended that she be fostered with a nanny. Mary was fostered out to John and Mary Rourke, a poor Roman Catholic couple, who lived on higher ground on Eason's Hill, Shandon, Cork. It is thought that Mary was secretly baptized a Roman Catholic from this early age by Mary Rourke, who was a devout in her catholic faith. Her parents would visit every week until she was six years old, in 1793, when her father decided he wanted her to rejoin the family in Daunt's Square. The Rourkes also joined the family and worked as servants to the family.
By the early 1790s, Dr Aikenhead had become interested in the principles of the United Irishmen. On one occasion Lord Edward Fitzgerald disguised as a Quaker sought refuge in the Aikenhead home. He was enjoying dinner with the family when the house was surrounded by troops with the sheriff at their head. The visitor managed to disappear and reach safety across the river. The house was searched but because of the loyalty of his apprentices who knew and kept the doctor's secret, no incriminating documents were found.
Around the age of nine, Mary began to spend a good deal of time visiting her maternal grandmother, where she was exposed to Catholic beliefs and practice through her widowed aunt, Mrs. Gorman. After her father retired, be became ill and was received into the Roman Catholic Church before dying on December 15, 1801. Six months later, at the age of fifteen, Mary was baptized a Roman Catholic on June 6, 1802.
In 1808, Mary went to stay with her friend Anne O'Brien in Dublin. Here she witnessed widespread unemployment and poverty and soon began to accompany her friend in visiting the poor and sick in their homes. She was active in works of charity but she had failed to find a religious institute devoted to charitable work. She shared this idea with Archbishop Murray, Bishop Coadjutor of Dublin who was a friend of O'Brian. Murray returned later and said that he would bring a French order to Ireland if Aikenhead would lead it. To prepare for this task she became a novice from 1812 to 1815, in the Convent of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin at Micklegate Bar, in York. On September 1, 1815, the first members of the new institute professed their vows. She received, the religious name she kept till death, Sister Mary Augustine. She was appointed Superior-General. Added to the traditional three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, was a fourth vow: to devote their lives to the service of the poor. At the time that Aikenhead established set her congregation, there were only a hundred women religious in Ireland, all enclosed contemplatives. The next sixteen years were filled with the arduous work of organizing the community and extending its sphere of labor to every phase of charity, chiefly hospital and rescue work. She and her sisters were the first women religious to visit prisoners in Kilmainham Gaol.
In 1831, overexertion and disease shattered Aikenhead's health, leaving her an invalid. Her activity was unceasing, however, and she directed her sisters in their heroic work during the plague of 1832, placed them in charge of new institutions, and sent them on missions to France and in 1835 to the penal colonies of Australia. In 1834, Archbishop Daniel Murray and Mother Mary Augustine founded Saint Vincent's Hospital.
She died in Harold's Cross in Dublin, on Thursday, July 22, 1858, at the age of 71, having left her institute in a flourishing condition, in charge of ten institutions, besides innumerable missions and branches of charitable work. She is interred in the convent cemetery attached to Saint Mary Magdalen Convent (Donnybrook), in Dublin.
Mary Aikenhead was given the title, Servant of God in 1921. On March 18, 2015, a decree was issued proclaiming her heroic virtues, thus entitling her to be referred to as the Venerable Mary Aikenhead.
The Mary Aikenhead Heritage Centre details Mary's life and the Religious Sisters of Charity. It is in Dublin at Our Lady's Hospice, Harolds Cross in the building called Our Lady's Mount. This is where Mary Aikenhead spent the remainder of her life. The building was later used to establish Our Lady's Hospice in 1879.
(Mary Frances Aikenhead)
Foundress of the Religious Sisters of Charity
Mary Frances Aikenhead was born on Friday, January 19, 1787, in Daunt's Square (off Grand Parade), in the city of Cork (County Cork). She was the daughter of Dr David Aikenhead, an apothecary and a member of the Anglican Church of Ireland, and Mary Stackpole, from a Roman Catholic aristocrat family. Her grandfather, also named David Aikenhead, was a Scottish gentleman who relinquished his military profession, married a Limerick lady, Miss Anne Wight and settled in Cork. Mary was baptized in the Anglican Communion on April 4, 1787, at Saint Anne's Anglican Church, in Shandon. Mary was quite frail and probably considered to be asthmatic and it was recommended that she be fostered with a nanny. Mary was fostered out to John and Mary Rourke, a poor Roman Catholic couple, who lived on higher ground on Eason's Hill, Shandon, Cork. It is thought that Mary was secretly baptized a Roman Catholic from this early age by Mary Rourke, who was a devout in her catholic faith. Her parents would visit every week until she was six years old, in 1793, when her father decided he wanted her to rejoin the family in Daunt's Square. The Rourkes also joined the family and worked as servants to the family.
By the early 1790s, Dr Aikenhead had become interested in the principles of the United Irishmen. On one occasion Lord Edward Fitzgerald disguised as a Quaker sought refuge in the Aikenhead home. He was enjoying dinner with the family when the house was surrounded by troops with the sheriff at their head. The visitor managed to disappear and reach safety across the river. The house was searched but because of the loyalty of his apprentices who knew and kept the doctor's secret, no incriminating documents were found.
Around the age of nine, Mary began to spend a good deal of time visiting her maternal grandmother, where she was exposed to Catholic beliefs and practice through her widowed aunt, Mrs. Gorman. After her father retired, be became ill and was received into the Roman Catholic Church before dying on December 15, 1801. Six months later, at the age of fifteen, Mary was baptized a Roman Catholic on June 6, 1802.
In 1808, Mary went to stay with her friend Anne O'Brien in Dublin. Here she witnessed widespread unemployment and poverty and soon began to accompany her friend in visiting the poor and sick in their homes. She was active in works of charity but she had failed to find a religious institute devoted to charitable work. She shared this idea with Archbishop Murray, Bishop Coadjutor of Dublin who was a friend of O'Brian. Murray returned later and said that he would bring a French order to Ireland if Aikenhead would lead it. To prepare for this task she became a novice from 1812 to 1815, in the Convent of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin at Micklegate Bar, in York. On September 1, 1815, the first members of the new institute professed their vows. She received, the religious name she kept till death, Sister Mary Augustine. She was appointed Superior-General. Added to the traditional three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, was a fourth vow: to devote their lives to the service of the poor. At the time that Aikenhead established set her congregation, there were only a hundred women religious in Ireland, all enclosed contemplatives. The next sixteen years were filled with the arduous work of organizing the community and extending its sphere of labor to every phase of charity, chiefly hospital and rescue work. She and her sisters were the first women religious to visit prisoners in Kilmainham Gaol.
In 1831, overexertion and disease shattered Aikenhead's health, leaving her an invalid. Her activity was unceasing, however, and she directed her sisters in their heroic work during the plague of 1832, placed them in charge of new institutions, and sent them on missions to France and in 1835 to the penal colonies of Australia. In 1834, Archbishop Daniel Murray and Mother Mary Augustine founded Saint Vincent's Hospital.
She died in Harold's Cross in Dublin, on Thursday, July 22, 1858, at the age of 71, having left her institute in a flourishing condition, in charge of ten institutions, besides innumerable missions and branches of charitable work. She is interred in the convent cemetery attached to Saint Mary Magdalen Convent (Donnybrook), in Dublin.
Mary Aikenhead was given the title, Servant of God in 1921. On March 18, 2015, a decree was issued proclaiming her heroic virtues, thus entitling her to be referred to as the Venerable Mary Aikenhead.
The Mary Aikenhead Heritage Centre details Mary's life and the Religious Sisters of Charity. It is in Dublin at Our Lady's Hospice, Harolds Cross in the building called Our Lady's Mount. This is where Mary Aikenhead spent the remainder of her life. The building was later used to establish Our Lady's Hospice in 1879.
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