Catherine McAuley

Catherine Elizabeth McAuley was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1778. From the time she was a
young child, Catherine saw her parents living their Catholic faith through service to the poor.
After her parents died, Catherine lived with Protestant relatives who wanted her to become a
member of their church. Catherine remained true to the Catholic faith.

When Catherine was 25, she was invited to be a live-in companion to a wealthy retired couple.
Her faith and loving care for them and the needy people in the neighborhood was a powerful
example for them, and they both became Catholic before they died. They left their fortune to
Catherine.

This inheritance gave Catherine the money she needed to establish a house to serve people in
need. Catherine purchased property and a large house was built. It was called the “House of
Mercy” and opened in 1827. It included a church, school, a work area for training the residents
for jobs, and dormitories for the poor and any women who
wished to join Catherine in her ministry.

Catherine did not wish to form a religious order. Nuns in

Ireland in those days spent most of their time cloistered away
from the people Catherine was determined to serve.
Catherine knew that to be a real help to the poor and needy,
she needed to be among them so that she could see the
realities of the struggles they faced on a daily basis.

The Archbishop of Dublin convinced Catherine that

becoming a religious order would help her to serve more
people. Catherine agreed, and she and two friends began
training to become nuns. When they took their vows of
poverty, chastity, and obedience, they were allowed to
include a vow of service to the poor, sick, and uneducated.
Catherine’s order, the Religious Sisters of Mercy, was born
in 1831. The nuns wore plain clothing and were known in Ireland as the “walking nuns” because
they spent so much time in the community helping people.

Catherine died in 1841. Today there are more than 12,000 Sisters of Mercy worldwide. They run
200 health care facilities, 19 colleges, and 58 schools and provide many other services that help
people of every age.

Pope John Paul II declared Sister Catherine McAuley “Venerable” in 1990. This is the first step
on the path to sainthood. Catherine always said that “proof of love is deed.” Like Catherine
McAuley, we can let our kind and caring deeds be the proof of our love for Jesus and others.
Catherine McAuley | Saints Resource
 Catherine of Sienna
St. Catherine of Siena, original name Caterina Benincasa, (born March 25, 1347, Siena, Tuscany
[Italy]—died April 29, 1380, Rome; canonized 1461; feast day April
29), Dominican tertiary, mystic, and one of the patron saints of Italy. She was declared a doctor
of the church in 1970 and a patron saint of Europe in 1999.

Catherine was the youngest of 25 children born to a lower middle-

class family; most of her siblings did not survive childhood. At a
young age she is said to have consecrated her virginity to Christ and
experienced mystical visions. Catherine became a tertiary (member
of a monastic third order who takes simple vows and may remain
outside a convent or monastery) of the Dominican order (1363),
joining the Sisters of Penitence of St. Dominic in Siena. She rapidly
gained a wide reputation for her holiness and her severe asceticism.
In her early twenties she experienced a “spiritual espousal” to Christ
and was moved to immediately begin serving the poor and sick,

gaining disciples in the process.

Her ministry eventually moved beyond her local community, and

Catherine began to travel and promote church reform. When the
rebellious city of Florence was placed under an interdict by Pope Gregory XI (1376), Catherine
determined to take public action for peace within the church and Italy and to encourage a
Crusade against the Muslims. She went as an unofficial mediator to Avignon with her confessor
and biographer Raymond of Capua. Her mission failed, and she was virtually ignored by
the pope, but while at Avignon she promoted her plans for a Crusade.

Saint Catherine of Siena | Biography, Facts, Miracles, & Patron Saint Of | Britannica