Mary Frances Xavier Warde facts for kids
Mary Frances Xavier Warde (1810-1884) was a very important nun from Ireland. She was one of the first members of the Sisters of Mercy, a group of Catholic women who wanted to help people in need. Mary Frances Xavier Warde also brought this group to the United States.
She helped start new convents (places where nuns live and work) in places like Carlow, Naas, and Wexford in Ireland.
Helping People in America
In 1843, a bishop named Michael O'Connor asked Mother Warde and six other sisters to come to America. They traveled from Carlow to Pittsburgh, where they started teaching at a Sunday school. Later, another bishop, William Quarter, asked her to start a convent in Chicago in 1846.
Two years later, she started another one in Loretto, Pennsylvania. Mother Warde also helped create schools and homes in many other cities, including Boston, Hartford, and Buffalo, New York. She was a very strong person. In 1850, she bravely faced down a group of people who were causing trouble at a new convent in Providence, Rhode Island. These people were part of a group called the "Know-Nothings" who didn't like immigrants or Catholics.
By the time she passed away in 1884, Mother Warde had helped set up over 82 places for the Sisters of Mercy. These included convents, schools, hospitals, and orphanages. They were in about 20 cities across nine different states. She died in Manchester, New Hampshire, where she had also started night schools for children who worked in factories.
Mother Mary Frances Xavier Warde was honored in the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2002. A school in Chicago, The Frances Xavier Warde School, is named after her.
Her Life Story
Early Life in Ireland
Frances Warde was born in 1810 at Belbrook House in Abbeyleix, County Laois, Ireland. She was the youngest of six children. After her parents died, she was raised by her great-aunt.
Frances enjoyed a lively social life, but she felt a strong pull towards helping others. In 1828, she began assisting Catherine McAuley, who was starting the Sisters of Mercy. Frances helped care for children at a home for homeless children. She later became one of the first Sisters of Mercy.
In 1837, she became the leader of the convent in Carlow, Ireland. This was the first Mercy convent built outside of Dublin. She also helped start convents in Naas in 1839 and Wexford in 1840. From Wexford, Sisters of Mercy even went as far as Australia to help people. One of her important Irish foundations was in Sligo, which had a great training school for teachers. Her niece, Joanna Bridgeman, also joined the order and later became a famous nurse during the Crimean War.
Bringing Mercy to America
In 1843, Bishop O'Connor from Pittsburgh asked Mother Warde to bring the Sisters of Mercy to his area. She and six other sisters sailed to America. When they arrived in New York in December, they met William Quarter, who was about to become the first bishop of Chicago. He immediately asked Mother Warde to send some sisters to Chicago as soon as possible.
In Pittsburgh, the sisters started teaching Sunday school and helping adults. Mother Warde was very good at speaking and had a lot of kindness, which helped many people. They quickly opened schools and academies. They also visited sick people in their homes and in the poor house, and even visited the prison. They opened the very first hospital in Pittsburgh.
In 1846, Mother Warde kept her promise to Bishop Quarter and sent sisters to Chicago. The Chicago Mercys were the first group of religious women in that city. Mother Warde and five sisters started the Saint Francis Xavier Female Academy, which later became Saint Xavier University. In 1852, they opened Mercy Hospital in Chicago.
In 1848, she opened another house in the Alleghenies in Loretto, Pennsylvania. Her work in Pittsburgh caught the attention of Bishop Bernard O'Reilly of Hartford. Even though a group called the "Know-Nothings" had caused trouble near Boston in 1850, Mother Warde accepted Bishop O'Reilly's invitation to open a house in Providence, Rhode Island in 1851. There, she founded St. Xavier's Academy, which was the first Catholic high school for girls in Rhode Island.
Under Mother Warde's guidance, the Sisters of Mercy helped educate many young women in parish schools across southeastern New England. In March 1855, a group of people surrounded the convent in Providence, threatening to burn it down. Bishop O'Reilly and a group of Irish Catholic defenders faced the mob. Mother Warde made sure that no one would fire a shot unless it was to defend themselves. The sisters bravely held onto their convent. One of the rioters even said that they had underestimated the strong presence of the nun and decided to leave.
Mother Warde continued to open new houses and schools. In 1852, she opened places in Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut, with free schools. Later, they opened academies and continued their work of mercy. In 1854, a generous woman named Mrs. Goodloe Harper donated a house and land in Newport, R.I. for a convent and schools.
In 1857, free and special schools were opened in Rochester and later in Buffalo. On July 16, 1858, Mother Warde and a group of sisters went to Manchester. There, they started night schools for children who worked in factories. St. Mary's Academy also opened that same year.
Mother Warde continued her work, opening convents and schools in many other places. These included Philadelphia (1861), Omaha (1864), Bangor, Maine (1865), Yreka, California (1871), Jersey City, Bordentown, and Princeton, N.J.. She also helped open an orphanage in Portland in 1872. The Kavanagh School was given to the sisters, and an academy was opened in Portland.
In 1878, Mother Warde sent sisters to work among the Native American communities in Maine, including Old Town, Pleasant Point, and Dana's Point. The government built the schoolhouses and paid the sisters to teach the children. Mother Warde's last projects were opening an Old Ladies' Home and a Young Ladies' Academy in Deering, Maine.
Mother Warde was the leader of the Mercy Sisters in America until 1858. By 1883, when she celebrated 50 years as a nun, she was the oldest Sister of Mercy still alive. She was known for her good sense and positive outlook. She was of medium height, stood tall, and had a strong presence. She had a high forehead and deep-set blue eyes. She passed away in Manchester, N.H., on September 17, 1884.
