Catherine McAuley and the Sisters of Mercy

Mother Mary Frances Xavier Warde was one of the original Sisters of Mercy.  She was born in 1810 in Ireland.  On January 24, 1833, she became the first Sister of Mercy to be professed by Catherine McAuley.  In 1837 she was appointed as the superior at the Sisters' convent in Carlow, Ireland.  In 1843 the Bishop of Pittsburgh, PA, requested that the Sisters establish an institute there.  Mother Warde, along with six other Sisters, made the arduous journey across the Atlantic and then across the country to respond to this need.  She would go on to found Sisters' communities in Illinois, California, New York, New Jersey, and throughout New England.  In 1865, Bishop David W. Bacon wrote to her asking, "Do you think you could divide your little community so as to take the Bangor mission…?"  And so began the Sisters' ministry in Maine. 

She remained the superior general of the Sisters of Mercy in America until 1858, and she died in 1884.  At the time, she was the oldest living Sister of Mercy.  Kathleen Healy writes, "She was literally a pioneer in striking a trail across the United States, establishing the apostolate of Mercy wherever she went."  In 2018, the Sisters of Mercy celebrated the 175th anniversary of their arrival in America under Mother Warde's leadership.

Sarah Anne O’Brien was born in Ireland in 1834.  She was known for her love of books and strong compassion for the poor.  She joined the Sisters of Mercy in 1853 (taking the name Sister Gonzaga) and was soon on her way to America to join the work that Mother Warde had started.  Her first assignment was in Providence, RI.  In July 1858 she was sent to Manchester, NH, with the first group of Catholic nuns in the state where they set up its first parochial schools, hospitals, and orphanages.  In 1865 Mother Warde sent her to Bangor, ME, to establish the first Sisters community there where she was appointed the first superior of the Portland convent.  She spent the remainder of her life as a Sister in various leadership roles in New Hampshire and Maine.  She was known for her effective administrative and fundraising skills.  When she was once asked if she was still begging, she replied, “Yes, and I shall continue to beg until I go before the Throne of God. Even then I shall beg for mercy.”  In 2015, the State of Maine celebrated the 150th anniversary of the work that began under Sr. Gonzaga's leadership.  

The origins of Maine's first Catholic college for women begins in 1911 with the request of high school seniors at Saint Joseph's Academy for a course of studies to prepare them for teaching.  Their teacher at the time was Sr. Mary Xaveria Toohey, a native of Hallowell, Maine.  It is her vision that would guide Saint Joseph's College in its infancy.

In her history of the Sisters' work in Maine, Sr. Mary Raymond Higgins writes that Sr. Xaveria "guided the infant institution with a rare administrative ability and foresight, and for twenty-six years saw her cherished dream gradually become fulfilled. She lived to see a well-established college which she once described as having 'proved to be a boon for the community,' serving her Sisters of Mercy as well as religious of other Congregations and lay people."  She was described as "well loved, humble, and energetic" as well as being "a remarkable woman, a 'real genius' who strongly believed in the influence for good and society by refined, holy, cultured, and educated women."

She spent thirty-eight years of her life teaching at various Mercy institutions in Portland, and she is considered a pioneer of Catholic higher education in Maine.  Xavier Hall is dedicated in her honor.