Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception
The Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception is a women's religious congregation based in St John, New Brunswick. The Congregation serves the material and spiritual needs of the poor in education, healthcare, and pastoral care across Canada and in Peru.
The order was founded in September 1854 by Mother Mary Vincent (Honoria Conway). She and three companions arrived in St John to begin a new religious community. They had traveled from New York, in reponse to a request for help from Bishop Louis Connolly.
A cholera epidemic in St John, which followed heavy migration to the area caused by the Great Famine in Ireland, had orphaned many children. Bishop Connolly had become familiar with the Sisters of Charity during the time he pastored in Halifax. Although the congregations in New York were themselves stretched by the needs of their locales, four women volunteered in response to an appeal made by the bishop in an address to the novitiate. The new community was the first English-speaking congregation founded in Canada.
External Links
Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception
The Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception: A Canadian Case Study by Elizabeth W. McGahan
