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Sisters of the Holy Faith

From Catholicism Wiki
Holy Faith Sisters
Formation 1857
Founder Margaret Aylward
Type Catholic religious order
Headquarters Glasnevin, Dublin
Website holyfaithsisters.org

The Sisters of the Holy Faith is a Catholic religious congregation, originally for the care of Catholic orphans. It now works broadly in the areas of education and faith development. The congregation is part of the Vincentian family.

History

It was founded in Dublin, in 1857, by Margaret Aylward,[1] under the direction of John Gowan from the St. Peter's Vincentian Community in Phibsboro, Dublin.

The founder was called a Confessor of the Faith by Pope Pius IX, because of the imprisonment of six months she endured. She was convicted of contempt of court, but acquitted of a charge of kidnapping, after having refused to produce and return an abandoned child to its mother.[2]

The congregation is especially active in the Archdiocese of Dublin, the residence of the superior general being at Glasnevin, where the sisters conducted a boarding-school for young women. The Glasnevin establishment no longer has a boarding school; the order's archives are stored and maintained here, and the order now has a nursing home, Marian House, on the Glasnevin campus.

The original foundation was St. Brigid's Orphanage, Dublin, where over 3000 orphans were accommodated and trained.[3]

Activities

The order's ministry is in education, faith development and the promotion of justice. They set up and run a number of primary and secondary schools primarily in Dublin. Today the order works in Ireland, United States of America, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and South Sudan.[4]

The Holy Faith sisters in collaboration with the Saint Patrick's Society for the Foreign Missions (Kiltegan Fathers), in 2013, worked to set up a primary school in Riwoto, South Sudan.[4][5]

The St. Johns Education Centre is an initiative established in 1999 by the Holy Faith Sisters and De La Salle Brothers, to help students at risk of dropping out of the education system.[6]

The Margaret Aylward Centre for Faith and Dialogue was built on the grounds of the Holy Faith Convent, in Glasnevin,[7] in 2014 it held its inaugural lecture. The centre is used for conferences, meetings, retreats,[8] lectures and courses.

Schools

The order's schools in Ireland are part of the Le Chéile Schools Trust:[9]

  • St. Michael's Holy Faith Finglas
  • St David's Holy Faith, Greystones
  • St. Brigids National School, Killester[10]
  • Holy Faith Secondary School, Clontarf[11]
  • St. Mary's Holy Faith Glasnevin (Secondary School)[12]
  • St. Mary's Holy Faith Killester (Secondary School)
  • Margaret Aylward School (founded by order in 1969 transferred to Dublin VEC in 1983)
  • Mother of Divine Grace, Primary School, Ballygall, Glasnevin, Dublin 11.
  • St Wolstan’s Community School, Ballymakealy, Clane Road, Celbridge, County Kildare (with Archdiocese of Dublin and Kildare Kildare Wicklow ETB) [13]
  • Tallaght Community School, Balrothery, Tallaght, Dublin 24 (with Marist Brothers and County Dublin DDLETB) [14]
  • Holy Faith Convent of Trinidad and Tobago

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Sisters of the Holy Faith — Founded at Dublin, in 1857, by Margaret Aylward, under the direction of Rev. John Gowan, C.M., for the care of Catholic orphans. The foundress was called a confessor of the Faith by Pius IX, because of the imprisonment of six months she endured on account of her efforts to save some Catholic orphans from the hands of proselytizers. The congregation is especially active in the Archdiocese of Dublin, the residence of the superior general being at Glasnevin, where the sisters conduct a boarding- school for young ladies. In the original foundation, St. Brigid=1Cs Orphanage, Dublin, nearly three thousand orphans have been trained and placed in trades and situations. The members of the congregation also conduct primary schools, private day schools, infants' schools, and junior boys' schools. In their Coombe and Strand Street (Dublin) houses, which have an attendance of 1200 and 800 respectively, the poor receive their breakfast daily, and are also provided with clothing. Altogether the sisters in the fourteen convents of the archdiocese have charge of about seven thousand children. In the Diocese of Ossory a community of eight sisters conducts two primary schools and a private day school, with an attendance of 160.

Irish Directory (1909).

References

  1. Back to citation Holy Faith Sisters - Beginnings Archived 2007-11-20 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Back to citation Margaret Helen Preston, Charitable Words: Women, Philanthropy, and the Language of Charity in Nineteenth-Century Dublin (2004), p. 88.
  3. Back to citation Sister of the Holy Faith New Advent
  4. Back to citation occurrence 4.0 Back to citation occurrence 4.1 Republic of South Sudan St. Patrick's Society for the Foreign Missions
  5. Back to citation Home from South Sudan Margaret Aylward Centre
  6. Back to citation About Us St. Johns Education Centre
  7. Back to citation The Margaret Aylward Centre for Faith and Dialogue Glasnevin parish.
  8. Back to citation The Margaret Aylward Centre for Faith and Dialogue Retreats Ireland.
  9. Back to citation Holy Faith Sisters Le Cheile Schools Trust.
  10. Back to citation St. Brigids National School, Killester
  11. Back to citation Holy Faith Secondary School, Clontarf
  12. Back to citation St. Mary's Holy Faith Glasnevin
  13. Back to citation St. Wolstans Community School
  14. Back to citation Tallaght Community School

Bibliography

    • Irish Directory (1909)
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