Irish Sisters of the Order of Charity

John Francis Maguire
1868
CHAPTER XVIII (16) start of chapter

The holy foundress of the Order went to her eternal reward on the 4th January, 1821, in the 47th year of her age, her death being as edifying as her life.

From the very first formation of the Order of Charity in the United States, there were to be found in the infant institution ladies of Irish birth and Irish parentage; and as it gathered strength, and its branches spread from State to State, the Irish element was ever strong in its communities. How attractive the great work of this Order has proved to Irish piety may be learned from a passage in a letter from a Sister of St. Joseph's Academy, Emmettsburg, dated June 3, 1867, and addressed to a reverend friend of mine: 'The number of Irish Sisters now living, and in our community, amounts to four hundred and ten. This speaks well of the piety of the Emerald Isle.'

The prosperous branch of the Order in the State of New York, though founded from the mother house at Emmettsburg, and based on the same principles and constitution, and doing the same work, is altogether independent. It numbers several hundred Sisters, the majority of whom are Irish. The Order, wherever it is established, embraces within its ranks a considerable number of Sisters of Irish descent as well as of Irish birth.

The Irish in America, first published in 1868, provides an invaluable account of the extreme difficulties that 19th Century Irish immigrants faced in their new homeland and the progress which they had nonetheless made in the years since arriving on a foreign shore. A new edition, including additional notes and an index, has been published by Books Ulster/LibraryIreland:

Paperback: 700+ pages The Irish in America

ebook: The Irish in America