History
September 29, 1778 Catherine McAuley, foundress, was born in Dublin, Ireland.
September 24, 1827 Catherine McAuley opened the House of Mercy on Baggot Street.
December 12, 1831 Catherine pronounced her vows as a Sister of Mercy and the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy was founded.
July 5, 1841 Pope Gregory XVI confirmed the Rule and Constitutions of the Sisters of Mercy, marking papal approval of the new religious order.
November 11, 1841 Catherine died, having founded her Institute and established 14 foundations in Ireland and England.
December 21, 1843 Sisters of Mercy from Carlow, Ireland, led by Mother Francis Xavier Ward made a foundation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in response to the invitation of Bishop Michael O’Connor.
September 24, 1870 At the invitation of Bishop Tobias Mullen, 7 Sisters of Mercy left Pittsburgh and established St. Joseph Convent as a new foundation in Titusville, Pennsylvania and began St. Joseph Academy, a boarding school for girls.
1870-2006 For 136 years, Sisters of Mercy staffed 20 parochial schools in the Erie Roman Catholic Diocese and St. Justin’s, elementary and secondary schools, in the Pittsburgh Roman Catholic Diocese.
1910-1981 DuBois Hospital was established in DuBois, Pennsylvania. (In 1981 DuBois Hospital merged with Maple Avenue Hospital to become the DuBois Regional Medical Center.)
1918-1963 Our Lady of Peace House became a residence for women seeking employment in Erie.
September 1926 Mercyhurst, a new building in Erie, Pennsylvania, was ready for occupancy. Besides being a new home for the Sisters of Mercy, it housed the College and Seminary for Girls.
1933-19 Sisters of Mercy taught in 4 Erie Roman Catholic Diocesan High Schools, Cathedral Preparatory School for Boys, DuBois Central Catholic High School, Kennedy Christian High School, St. Mark’s Seminary.
1951-1960 Mercy Manor became a residence for women seeking employment in Erie.
September 1963 Mercyhurst Seminary for Girls moved into a new building on Grandview Boulevard and was renamed Mercyhurst Preparatory School.
September 1968 The Motherhouse, built on Grandview Boulevard at the south boundary of the Mercyhurst campus, was occupied.
September 1969 Mercyhurst College, a four-year Catholic liberal arts college, became coeducational.
September 1970 Mercy Center of the Arts, a unique preschool, began to offer special programs in the arts and science.
October 1, 1973 Mercy Center on the Aging began providing activities, services, and programs for senior citizens in the Erie area.
September 1974 Mercyhurst Preparatory School became coeducational.
March 21, 1987 Mercy Terrace Apartments, an independent living facility for senior citizens, welcomed its first eight tenets.
April 1990 Catherine McAuley was declared Venerable by decree of Pope John Paul II, completing an important stage in the process of her Cause for Canonization.
July 20, 1991 Sisters of Mercy from 25 regional communities in the United States, along with 11 mission communities in the Caribbean, Latin American, and the Pacific Rim, formally established the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.
January 1994 Mercy Center for Women opened its doors, uniting a long-term transitional home for women and children, and an advocacy and support center for women.
1997 The Sisters of Mercy Leadership Teams in Buffalo and Rochester, New York, and Erie and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania took steps toward joint leadership, pioneering a movement to bring together the 25 regional communities and missions into 6 Communities.
April 15, 2002 The House of Mercy, the first in the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, opened as a residence for sisters and volunteers in a developing ethically and economically diverse neighborhood.
July 17, 2008 Buffalo, Erie, Pittsburgh, Rochester, and the Philippines (popularly called NyPPaW) will assemble and become The New York, Pennsylvania and Pacific West Community. |
