Profiles in Courage
This section of the Vocations Ireland website offers profiles of the founders of our Religious orders. We hope you'll find these profiles both informative and inspiring. Through reading these courageous stories we hope you will get a good sense of the special charism of these holy men and women and their vision for the orders they established.
Venerable Catherine McAuley 1777 - 1841
Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy
Catherine McAuley was born in North Dublin in 1778. Following the death of her father in 1783, life for her became difficult both economically and socially. As a teenager she nursed her mother through a prolonged illness until she died. After that, economic circumstances necessitated moving from one relative to another in order to have a roof over her head. Sometimes this meant being separated from her brother and sister....
St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
Founder of the Discalced Carmelites
Teresa lived in an age of exploration as well as political, social and religious upheaval. It was the 16th century, a time of turmoil and reform. Her life began with the culmination of the Protestant Reformation, and ended shortly after the Council of Trent. The gift of God to Teresa in and through which she became holy and left her mark on the Church and the world is threefold: She was a woman; she was a contemplative; she was an active reformer....
St. Dominic
Order of Preachers
Born in old Castile, Spain, he was trained for the priesthood by a priest-uncle, studied the arts and theology, and became a canon of the cathedral at Osma, where there was an attempt to revive the apostolic common life described in the Acts of the Apostles...
Venerable Mary Ward (1585 - 1645)
Founder of the Loreto Sisters
The Loreto sisters around the world have just begun year long celebrations marking 400 years on their existence. They rejoice now in having attained what their foundress Mary Ward sought to bring about in very difficult times. God called her, in the seventeenth century, to introduce a new style of religious life for women into the Church, she answered and we who have lived in the latter part of the twentieth century and into the twenty first century are the ones to see God’s dream become a reality. On her death bed in 1645 as her efforts lay on ruins and with only a few of her sisters still with her, she said with conviction: “Cherish God’s vocation in you. Let it be constant, efficacious and loving.” ...
St. Madeleine Sophie Barat
Founder of the Society of the Sacred Heart
The legacy of Madeleine Sophie Barat can be found in the more than 100 schools operated by her Society of the Sacred Heart, institutions known for the quality of the education made available to the young. ...
St. Francis of Assisi
Founder of the many branches of the Franciscan Family
Francis of Assisi was a poor little man who astounded and inspired the Church by taking the gospel literally—not in a narrow fundamentalist sense, but by actually following all that Jesus said and did, joyfully, without limit and without a mite of self-importance.
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St. Catherine of Siena
Saint of the Dominican Family
Catherine ranks high among the mystics and spiritual writers of the Church. In 1970 Paul VI named her and Teresa of Avila as doctors of the Church. In recent years, it has been suggested that she (among other possibilities) should be named patron of the Internet. Her spiritual testament is found in The Dialogue. St. Catherine’s feast day is celebrated on 29th April....
Blessed Anne Marie Javouhey
Founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny
Anne-Marie Javouhey, Founderof the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny, displayed at an early age her courage and her zeal for the spreading of the knowledge and love of Christ. And these were just a couple of the virtues that were to characterise the rest of her life....
Venerable Mary Potter
Founder of the Little Company of Mary
Mary Potter founded the Little Company of Mary in 1877 in England. Engaged to be married she discovered that God had other plans for her....
Nano Nagle
Founder of the Presentation Sisters
Nano Nagle voted Ireland greatest woman in 2005, this year the Presentatiion family celebrate the 225th anniversary of her death.
Today lay people and sisters work in carrying on Nano’s vision. A wonderful sense of family has grown among the lay and the religious followers of Nano Nagle, worthy of the praise of a historian and the song of a poet.
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St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Co founder of the Visitation Order
Francis was destined by his father to be a lawyer so that the young man could eventually take his elder’s place as a senator from the province of Savoy in France. For this reason Francis was sent to Padua to study law. After receiving his doctorate, he returned home and, in due time, told his parents he wished to enter the priesthood. His father strongly opposed Francis in this, and only after much patient persuasiveness on the part of the gentle Francis did his father finally consent. Francis was ordained and elected provost of the Diocese of Geneva, then a center for Calvinists. ...
St. Jane Frances de Chantal (1562-1641)
Co founder of the Visitation Order
Jane Frances was wife, mother, nun and founder of a religious community. Her mother died when Jane was 18 months old, and her father, head of parliament at Dijon, France, became the main influence on her education. She developed into a woman of beauty and refinement, lively and cheerful in temperament. At 21 she married Baron de Chantal, by whom she had six children, three of whom died in infancy. At her castle she restored the custom of daily Mass, and was seriously engaged in various charitable works. ...