The Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm are a religious institute begun in 1929 by Mother Angeline Teresa (Bridget Teresa McCrory). The order is there to discern the differing needs of the aged, and to satisfy those needs to the best of their ability. At the Jubilee of Mother Angeline Teresa in 1964, she said that in the 1920s, while working among the aged in Brooklyn and Pittsburgh, she came to dislike the institutional flavor of existing homes, and sought to provide greater freedom for the residents.
The congregation of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm was founded in 1929. Sister Angeline de St. Agatha McCrory was Superior of a Home of the Little Sisters of the Poor in the Bronx, New York. She felt that the European way and many of the customs in France did not meet the needs or customs of America. She also believed that old age strikes all classes of people, leaving them alone and frightened. Being unable to effect any necessary changes in her present situation, McCrory sought advice and counsel from Patrick Cardinal Hayes, the Archbishop of New York. The cardinal encouraged her in her work and suggested that she expand her ministry to include the aged throughout the New York City area.
With the blessing of Cardinal Hayes, McCrory and six other Sisters withdrew from the Little Sisters of the Poor and were granted permission from the Vatican to begin a new congregation for the care of the aged, incorporating Mother Angeline's ideals. [1]
Mother M. Angeline Teresa, O. Carm., died in 1984 at the age of 91. [2] On 28 June 2012, Pope Benedict XVI issued a decree declaring McCrory Venerable. [3]
Her concept of cares for the aged was a pioneering one. [4] The homes operated by the order added rehabilitation maintenance and recreation to the basic custodial care provided by homes for the aged. The homes allowed aged couples to share a room, unlike many homes, and sought to provide the atmosphere of a middle class private home. The goal was the maintenance of their dignity. [5] [6] The religious sisters also operated day care for the elderly of the neighborhood. [7]
The motherhouse of the congregation is St. Teresa's at Avila-on-Hudson in Germantown, New York. At present, there are approximately 200 Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm who operate 24 homes caring for 5,200 elderly persons. [8]
The Missionaries of Charity is a Catholic centralised religious institute of consecrated life of Pontifical Right for women established in 1950 by Mother Teresa, now known in the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta. As of 2023, it consisted of 5,750 members religious sisters. Members of the order designate their affiliation using the order's initials, "M.C.". A member of the congregation must adhere to the vows of chastity, poverty, obedience, and the fourth vow, to give "wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor." Today, the order consists of both contemplative and active branches in several countries.
Catherine McAuley, RSM was an Irish Catholic religious sister who founded the Sisters of Mercy in 1831. The women's congregation has always been associated with teaching, especially in Ireland, where the sisters taught Catholics at a time when education was mainly reserved for members of the established Church of Ireland.
The Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel belongs to the habit of both the Carmelite Order and the Discalced Carmelite Order, both of which have Our Lady of Mount Carmel as their patroness. In its small form, it is widely popular within the Latin Church of the Catholic Church as a religious article and has probably served as the prototype of all the other devotional scapulars. The liturgical feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July 16, is popularly associated with the devotion of the Scapular.
Veronica of the Passion was a Roman Catholic nun who founded the Sisters of the Apostolic Carmel, a religious congregation for women based in India.
Teresa of Jesus of Los Andes, born as Juana Enriqueta Josephina de Los Sagrados Corazones Fernández Solar, was a Chilean nun of the Discalced Carmelites. Fernández Solar was a pious child but had an often unpredictable temperament for she could be prone to anger and being vain but could also demonstrate her charitable and loving nature; she seemed transformed when she decided to become a nun and her character seemed to change for her sole ambition was to dedicate herself to the service of God. But her time in the convent was cut short due to her contracting an aggressive disease that killed her - she knew she would die but was consoled knowing she would be able to make her profession before she died.
The Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus is a religious institute in the Catholic Church founded by Maria Teresa of St. Joseph on July 2, 1891, in the Netherlands. Mother Mary Teresa traveled to the United States in 1912 to establish a community in the U.S. The Provincial House was opened in 1917 in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin and the first American postulant was received in 1920 from the Milwaukee area.
María Luisa Josefa of the Most Blessed Sacrament, also called "Mother Luisita" was a Mexican Catholic religious sister who founded the Carmelite Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mexico and the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles. She is under consideration for sainthood, having been declared venerable.
Jeanne Jugan, religious name Mary of the Cross, was a French religious sister who became known for the dedication of her life to the neediest of the elderly poor. Her service resulted in the establishment of the Little Sisters of the Poor, who care for the elderly who have no other resources throughout the world. She has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church.
The Pontifical Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of the Reparation of the Holy Face is a Roman Catholic women's congregation of pontifical right whose focus is providing Acts of Reparation to Jesus Christ.
Mariam Baouardy, was a Discalced Carmelite nun of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Born to Palestinian Greek Catholic parents from the town of Hurfiesh in the upper Galilee, later moved to I’billin, she was known for her service to the poor. In addition, she became a Christian mystic who suffered the stigmata, and has been canonized by the Catholic Church.
Mary Angeline Teresa McCrory was an Ireland-born immigrant to the United States. She was a Roman Catholic religious sister who worked as an advocate for the impoverished elderly, founding a new religious congregation for this purpose, the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm. Her cause for canonization has been opened, and her life has been acknowledged by the Holy See as one of heroic virtue. She is honored by the Catholic Church as venerable.
Émilie Tavernier Gamelin was a Canadian social worker and Roman Catholic religious sister. She is best known as the founder of the Sisters of Providence of Montreal. In 2001 she was beatified by Pope John Paul II.
Blessed Maria Teresa of Saint Joseph, DCJ, was a German religious sister and the founder of the Carmelite Daughters of the Divine Heart of Jesus. Tauscher worked in Cologne and was removed from her position after she converted to Roman Catholicism in 1888 so founded a congregation in the Netherlands upon choosing the Carmelite charism for her life.
Ana Petra Pérez Florido, also known as Petra of Saint Joseph, was a Spanish Catholic nun. She established the Congregation of the Mothers of the Abandoned to care for the abandoned as well as the elderly and infirm.
Teodora Fracasso, OCD - in religion, Elia di San Clemente - was an Italian Catholic nun in the Carmelites. Fracasso once had the name of "Agnes" during a stint in the Third Order of Saint Dominic. Fracasso's inclinations to become a nun stemmed from her childhood after having had a vision in 1911 in which Thérèse of Lisieux told her that she would become a nun; this realization came a decade later when she entered the convent in her native Bari where she remained for the remainder of her life.
Maria Scrilli, religious name Maria Teresa of Jesus, was an Italian religious sister who established the Sisters of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.