The Four Sisters of Charity were four American educators known as Sisters Loyola Ritchie, Rebecca Delone, Felicia Fenwick, and Rosaline Brown. Catholic Bishop of Detroit, Michigan, Peter Paul Lefevere saw a need for education and charitable work in Detroit in the late 1830s; the four women were sent there in 1844. [1] [2]
The four women rebuilt Detroit's school system, educating 600 children in schools founded in 1844 and 1859. The first school was opened within two weeks of their arrival. [3]
In 1845, they founded St. Vincent's Hospital at Sister Delone's suggestion, the first hospital in Michigan and the Northwest Territory. The hospital's first patient, Robert Bridgeman, went on to work as an orderly there helping other patients. A second hospital, St. Mary's, was constructed in 1850, and the following year the first outpatient clinic in Michigan, and the second in the nation. They also created the Michigan State Retreat for the Insane, the first private psychiatric hospital in Michigan, [4] and The House of Providence, a home for unwed mothers and their children. They were inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1997. [5]
Livonia is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, United States. A western suburb of Detroit, Livonia is located roughly 20 miles (32.2 km) northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 95,535. Originally organized as Livonia Township in 1835, it incorporated as a city in 1950.
The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Roman Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute has about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They also started many education and health care facilities around the world.
Dorothea Lynde Dix was an American advocate on behalf of the indigent mentally ill who, through a vigorous and sustained program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first generation of American mental asylums. During the Civil War, she served as a Superintendent of Army Nurses.
The University of Detroit Mercy is a private Roman Catholic university in Detroit, Michigan. It is sponsored by both the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy. The university was founded in 1877 and is the largest Catholic university in Michigan. It has three campuses where it offers more than 100 academic degree programs.
Ellen Cashman was an Irish gold prospector, nurse, restaurateur, businesswoman and philanthropist in Arizona, Alaska, British Columbia and Yukon.
The Michigan Women's Hall of Fame (MWHOF) honors distinguished women, both historical and contemporary, who have been associated with the U.S. state of Michigan. The hall of fame was founded in 1983 by Gladys Beckwith and is sponsored by the Michigan Women's Studies Association. The formation of the Association and the Hall was prompted by five professors from Michigan State University, who were teaching a Women in American Society course.
The Sisters of Charity of Montreal, formerly called The Sisters of Charity of the Hôpital Général of Montreal and more commonly known as the Grey Nuns of Montreal, is a Canadian religious institute of Roman Catholic religious sisters, founded in 1737 by Marguerite d'Youville, a young widow.
Saint Mary's Hospital is a hospital in Manchester, England. It is part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. Founded in 1790, St Mary's provides a range of inter-related services specifically for women and children. In 1986, St Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre was the first sexual assault referral centre (SARC) to open in the UK.
The Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (I.H.M.) is a Catholic religious institute of sisters, founded by Fr. Louis Florent Gillet, CSsR, and a co-founder of the Oblate Sister of Providence, Mother Theresa Maxis Duchemin, in 1845.
The Sisters of the Holy Cross are one of three Catholic congregations of religious sisters which trace their origins to the foundation of the Congregation of Holy Cross by Basil Moreau in Le Mans, France in 1837. Members designate themselves with the post-nominals CSC.
Mother Mary Frances Clarke, B.V.M. was an Irish nun who founded the Catholic order of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Initially started in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to provide educational opportunities for immigrants' children, the order relocated in the 1840s to Dubuque, Iowa, and established prairie schools across the high plains. One of those initial schools later became Clarke University. She was posthumously inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame.
Mary Eliza Mahoney was the first African-American to study and work as a professionally trained nurse in the United States. In 1879, Mahoney was the first African American to graduate from an American school of nursing.
Mary Ignatia Gavin, C.S.A., was an Irish-born American Religious Sister, better known as Sister Ignatia, belonging to the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, who served as a nurse. In the course of her work she became involved in the care of those suffering from alcoholism, working with Bob Smith, a co-founder of what became Alcoholics Anonymous. In this work she became known as the alcoholic's "Angel of Hope".
The Religious Sisters of Charity or Irish Sisters of Charity is a Roman Catholic religious institute founded by Mary Aikenhead in Ireland on 15 January 1815. Its motto is Caritas Christi urget nos.
Aleda Ester Lutz was a United States Army flight nurse. She was the first American servicewoman to be killed in combat during World War II, and the first military woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross, which she received posthumously. She is the second-highest decorated woman in the history of the U.S. military.
Peter Paul Lefevere, or Lefebre, was a 19th-century Belgian born bishop of the Catholic Church in the United States. He was a missionary priest in the states of Missouri, Illinois and Iowa before he served as coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Detroit in the state of Michigan from 1841-1869.
St. Mary's Church, School and Convent is a historic Roman Catholic church complex off United States Route 212 in Zell, South Dakota.
Agatha de LaVigne Biddle (1797–1873) was a woman of Odawa and French heritage, who primarily identified with her Odawa kin. She resided on Mackinac Island during the fur trade era and after. She acted as a partner with her husband in running their fur trade business, and Biddle was known as a shrewd businesswoman and her kinship connections were an integral part of the Biddle business. Following in the footsteps of another native woman, Maw-che-paw-go-quay, Agatha Biddle was also a woman serving as chief for the Mackinac Island band of the Mackinac Bands of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians. She was pivotal in the negotiations of the 1855 Treaty of Detroit where she used her relationships with local Indigenous peoples and settlers to negotiate on behalf of the Ojibwe and Odawa peoples. Biddle was also renowned for her charity, and the aid she provided to her community, including needy children. The home she shared with her husband, independent fur trader Edward Biddle, known as Biddle House, still stands on Mackinac Island and was the site of many local gatherings. Agatha Biddle was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame on October 18, 2018.
Ruth Robertson Berrey was an American pediatrician, educator, and a medical missionary to Nigeria. Berrey was active within the Alabama Pediatric Society and became a fellow in the American Academy of Pediatrics. As a medical missionary, she helped children in Nigeria and helped reduce leprosy in the population. As a public health officer in four Alabama counties, she conducted clinics for the detection of tuberculosis, cancer, diabetes, sickle cell anemia, and other diseases.
Martha Longstreet was an American general practitioner and pediatrician from Saginaw, Michigan. Known for her work as a physician in Saginaw for 45 years, she was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1984. Longstreet was known as the "children's doctor" and founded a number of community institutions, particularly for children, women, and senior citizens. She has been called a "second mother to untold hundreds of Saginaw children and their children's children".