The Franciscan Missionaries of Mary are a Roman Catholic religious institute founded by Mother Mary of the Passion at Ootacamund, then British India, in 1877. The Missionaries form an international religious congregation of women representing 79 nationalities spread over 74 countries on five continents.
Saint Amandina of Schakkebroek, born Pauline Jeuris, was a Franciscan sister of Belgian origin who served in China. She was beatified and canonized together with other martyrs of the Boxer Rebellion.
The Martyr Saints of China, or Augustine Zhao Rong and his Companions, are 120 saints of the Catholic Church. The 87 Chinese Catholics and 33 Western missionaries from the mid-17th century to 1930 were martyred because of their ministry and, in some cases, for their refusal to apostatize.
Gregory Mary Grassi, O.F.M., was an Italian Franciscan friar and bishop who is honored as a Catholic martyr and saint.
María Bernarda Bütler - born Verena Bütler - was a Swiss Roman Catholic professed religious and the foundress of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Sinners, and served in the missions in Ecuador and Colombia. Bütler worked for the care of the poor in these places until her exile from Ecuador and entrance into Colombia where she worked for the remainder of her life. Her order moved there with her, and continued to expand during her time there until her death.
In the history of the Catholic Church, women have played a variety of roles and the church has affected societal attitudes to women worldwide in significant ways. Influential Catholic women have included theologians, abbesses, monarchs, missionaries, mystics, martyrs, scientists, nurses, hospital administrators, educationalists, religious sisters, Doctors of the Church, and canonised saints. Women constitute the majority of members of consecrated life in the Catholic Church: in 2010, there were around 721,935 professed women religious. Motherhood and family are given an exalted status in Catholicism, with The Blessed Virgin Mary holding a special place of veneration.
Hélène Marie Philippine de Chappotin de Neuville, known as Mary of the Passion, was a French religious sister and missionary, who founded the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in British India in 1877, currently one of the largest religious institutes in the Catholic Church.
Clelia Merloni was an Italian Roman Catholic nun and the founder of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Merloni was destined to follow her father into the business world but renounced his anti-religious sentiment and instead went down the religious path. Internal complications led to Merloni's fall from grace and she went into self-imposed exile where she received a dispensation to break from her religious vows. She later rejoined the congregation as a nun not long before her death.
Marie of Saint Just, born Anne-Françoise Moreau was a French nun in the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. She was one of the 120 Martyrs of China. She died in the province of Shanxi..
Marie of Saint Natalie, born Jeanne-Marie Guerguin was one of the 120 Martyrs of China.
World Youth Day 2023 will be a Catholic festival held in Lisbon, Portugal, and was originally scheduled to be celebrated in summer 2022. This was announced by Pope Francis and Kevin Farrell at the end of the closing Mass of World Youth Day 2019 in Panama City, Panama. Originally scheduled to be held in August 2022, the Holy See announced on April 20, 2020, that it will be postponed until August 2023 due to the 2019–22 coronavirus pandemic, in which will held on August 1st–6th, 2023.
Saint Marie-Adolphine Dierkx was a Dutch nun who died for her faith in China during the Boxer Rebellion and was canonised in 2000. She is one of the group known as the Martyr Saints of China who were canonised by Pope John Paul II on 1 October 2000. Her birthplace has been converted into a chapel.
Saint Marie-Hermine of Jesus was a French nun and Mother Superior who died for her faith in China during the Boxer Rebellion and was canonised in 2000. She and six other nuns had gone to China to create a small hospital and to staff an orphanage. She is one of the group known as the Martyr Saints of China who were canonised by Pope John Paul II 1 October 2000.
Saint Marie de la Paix Giuliani was an Italian nun who died for her faith in China during the Boxer Rebellion and was canonised in 2000. She is one of the group known as the Martyr Saints of China who were canonised by Pope John Paul II 1 October 2000.
