Bray is a coastal town in north County Wicklow, Ireland. It is situated about 20 km (12 mi) south of Dublin city centre on the east coast. It has a population of 33,512 making it the tenth largest urban area within Ireland. Bray is home to Ardmore Studios, and some light industry is located in the town, with some business and retail parks on its southern periphery. Commuter links between Bray and Dublin are provided by rail, Dublin Bus and the M11 and M50 motorways. Parts of the town's northern outskirts are in County Dublin.
The Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose members are commonly known as the Loreto Sisters, is a Roman Catholic religious congregation of women dedicated to education founded in Saint-Omer by an Englishwoman, Mary Ward, in 1609. The congregation takes its name from the Marian shrine at Loreto in Italy where Ward used to pray. Ward was declared Venerable by Pope Benedict XVI on 19 December 2009. The Loreto Sisters use the initials I.B.V.M. after their names.
Gemma Hussey is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Minister for Social Welfare from 1986 to 1987, Minister for Labour from January 1987 to March 1987, Minister for Education from 1982 to 1986, Leader of the Seanad and Leader of Fine Gael in the Seanad from 1981 to 1982. She served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Wicklow constituency from 1982 to 1989. She also served as a Senator for the National University from 1977 to 1982.
Geraldine Valerie Whelan, known by the pen name O. R. Melling, is a writer of fantasy novels, mostly for children and young adults. Melling's novels focus on Irish and Celtic folklore. She writes reviews and film scripts as G. V. Whelan. She is sometimes published as Orla Melling.
Orla Brady is an Irish theatre, television, and film actress born in Dublin. She has been nominated for several awards from the Irish Film & Television Academy for her work in televised programs, as well as starring in the RTÉ/BBC co-production A Love Divided where she portrayed Sheila Cloney, for which she won the 1999 Golden Nymph Best Actress Award. She began her career with the Balloonatics Theatre Company as a touring performer, later gaining her first minor role in television as a bank clerk in the series Minder in 1993. Her first role in film was as Vanessa in Words Upon the Window Pane in 1994. Brady later appeared in recurring roles in a number of US and UK series and in two supporting character roles in the CBS-Paramount series, Star Trek: Picard. Brady appeared in the 2020 list of Ireland's greatest film actors, published by The Irish Times.
Loretto Abbey Catholic Secondary School is an all-girls Catholic secondary school in Hogg's Hollow neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Established by the Loretto Sisters in 1847, it is one of Toronto's oldest educational institutions and is part of the Toronto Catholic District School Board since 1987.
East Coast FM is an Irish local radio station broadcasting from Bray, County Wicklow under a sound broadcasting contract from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland
Frances Mary Teresa Ball, IBVM was an Irish Catholic religious sister who founded the Irish branch of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, better known as the Sisters of Loretto.
Órlagh Fallon, professionally known as Órla Fallon, is an Irish singer, songwriter and former member of the group Celtic Woman and the chamber choir Anúna.
Sister M. Cyril Mooney, IBVM was an India-based Irish nun, educationist, educational innovator and 2007 winner of the Padma Shri Award, the Government of India's fourth-highest civilian honour. She received awards including recognition by UNESCO (1994) and the International Christian Stewardship Award in 2002 given by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Sisters of the Holy Faith is a Catholic religious congregation, originally for the care of Catholic orphans. It now works broadly in the areas of education and faith development. The congregation is part of the Vincentian family.
Joyce O'Connor was President of National College of Ireland for fifteen years. She is a sister of Seán FitzPatrick.
Teresa Ellen Dease was a Roman Catholic nun and the foundress of the Loreto Sisters (Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Canada and in North America. She arrived in Toronto in 1847 at the invitation of Bishop Michael Power.
Marie Claude Naddaf is an activist and a nun. In 1994, she became Mother Superior at the Good Shepherd Convent in Damascus, and in 1996, she and her convent opened the "Oasis Shelter", Syria's first facility for victims of human trafficking and domestic violence. She also began Syria's first telephone hotline, which was attached to an emergency shelter for women.
Carmel Humphries MRIA B.Sc. M.Sc. PhD D.Sc. was an Irish zoologist, specialist in fresh water Chironomidae. She was the first female professor of zoology and head of department in Ireland, and devised a technique for the identification of chironomid flies that is still employed today.
Sr. Dr. Maura Lynch was an Irish doctor, a nun, and proponent of women's health.
Sister Mary Gertrude Joyce was an Irish Sisters of Mercy nun and musician.
Alicia Vacas Moro is a Spanish-born nurse and a leader of the Comboni Missionary Sisters in the Middle East and Asia. She served as a nurse in Egypt and in Bethany in the West Bank. During the pandemic she returned to help in Italy. She was awarded the International Women of Courage Award in 2021 on the recommendation of the Holy See for her work.
Barbara Bell (1870-1957), was a Catholic educationalist and later a religious sister who made a significant contribution to teacher training in Australia.
