Mary Magdalene was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurrection. She is mentioned by name twelve times in the canonical gospels, more than most of the apostles and more than any other woman in the gospels, other than Jesus's family. Mary's epithet Magdalene may be a toponymic surname, meaning that she came from the town of Magdala, a fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in Roman Judea.
Bernadette Soubirous, also known as Bernadette of Lourdes, was the firstborn daughter of a miller from Lourdes, in the department of Hautes-Pyrénées in France, and is best known for experiencing apparitions of a "young lady" who asked for a chapel to be built at the nearby cave-grotto. These apparitions occurred between 11 February and 16 July 1858, and the young lady who appeared to her identified herself as the "Immaculate Conception".
Magdalene asylums, also known as Magdalene laundries, were initially Protestant but later mostly Roman Catholic institutions that operated from the 18th to the late 20th centuries, ostensibly to house "fallen women". The term referred to female sexual promiscuity or sex workers, young women who became pregnant outside of marriage, or young girls and teenagers who did not have familial support. They were required to work without pay apart from meagre food provisions, while the institutions operated large commercial laundries, serving customers outside their bases.
Mary Norris was a young woman in Ireland who was sent to a Magdalene asylum, where her name was changed and she was imprisoned until removed by an aunt. Norris spent two years performing hard labor in the Good Shepherd Convent, a Magdalene asylum. Norris later came forward and recounted her experiences of abuse in the asylum and also the St Joseph's Orphanage in Killarney.
Nora-Jane Noone is an Irish actress. In 2020, The Irish Times ranked her 47th on its list of the greatest Irish film actors of all time. She made her screen debut in her breakthrough role film The Magdalene Sisters (2002), and has since been nominated three times at the IFTA Film & Drama Awards for her work in 3 films: The Descent (2005), Savage (2009) and Wildfire (2020).
Bloody Sunday is a 2002 film written and directed by Paul Greengrass based around the 1972 "Bloody Sunday" shootings in Derry, Northern Ireland. Although produced by Granada Television as a TV film, it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 16 January, a few days before its screening on ITV on 20 January, and then in selected London cinemas from 25 January.
Peter Mullan is a Scottish actor and filmmaker. His credits include Riff-Raff (1991), Shallow Grave (1994), Braveheart (1995), Trainspotting (1996), My Name Is Joe (1998), The Claim (2000), Neds (2010), War Horse (2011), The Fixer (2008), Top of the Lake (2013), Mum (2016-2019), Ozark (2017-2018), Westworld (2018-2020), Cursed (2020), The North Water (2021), The Underground Railroad (2022), The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022–2024), After the Party (2023), and Baghead (2023).
Junia or Junias was a Christian in the first century known from Paul the Apostle's letter to the Romans.
The 24th London Film Critics Circle Awards, honouring the best in film for 2003, were announced by the London Film Critics Circle on 11 February 2004.
The Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, also known as the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, is a Catholic religious order that was founded in 1835 by Mary Euphrasia Pelletier in Angers, France. The religious sisters belong to a Catholic international congregation of religious women dedicated to promoting the welfare of women and girls.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is a 2008 American comedy-drama film and a sequel to the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The original cast return to star in the film. It was directed by Sanaa Hamri and written by Elizabeth Chandler, who wrote the previous film. The film is based upon the fourth novel in the book series: Forever in Blue (2007), but incorporates scenes and storylines from The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (2003) and Girls in Pants (2004).
Eileen Walsh is an Irish actress. Her credits include Miss Julie (1999), Janice Beard 45 WPM (1999), When Brendan Met Trudy (2000), The Magdalene Sisters (2002), Pure Mule (2005), Eden (2008), The End (2008), Catastrophe (2015), The Children Act (2017), Maze (2017), Wolf (2021), and Ann (2022).
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.
Lady Arabella Fitzmaurice Denny (1707–1792) was an Irish philanthropist, and founder of the Magdalen Asylum for Protestant Girls in Leeson Street, Dublin in 1765.
Mount Saint Canice was a Roman Catholic former convent that was located in Sandy Bay, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia and run by the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, commonly called the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, from 1893 to 1974.
Sex in a Cold Climate is a 1998 Irish documentary film detailing the mistreatment of "fallen women" in the Magdalene laundries in Ireland. It was produced and directed by Steve Humphries and narrated by Dervla Kirwan. It was used as a source for the 2002 film, The Magdalene Sisters.
The Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, also known as Magdalene asylums, were institutions usually run by Roman Catholic orders, which operated from the 18th to the late 20th centuries. They were run ostensibly to house "fallen women", an estimated 30,000 of whom were confined in these institutions in Ireland.
The Glasgow Magdalene Institution was an asylum in Glasgow, Scotland, initially started in 1812 and was open until 1958.
The Devil's Doorway is a 2018 found footage horror film directed by Aislinn Clarke and co-written with Martin Brennan and Michael B. Jackson.
Mary Teresa Collins is an Irish Traveller survivor of Irish institutions such as the Magdalene laundries, industrial schools and county homes. Collins co-founded the campaign organisation, Justice 4 All Women & Children.
