| THE SISTERS OF THE HOLY FAITH WERE FOUNDED AT DUBLIN IN 1867 BY MARGARET AYLWARD UNDER THE DIRECTION OF FR JOHN GOWAN CM FOR THE CARE OF CATHOLIC ORPHANS AND WAS THUS PART OF THE GREAT FLOWERING OF IRISH RELIGIOUS LIFE THROUGH THE 19th CENTURY. MARGARET AYLWARD WAS A WEALTHY WOMAN FROM WATERFORD IN IRELAND WHO WAS MOVED BY THE PLIGHT OF CATHOLIC ORPHANS IN DANGER OF BEING PROSELETYZED IN PROTESTANT ORPHANAGES. INDEED SHE WAS CALLED A CONFESSOR OF THE FAITH BY PIUS IX, BECAUSE OF THE IMPRISONMENT OF SIX MONTHS SHE ENDURED FOR HER EFFORTS TO SAVE SOME CATHOLIC ORPHANS FROM THE HANDS OF PROSELYTIZERS. THE ORIGINAL FOUNDATION WAS ST. BRIGID'S ORPHANAGE FROM WHICH THE SISTERS TOOK THE NAME THE SISTERS OF ST BRIGID BUT THIS WAS SOON CHANGED TO THE SISTERS OF THE HOLY FAITH TO AVOID CONFUSION WITH THE BRIGIDINES. RESTRICTED BY THE FOUNDRESS’S WISHES TO IRELAND FOR MOST OF THEIR HISTORY THE SISTERS RESPONDED TO A CALL BY THE BISHOP OF PORT OF SPAIN FOR TEACHERS TO COME TO TRINIDAD IN 1947. BY 1961 THE SISTERS HAD ESTABLISHED HOUSES IN THE USA, NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA. ALTHOUGH THE ORDER HAS SINCE DIVERSIFIED ITS APOSTOLATE IT CONTINUES TO WORK IN THE SPIRIT OF THEIR FOUNDRESS. |
