Venerable Mary PotterPrint Page

A tulip tree was planted to commemorate the sesquicentenary of the birth of Mary Potter who was the founder of the Little Company of Mary in England in 1877.  It is believed that this tulip tree is no longer alive.

Mary Potter was born on 22 November 1847 in London. At that time England was in the wake of major changes: The Industrial Revolution and its impact on the social and economic environment of the time; the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829; the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in 1850 and the Oxford Movement of the 1830’s.

The youngest of five children, Mary Potter had four brothers and was raised largely by her strict but loving mother. Mary Potter’s father left the family home when Mary was very young and he went to Australia, never to see his family again.

As an adult Mary set about her life’s work of serving God. After experiencing many difficulties, ill-health and opposition from her family and the Clergy, Mary eventually established a Congregation of Religious Sisters called the Little Company of Mary, whose lives are centred on prayer and caring for those who were sick, dying and in need. Mary Potter modelled the Congregation on the spirit of Calvary, calling her Sisters to be part of the “little company” of faithful companions who remained with Mary, the mother of Jesus, standing in spirit with her on Calvary, as she watched over her dying son. Mary Potter’s primary vision was for the Sisters to constantly pray for the dying, then all else would follow.

The Bishop of Nottingham, Bishop Bagshawe said he would accept Mary Potter into the Diocese, and assisted her financially in the beginning. Eventually Mary Potter established the Congregation – the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary – in an old stocking factory at Hyson Green in Nottingham, England in 1877. This area was particularly disadvantaged and the building itself was very run down. The stocking factory was offered to Mary Potter by Bishop Bagshawe to use as a convent to live among the poor, sick and dying. From this old building, the Sisters went out into homes to provide whatever care was needed.

When she went to Rome in 1882 to gain approval for the Constitutions of her new Congregation, and also to seek Papal Approbation (meaning that the status of the Community would change and instead of being ruled by the Local Bishop, they would be under the Vatican). They met Pope Leo XIII, and he then asked Mary Potter to stay in Rome and set up a community. So they did this and the Sisters worked among the poor all around Rome and parts of Italy. They eventually established a hospital – called Calvary, as well as the Chapel of the Maternal Heart. This hospital was the first Catholic hospital to be set up in Rome in 1909.

In 1913 after suffering from ill-health for many years, Mary Potter died in Rome, where her body lay until 1997 when it was translated to the Cathedral of Saint Barnabas in Nottingham.

In 1885 at the invitation of Cardinal Moran, six Sisters of the Little Company of Mary sailed from Naples on the SS Liguria headed for Australia. This was a long and arduous journey, eventually arriving in Sydney on 4 November 1885. The harsh conditions they encountered upon their arrival did not deter the Sisters and they immediately became involved in caring for the sick, poor and the dying again, undertaking home nursing and opening a soup kitchen in inner Sydney.

The Australian Foundation Sisters were very young to undertake their first international mission. However, by 1886 the foundation stone for the first Australian convent, known as the Convent of the Maternal Heart was laid at Lewisham. 

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