Congregational Register No. 162
D.O.B. 23 07.1919
First Profession 17.03.1949
Died: 31.07.2002 Aged: 83 years
Born in Oldcastle, County Meath, Eileen Boylan came from a family of four: two sons and two daughters. After finishing her schooling she stayed at home to help her mother who was ill and eventually died. It was only when Eileen was twenty-seven that she felt free enough from family responsibilities to follow her calling into religious life.
At her reception into the novitiate Eileen took the name Sr. M. Assumpta. All her religious life was spent in Ireland, and her profession was recorded as “helper”. She worked in Clonmel and Waterford. She also spent some time in Rosemount in Dublin when it was a house for students but most of her life was spent in Drogheda. She worked for several years in the IMTH cafeteria and also looked after the hospital oratory for a number of years, work which she especially loved.
Throughout her life she suffered from ill health which gradually became more and more disabling.
From the 1980s until her death, she had constant illness and suffering. When Áras Mhuire opened in 1994 she became part of the founding community of MMMs there. She died peacefully and free from suffering in Áras Mhuire on 31 July 2002 and is buried in Drogheda.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No: 794
D.O.B. 01.02.1895
First Profession: 03.10.1969
Died: 01.08.1983 Aged: 88 years
A native of Castlemagner, Co. Cork, Eileen’s maiden surname was O’Brien. She had been married with a family and was widowed before entering MMM on 8 March 1968. Because of her age and maturity, an Indult was requested and granted, so she did not need to complete a second year of novitiate.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No: 96
D.O.B. 10.04.1919
First Profession: 18.03.1946
Died: 22.05.2006 Aged: 87 years
Anne Teresa Bennett was born in Milltownpass in County Westmeath, Ireland. She had three sisters and one brother. Anne was educated at the at the local Mercy Convent and after leaving school helped out both at home and in the family-owned shop, before she entered MMM in 1943, aged 24. In religion Anne took the name Sr. Mary Annunciata.
Following initial formation, Sr. Annunciata trained as a nurse and midwife in the IMTH in Drogheda and Jervis Street Hospital in Dublin. She was assigned her first overseas mission in 1954 and went to Tanzania, which was called Tanganyika at that time. Sr. Annunciata was to spend a total of twenty years in Tanzania, almost equally divided between the hospitals of Dareda and Makiungu. She had posts of responsibility in both places, as matron and as Sister-in-charge. She loved Tanzania, although there were many difficult periods during the years when the hospitals were new and being built up.
In 1974, Sr. Anne returned to Ireland to work as infirmarian in Drogheda for two years before being assigned to the USA to work in Pope John XXIII Seminary in Weston, MA. This seminary was for older vocations to the priesthood, who came from all over the USA. Anne worked in the accounts office and as the infirmarian. She really enjoyed this ministry and it energised her. Sr. Anne was a joyful, outgoing person, kind and patient, self-controlled with a deep love of God and an active prayer life. She made many friends in the USA, some of whom were still writing to her many years later when she was living in Áras Mhuire.
When MMM withdrew from the seminary in 1980, Sr. Anne helped out with fund-raising activities in Chicago for several months before returning to Ireland that year for surgery. In 1981 she returned to the USA and was assigned to the novitiate community in Brighton, MA, as bursar. She later move to Somerville, MA where she was also the bursar.
Sr. Anne returned to Ireland in 1992, where she lived first as a member of Ashleigh Heights community and later in Mell community in Drogheda.
Sr. Anne was admitted to Áras Mhuire in 2004 because of failing health, and her condition gradually deteriorated over the next two years. The latter months of her life must have been very difficult for her. She had always been a very sociable person and her inability to communicate was sometimes very frustrating. She slipped away peacefully on the morning of 22 May 2006, her tears wiped away as she entered into her new life with her Beloved.
Nationality: Irish
Congregational Register No: 96
D.O.B. 10.04.1919
First Profession: 18.03.1946
Died: 22.05.2006 Aged: 87 years
Anne Teresa Bennett was born in Milltownpass in County Westmeath, Ireland. She had three sisters and one brother. Anne was educated at the at the local Mercy Convent and after leaving school helped out both at home and in the family-owned shop, before she entered MMM in 1943, aged 24. In religion Anne took the name Sr. Mary Annunciata.
Following initial formation, Sr. Annunciata trained as a nurse and midwife in the IMTH in Drogheda and Jervis Street Hospital in Dublin. She was assigned her first overseas mission in 1954 and went to Tanzania, which was called Tanganyika at that time. Sr. Annunciata was to spend a total of twenty years in Tanzania, almost equally divided between the hospitals of Dareda and Makiungu. She had posts of responsibility in both places, as matron and as Sister-in-charge. She loved Tanzania, although there were many difficult periods during the years when the hospitals were new and being built up.
In 1974, Sr. Anne returned to Ireland to work as infirmarian in Drogheda for two years before being assigned to the USA to work in Pope John XXIII Seminary in Weston, MA. This seminary was for older vocations to the priesthood, who came from all over the USA. Anne worked in the accounts office and as the infirmarian. She really enjoyed this ministry and it energised her. Sr. Anne was a joyful, outgoing person, kind and patient, self-controlled with a deep love of God and an active prayer life. She made many friends in the USA, some of whom were still writing to her many years later when she was living in Áras Mhuire.
When MMM withdrew from the seminary in 1980, Sr. Anne helped out with fund-raising activities in Chicago for several months before returning to Ireland that year for surgery. In 1981 she returned to the USA and was assigned to the novitiate community in Brighton, MA, as bursar. She later move to Somerville, MA where she was also the bursar.
Sr. Anne returned to Ireland in 1992, where she lived first as a member of Ashleigh Heights community and later in Mell community in Drogheda.
Sr. Anne was admitted to Áras Mhuire in 2004 because of failing health, and her condition gradually deteriorated over the next two years. The latter months of her life must have been very difficult for her. She had always been a very sociable person and her inability to communicate was sometimes very frustrating. She slipped away peacefully on the morning of 22 May 2006, her tears wiped away as she entered into her new life with her Beloved.
Not many people will hold on to an uncertain dream for twenty years, but that is what Marie Martin had to do before she was able to establish the Medical Missionaries of Mary in 1937.
The prelude to our story begins in Glenageary – Co. Dublin – on April 25 1892, the day the future foundress of MMM was born. From the vantage point of her happy childhood home, she could gaze out on Dublin Bay. From the busy harbour she could see the ships heading out to the big world beyond.
In 1914 the outbreak of World War I found her anxious to help in a wider field that just around her home circle. She trained as a volunteer nurse known as a V.A.D. and was assigned first to Malta. In France she nursed the wounded all through the terrible battle of the Somme in 1916. It was at this time that she saw the world’s need for healing and began to think of devoting her life to bringing comfort and health to others. She returned to Dublin and trained as a midwife.
In 1921 she sailed for Nigeria at the request of the well-known Bishop Joseph Shanahan. She worked as a lay missionary in Calabar in the south-east of the country.
She saw the extent of people’s suffering from ill-health, and had special concern for mothers and their young infants. She felt that alone she could do little, but if she could establish a group of women who would commit themselves to this work, the situation could be changed.
She returned once more to Ireland with a view to recruiting others who would go back with her to Africa, but for many years she was dogged by ill-health and other obstacles. Eventually, by 1934 she was well enough and had found some pioneering companions, but at that time the Church would not permit women in religious life to engage in obstetrics and surgery – both of which were central to her vision of serving the peoples of Africa.
It took further patience as she made her vision known and waited for the rules to be changed. With her first companions she helped the Benedictine monks at Glenstal to establish their new boarding school for boys in return for spiritual direction. Then in 1936, her prayers were answered. The way was cleared for women religious to do full medical work. She and her first companions sailed for Nigeria in December that year. The necessary protocols to establish a new religious Congregation were being processed in Rome.
However, once again illness was to strike the Foundress. This time it was quite dramatic and it looked as if the whole venture would fizzle out. She was taken to the Government Hospital in Port Harcourt suffering from a very serious form of malaria. There were fears for her life, but it was there, on 4 April 1937, that she made her Profession of Vows. As soon as she was able to travel, she was booked to sail back to Europe, leaving her pioneering companions behind. Dr. Braithwaite shook his head as she left the hospital, saying, ‘Let me never see that woman back in Africa!’
Her health was always a concern but she lived until 27 January 1975. She died in Drogheda, Ireland, at the age of 82.
The PDF A Dream to Follow traces her life based on letters she wrote between 1915 and 1934 and her relationships with people who influenced and helped her in her formative years.
MMMs are actively engaged in the delivery of services. This including the prevention or relief of sickness, disease or human suffering in various ways. We serve in over 11 countries. We assist with illness, diseases and social challenges unique to the specific location. We work with the local community to identify what most needs to be done. Then we build on the strengths of the existing resources. Objectives are set with goals to respond to the particular area and what impacts people there the most. No two locations services are exactly alike. Change is always monitored and addressed.
Community Based Health Care
These varied and integrated services provided in the hospitals/clinics and
in outpatient delivery include but are not limited to:
- Immunisations/Vaccinations
- Antenatal & maternity care
- TB (Direct observation treatment)
- Laboratory services
- Nutrition clinics
- Rehabilitation and counseling clinics
- HIV/AIDS testing, referral and education
- Palliative care
- Counter Human trafficking services
- Pastoral care and home visits
- Hospital Chaplaincy
- Prison visits
- Counseling for Students
- Complementary Therapies
- Geriatric Care
- Gender and Race equality awareness
- Vesico Vaginal Fistula Rehabilition
- Youth Health
MMM is dedicated to healing. Each day we turn to God, the Great Healer, to sustain us in our lives and work.
We ask God to heal when we can only bring our human effort. Join with us in prayer this day, for your own needs and for the needs of the world.
Prayer Request
Please let us know how we can support you in prayer:
“I would like you to pray with me as I am…”
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Prayer Cards
Prayer is a very important part of our MMM life. We are here to pray with you and to support you spiritually in challenging times.
A Prayer for our Earth
By Pope Francis*
All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures. You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day. Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace.
* Pope Francis published this prayer in his Laudato Si’ encyclical, and is meant for sharing with all who believe in a God who is the all-powerful Creator.
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These are women who want to make a total commitment of their whole lives to God in a religious community. After a time of discernment and preparation they take the traditional three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They spend their lives at the service of the poor and marginalized. They serve preferentially in places and situations where the need for human development is great and the people are awaiting the liberating and healing power of the Gospel. In their personal lives they “seek God and God’s Kingdom”, deepening their awareness of God’s presence in all things and in all people.
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These are women who want to make a total commitment of their whole lives to God in a religious community. After a time of discernment and preparation they take the traditional three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They spend their lives at the service of the poor and marginalized. They serve preferentially in places and situations where the need for human development is great and the people are awaiting the liberating and healing power of the Gospel. In their personal lives they “seek God and God’s Kingdom”, deepening their awareness of God’s presence in all things and in all people.
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These are women who want to make a total commitment of their whole lives to God in a religious community. After a time of discernment and preparation they take the traditional three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They spend their lives at the service of the poor and marginalized. They serve preferentially in places and situations where the need for human development is great and the people are awaiting the liberating and healing power of the Gospel. In their personal lives they “seek God and God’s Kingdom”, deepening their awareness of God’s presence in all things and in all people.
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These are women who want to make a total commitment of their whole lives to God in a religious community. After a time of discernment and preparation they take the traditional three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They spend their lives at the service of the poor and marginalized. They serve preferentially in places and situations where the need for human development is great and the people are awaiting the liberating and healing power of the Gospel. In their personal lives they “seek God and God’s Kingdom”, deepening their awareness of God’s presence in all things and in all people.
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These are women who want to make a total commitment of their whole lives to God in a religious community. After a time of discernment and preparation they take the traditional three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They spend their lives at the service of the poor and marginalized. They serve preferentially in places and situations where the need for human development is great and the people are awaiting the liberating and healing power of the Gospel. In their personal lives they “seek God and God’s Kingdom”, deepening their awareness of God’s presence in all things and in all people.
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Work-in-Progress Reports – March 2021
Week 1: Overview Production/Development Plan 2021
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zrkZ4pc-SV_SPA2gckwcFbJp7iD3dHKw3bifc3KoMCk/edit?usp=sharing
Week 2: Production/Development Plan 2021
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hz6M524C2sa0B1WC7IUVB7NYRUMCAJ63c5xNrUbVXYU/edit?usp=sharing
Week 3: Scoping Study – R&D Production/Development Plan 2021
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GJ4QhCDKEjSQzsIE4w16f9o5ckEJV4TOl1eyffCCiZg/edit?usp=sharing
Week 4: Job Specs – Graphic Design, Online Presence & Agendas Items
https://docs.google.com/document/d/106lOLm4c0qELysy8sywGm4kle5a5OFQRDNir1Qv0fNU/edit?usp=sharing
Existing MMM website articles >>> here
Exiting MMM website Plug Ins >>> here
Existing MMM website Modules >>> here
MMM Target Persona(s) >>> here
