Sister Mary Anthony : Short Biography

Sister Mary Anthony O'Connell was born in Limerick on the 15th of August, 1814. 

Her parents were William O'Connell and Catherine Murphy. Catherine sadly passed away when her daughter Mary Anthony was only 12 years old. 

Sometime in the 1820's the remaining O'Connells migrated to Boston on board a merchant ship. 

Mary Anthony was educated at the Ursiline Academy where she would have boarded with up to 40 other girls. 

In June 1835 Mary Anthony entered into the convent of the American Sisters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Maryland. She took her final vows in 1837 and was soon assigned to St Peter's Orphanage in Cincinnati. 

Sister Mary Anthony was extremely devoted to the poor children of her community. 

In 1852 she became the Procuratix of Cincinnati's St Johns's Hotel for Invalids. There she developed a love and dedication to working with the sick and became a skilled medical worker. 

After the civil war began in April of 1861, Sister Mary Anthony volunteered to tend to the Union soldiers many of whom had fallen prey to an outbreak of measles. During her time tending to the soldiers she reformed many of the primitive treatment methods. She is credited with having initiated the first triage system of treatment, sending the most injured soldiers to the hospital ships first. Doubtless this meant that countless lives were saved. She even received praise from Abraham Lincoln. She also established nursing programmes to train the hospital volunteers. When a hospital ship was sent to an incredibly bloody battle, prominent surgeon George Curtis Blackman personally selected Sister Mary Anthony to serve as his chief assistant. Not deterred by the harsh realities of war, she took to the body strewn battlefield, giving comfort to the injured men and identifying those most in need of urgent care. She became known as the Angel of the Battlefield. 

As Sister Mary Anthony's noteriety grew, she was able to persuade the Catholic Church to increase the numbers of nuns they sent for medical training. In recognition of her efforts and skills, the Church assigned her to the United States Army of the Cumberland. There she once again showed her worth as she tended to the sick and the injured soldiers, as well as nursing escaped slaves back to health, many of whom had contracted smallpox. 

Even in times of peace Sister Mary Anthony continued to work to the betterment of the poor and the sick. 

Sister Mary Anthony died on the 8th of December 1897. Crowds of mourners filled the Cathedral to bid her a final farewell. Her lifetime of dedication to nursing the sick and injured and caring for the poor earned her the moniker, 'The Irish Nightingale of the Civil War'.