Vocations
PrintThe call to be a Sister of Charity is an invitation to give your whole life to God as a companion of Jesus and of the Sisters who share this call.
Together we continue the mission of Jesus in the world, bringing the Gospel message of love and compassion to all people especially the poor and the marginalised.
Discerning my vocation
Every person is called by God to a particular way of life which, if lived faithfully and generously, will bring true happiness to themselves and others.
The call to religious life is one such pathway and is a gift offered to some people by God as the way in which they can best fulfil God’s unique plan for them. It is lived out in the context of the Church and of a particular religious congregation.
The congregation of the Sisters of Charity was founded by Mary Aikenhead in 1815. Her initial inspiration came from seeing the widespread poverty in the lives of many of the people living in Dublin. But up till then, women religious did not normally minister outside their convents, so Mary realised that a new form of religious life was needed.
With the help of her friend Archbishop Murray, she left for York where, under the guidance of the Loreto sisters, she came to value the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola. This led her to the conviction that the spirituality of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) was the most suitable for the congregation she was about to found. Returning to Dublin, and helped by her Jesuit friends, she developed the Constitutions of the Sisters of Charity, adding to the traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience a fourth vow: service of the poor.