Education, retreats, spiritual accompaniment and outreach programs.
In 1845, at Mgr Collier’s request, Mother Teresa Ball sent eight Irish Loreto Sisters to open the first catholic school for girls in Mauritius. The founding sisters were M. Austine Hearne, the leader of the group, M. Hyacintha Looney, her assistant, M. Francis Kelly, M. Camilla Mac Cormick, S. Raphael Ryan, S. Nativity Murtagh, M. Barb and S. Marie de Chantal.
The Sisters arrived on the 8th September 1845 in Port Louis harbour, after 3 months on board a cargo ship, ‘The ‘Reaper’.
Soon after their arrival, the sisters opened a boarding and a day school for young girls. As well as teaching a wide variety of subjects, the sisters nurtured especially the faith of pupils.
The beginnings were tough. The heat was difficult to bear in the religious attire of the time: black serge habits. There were also financial constraints.
The community was, on one hand affected by departures and death and on the other hand, blessed with new vocations. M Camilla and Sr M de Chantal, returned to Ireland in May 1846, only a few months after their arrival in Mauritius. However, in November 1846, Josephine Deville, the first Mauritian sister, joined the group. But within two years, death claimed the lives of two young Irish sisters, Raphael Ryan and Nativity Murtagh.
Providentially, more local vocations entered in the following years before other Irish missionaries arrived later.
Nowadays, the mission is carried out by a group of 22 sisters and many lay collaborators. Sisters reside in five communities spread across the island: they share life and prayer together as companions on the journey. Some lay collaborators expressed a desire to share the spirituality and charism of Loreto by becoming “Friends of Mary Ward,’’ a group now in its infancy but with promises of further growth.
The Loreto sisters in Mauritius are still very much involved in education. They manage seven secondary schools and two primary, with the help of committed lay collaborators. A continuous course in our charism and spirituality with the help of a Jesuit and a team of sisters and lay colleagues care for the formation of the teachers.
Faith and intercultural dialogue, care of the earth and concern for the needy are at the heart of the mission of the schools.
The Loreto Institute runs two spirituality centres where retreats, reflection days, formation in Ignatian spirituality and in our charism take place regularly for both adults and youth groups. Retreats for other faiths are also held in the centres. A well-equipped Mediathèque with up to date literature supports retreats and ongoing reflection.
The sisters are also involved in training in the spiritual accompaniment of the sick, catechetics, outreach programs, human and spiritual accompaniment of adults and young people, inter religious and interspiritual dialogue.
While there is a small number of sisters in the province, we are active and lively.
We pray to Teresa Ball who sent out our first sisters, and to Mary Ward our inspiration to intercede for vocations for our Province.
We are an international multicultural congregation of around 1,800 sisters present in more than 40 countries around the globe. Founded in 1609 by the Venerable Mary Ward, we are a group of unenclosed apostolic religious women, rooted in the Ignatian Spirituality.
We are working in different areas and projects – not out of ourselves, but because we allow ourselves to be sent by God. We form our sisters to be mobile and available, willing to go wherever they are sent. We expect them to strive, like Mary Ward, to have that inner freedom to respond to the call to leave all and follow Christ with passion and compassion.
“Vocation” – a word that tastes of MORE, of what Saint Ignatius of Loyola called “THE MAGIS”: Longing, meaning, fullness of life, a task and the experience of being needed. It sounds like someone who is calling me personally and with whom I can give my life a unique shape.
People all over the world are inspired and enthusiastic about Mary Ward and her way of following Jesus. There are different ways to join our network and become part of the wider Mary Ward Family.
Mary Ward once said: “I listened to God’s deep dream for me and felt a longing to respond.”
In this spirit, we invite you to pray with us. We offer a variety of prayers and material for reflection.
