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Mary Potter was born in London, England on November 22, 1847, the fifth child and only girl. As a child, Mary had a congenital heart disease and a lung disease, both of which left her in frail health. Although these conditions led her to have a cough for all of her life, she lived to the age of sixty-five and accomplished much in her life.
In her first year of life, her father left the family to work in Australia, never to return home again.
When she was 19, Mary was introduced to Godfrey King, a young man who had explored the Trappist way of life in the past. Mary and Godfrey got engaged, but after four months, Mary broke off the engagement. Perhaps part of this decision was the fact that Godfrey had given her religious books to read, and more and more, she realized an attraction to a religious vocation.
When she was twenty, Mary entered the Sisters of Mercy and became known as Sister Mary Angela. However, after eighteen months, Mary found the life too demanding for her and left.
Her spiritual life became more intense, however, and she became convinced that God was calling her to found a new religious order dedicated to caring for the sick and dying. The bishop of Nottingham, whom her brother George knew, gave his permission for Mary to start a religious community in his diocese, and the bishop even offered to pay rent for the first twelve months. So, on Easter Monday, April 2, 1877, Mary began her community with two other women. Their convent was an old stocking factory in a deprived area of the city.
The Sisters wore a simple black habit with a blue veil, leading many people to call them the “Blue Nuns.” Soon, the Sisters were feeding the poor, educating poor children, and visiting the sick and dying in their homes. The new community was named the Little Company of Mary.
Unfortunately for Mary, the bishop could not understand why Mother Mary Potter wanted her community to be both contemplative and active in nature. As a result, he deposed Mary as the superior and put another sister in charge.
In 1878, Sister Mary had two mastectomies within six months. One of the surgeries was performed on the kitchen table of the convent.
In 1882, Mary went to Rome and gained approval of her congregation’s constitution. She also established Calvary Hospital which is close to St. John Lateran Basilica, the pope’s church. In 1908, it was at the hospital that the Little Company of Mary established the first school of nursing in Italy.
As more bishops and others became familiar with the work of the Little Company of Mary, the order expanded to other countries. And in 1885, the first group of six missionaries from the order left Naples to go to Sydney, Australia to care for the sick, poor, and dying.
Mary Potter died in Rome on April 9, 1913. Pope St. John Paul II declared her a “Venerable” in 1988. Today, her order serves in Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and the United States of America.
