Franciscan Missionaries of Mary
| Abbreviation | F.M.M |
|---|---|
| Type | Roman Catholic religious order |
| Location |
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Superior general
|
Sister Suzanne Phillips: 2008–2014 F.M.M. |
|
Key people
|
Hélène de Chappotin (Sister Mary of the Passion, F.M.M.), foundress |
|
Staff
|
6,698 (2011) |
| Website | www |
The Franciscan Missionaries of Mary are a Roman Catholic religious institute founded by Mother Mary of the Passion (born Hélène de Chappotin de Neuville, 1839–1904) at Ootacamund, then British India, in 1877. The Missionaries form an international religious congregation of women representing 78 nationalities spread over 77 countries on five continents.
Mother Mary of the Passion, a novice of the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix, a congregation dedicated to the training of women in the spirit of St. Ignatius of Loyola, had been sent in 1865 from France to the Apostolic Vicariate of Madurai in British India, which was under the administration of the Society of Jesus. They had been requested to help train a native congregation of Religious Sisters. After her religious profession the following year, she was appointed the Provincial Superior of the houses of the congregation in that country.
A dissension in the ecclesiastical Province which Mother Mary had previously worked to resolve arose again. As a result, 20 of the Sisters left the congregation, including Mother Mary. They gathered in a convent in Ootacamund, which Mother Mary had recently founded. They formed a new community there under the authority of the local Vicar Apostolic.
These women resolved to form a new congregation, and Mother Mary traveled to Rome that November to seek permission for this from the Holy See. She obtained this from Pope Pius IX on 6 January 1877, under the name of Missionaries of Mary. Unlike the instruction focus of the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix, the Missionaries would carry out a ministry of providing medical care to the women of India who were unable to receive it from male doctors, due to the practice of purdah, which strictly segregated them from contact with men. Mother Mary had seen the consequences and felt called to deal with the situation. As women themselves, they would have access to the parts of the home restricted to females.
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Wikipedia