Mary Martin (missionary)

Mother Mary of the Incarnation Martin, M.M.M., (1892–1975) was the Irish foundress of the Catholic religious institute of the Medical Missionaries of Mary.

She was born Marie Helena Martin in Glenageary, County Dublin, Ireland, then part of the United Kingdom, on 24 April 1892, the second of the twelve children her parents Thomas Martin and Mary Moore were to have. In 1904, while attending classes for her First Holy Communion, Martin contracted rheumatic fever, which was to affect her heart permanently. Tragedy hit the family on St. Patrick's Day 1907, as her father was killed in what was presumed to be an accidental shooting. Later her mother sent her to schools in Scotland, England and Germany, all of which she left as quickly as possible.

Upon the outbreak of the First World War, Martin joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment, a division of the Red Cross, and helped with the nursing of wounded soldiers brought back from the front. Her own brother, Charles, was soon sent to fight in the campaign of Gallipoli. In October 1915, she was assigned to work in Malta. Here she helped there for the thousands of soldiers being brought back from that battle. Learning that her brother had been declared missing in action, she sought to gain information about his fate from the returning soldiers. Learning little of use added to her stress and she began to long to return home. The family finally learned that Charlie had been killed in the conflict, dying of wounds received at the battle. She returned to Ireland in April 1916. While she was at sea, the Easter Uprising took place in Dublin, which was to lead to the establishment of the Republic of Ireland.

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