Mother Mary Teresa Austin Carroll (born Margaret Anne Carroll; pen name, Austin Carroll; 23 February 1835 – 29 November 1909) was an Irish nun and writer who emigrated to the United States where she founded more than 20 convents.

Biography

Margaret Anne Carroll was born in

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

, Ireland, on 23 February 1835. Her parents were William and Margaret Strahan Carroll, and there were eight siblings. Carroll received most of her education at Clonmel National Model School. She entered the St Maries of the Isle Mercy Convent,

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

, in 1853, taking the name Sister Mary Teresa Austin in 1854; two years later she professed her first vows. Carroll aided in establishing an Order in

Buffalo Buffalo most commonly refers to: * True buffalo or Bubalina, a subtribe of wild cattle, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, a genus of wild cattle, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York, a city in the n ...

, Rochester,

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, under Mother Mary Frances Xavier Warde. She established

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

s in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

(1869),

Biloxi, Mississippi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It lies on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi, bordering the city of Gulfport, Mississippi, Gulfport to its west. The adjacent cities ar ...

, Florida,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

British Honduras British Honduras was a Crown colony on the east coast of Central America — specifically located on the southern edge of the Yucatan Peninsula from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony — renamed Belize from June 1973

, and was in

Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. Abou ...

in 1895. In addition to her office of Superior during these years, Mother Austin contributed to many periodical magazines, among them ''

The American Catholic Quarterly Review ''The American Catholic Quarterly Review'' was an American quarterly magazine of literature, politics, culture, religion, and the arts, founded in 1876 by James A. Corcoran and Herman J. Heuser. The journal was conceived as a forum for public d ...

'', ''Philadelphia Catholic Record'', ''

Catholic World ''The Catholic World'' was an American periodical founded by Paulist Father Isaac Thomas Hecker in April 1865. It was published by the Paulist Fathers for over a century. According to Paulist Press, Hecker "wanted to create an intellectual jo ...

'', '' Irish Monthly'', besides a large European correspondence. She passed through several severe epidemics. Though Mother Austin spent much of her life in Europe, her literary life was spent in the U.S., in which schools she attended and established played a special role. She founded more than 20 convents in the U.S. Carroll died on 29 November 1909 after suffering a series of strokes.

Selected works

* 1861, ''The flowers of Paradise : a select manual of prayer and instruction'' * 1866, ''Life of Catherine McAuley, foundress and first superior of the Institute of religious Sisters of mercy'' * 1867, ''Happy hours of childhood : a series of tales for the little ones'' * 1869, ''Glimpses of pleasant homes. A few tales for youth'' * 1869, ''Angel-dreams : a series of tales for children'' * 1872, ''By the seaside : a child's story'' * 1874, ''The life of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church, Founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer'' * 1877, ''Life of the Ven. Clement Mary Hofbauer, priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer'' * 1881, ''Leaves from the Annals of the Sister of Mercy. In three volumes : I. Ireland. II. England, Scotland, and the colonies. III. America. Vol. I. Ireland : containing sketches of the convents established by the holy foundress, and their earlier developments'' * 1883, ''Mary Beatrice and her step-daughters, the uncrowned and the crowned : an historical drama'' * 1883, ''The Tudor sisters, an historical drama'' * 1885, ''Scenes from the life of Katharine of Aragon. An historical drama'' * 1886, ''The Ursulines in Louisiana : 1727–1824'' * 1894, ''Life of Mary Monholland : one of the pioneer sisters of the Order of Mercy in the West'' * 1904, ''In many lands'' * 1905, ''The father and the son, St. Alphonsus and St. Gerard'' * 1908, ''A Catholic history of Alabama and the Floridas'' * 1911, ''The litany of the Blessed Virgin''

References

Attribution

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll, Austin 1835 births 1909 deaths 19th-century Irish nuns Irish non-fiction writers Irish women writers Irish emigrants to the United States Irish women children's writers Irish Roman Catholic abbesses Female religious leaders Irish women biographers Pseudonymous women writers 20th-century Irish nuns 19th-century Irish women writers Founders of Christian monasteries Women founders 19th-century pseudonymous writers People from Clonmel