Sister Anthony O'Connell: Angel of the Orphan, the Sick, the Wounded, and the Outcast

Sister Anthony O'Connell (1814−1897), a Sister of Charity, ministered in Cincinnati, Ohio, for sixty years. Typical of thousands of nineteenth century Irish Catholic immigrant women, she entered a religious community when she was barely out of her teens and spent her life serving in Catholic sponsored ministries. She distinguished herself by her intelligence, leadership, and uncommon virtue. In the footsteps of St. Elizabeth Seton, founder of her community, Sister Anthony poured out her life for the poor and needy in the spirit of her Rule that directed her to "render to them, in the name of Christ, every temporal and spiritual service in her power." She gained respect throughout Cincinnati for her work with orphans and her administration of the only Catholic and one of two major hospitals in the city, both before, during, and after the Civil War. Her work as a U.S. Army nurse in the Civil War brought her fame. After the war, recognizing the plight of unmarried women and their children born out of wedlock, she opened a foundling home, continuing her selfless generosity.