Potter, Mary

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POTTER, MARY

Foundress of the little company of mary; b. London, England, Nov. 22, 1847; d. Rome, Italy, April 9,1913. She was the daughter of William Norwood and Mary Anne (Martin) Potter. Her mother, an Anglican, was received into the Catholic Church in 1845, and her five children were raised as Catholics. Mary was educated in a small private Catholic boarding school. She showed no inclination toward the religious life until her early twenties when, convinced that God was calling her to a life dedicated to the sick and the dying, she broke her engagement to be married. Given permission to influence others in devotion to the dying and to bring together in community life women with similar interests, she founded the Little Company of Mary at Hyson Green, England (1877). Several of her writings have been published. Her cause for beatification has been introduced in Rome (Decretum super scripta, July 25, 1952, and Nov. 25, 1956).

Bibliography: p. dougherty, Mother Mary Potter (London 1963).

[m. k. couch]

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