Sister Mary Teresa Cullen also known as Sister Mary of Charity (27 August 1866 – 7 July 1940) was an Irish

Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul The Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul ( la, Societas Filiarum Caritatis a Sancto Vincentio de Paulo), commonly called the Daughters of Charity or Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent De Paul, is a Society of Apostoli ...

nun and founder of the magazine ''Virgo Potens''.

Early life and family

Mary Teresa Cullen was born on 27 August 1866. Her parents were Elizabeth (née Leonard) from

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...

and Hugh Cullen, of

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Her paternal grand-uncle was Cardinal Paul Cullen, and she had 2 paternal cousins in the priesthood, E. J. Cullen and Paul Cullen. She attended the Sacred Heart convent,

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, in the Putney SW15 postal district, and takes up a far western strip running north to south of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large council house estates and is home to the U ...

, and entered the Daughters of Charity on 27 April 1887. During this time she studied at St Vincent's, Carlisle Place, London. She transferred to North William Street,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in 1892, where she took her vows. She had 8 siblings: Reverend Michael (1859-1940), Paul Mary (1860-1897), Hugh Joseph (1862-1908), Edward Mary (born 1864), Joseph (1869-1891), Elizabeth (1871-1898), Thomas Mary Joseph (25-27 January 1874), and Teresa (1875-1939). Elizabeth was also a nun in the same order, known by Sister Magdalen of Charity.

Career

Cullen was placed in charge of the schools of St Agatha's parish, Dublin in 1893, and by 1898 she had increased the number of students from 100 to 1000. In her teaching she used St Catherine Labouré as her role model for students. Cullen was a disciplinarian and did not allow for laziness in her students. She expanded the curriculum to include model drawing, cookery, house-wifery, and singing, learning painting and French herself so that she could teach the subjects. She took her older pupils to lectures in the College of Science and

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. Cullen also took over teaching history when the need arose. Her favourite phrase was "I mean to say, God gave you brains: you must use them". She was a supporter of the

Pioneer Total Abstinence Association The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart (PTAA) is an international organisation for Roman Catholic teetotalers that is based in Ireland. Its members are commonly called Pioneers. While the PTAA does not advocate prohibition, ...

, and was in charge of its supply depot. Cullen was working on North William Street during the

Easter Rising The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...

in 1916, and was struck by a stray bullet in the eye. It took her years to recover from the permanent injury to her sight, resuming her duties on North William Street in 1923. On 8 December 1923 she founded the monthly magazine dedicated to "the crusade of the miraculous medal", ''Virgo Potens''. It was a collection of fiction and religious reflections published under the motto "To Jesus through Mary", and was edited by Cullen. After her retirement in 1930 she moved to

Mill Hill Mill Hill is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is situated around northwest of Charing Cross. Mill Hill was in the historic county of Middlesex until 1965, when it became part of Greater London. Its population counted 18, ...

, London where she translated French and wrote an unpublished autobiography, ''A visiting sister in Eire''. Cullen used her own money to fund young men training for the priesthood and to pay for school equipment. She died in Mill Hill on 7 July 1940 and is buried at the cemetery there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cullen, Mary Teresa 1866 births 1940 deaths Daughters and Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul 19th-century Irish nuns 20th-century Irish nuns