Mary Angeline Teresa McCrory

Mary Angeline Teresa McCrory, O.Carm., (21 January 1893 – 21 January 1984), was an Ulster-born immigrant to the United States. She became a Roman Catholic Religious Sister who worked as an advocate for the impoverished elderly, founding a new religious congregation for this purpose, the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm. Her cause for canonization has been opened, and her life has been acknowledged by the Holy See as one of heroic virtue. She is honored by the Catholic Church as venerable.

Early life

She was born and baptized Brigid Teresa McCrory to a Scots Irish family in Mountjoy, now known as Brockagh, County Tyrone, in Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom. When she was seven years old, her family moved to Scotland. At the age of 9 or 10 on her own she changed the spelling of her name from Brigid to Bridget. In 1912, aged 19, she left home for France to join the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Roman Catholic religious congregation engaged in the care of the destitute elderly. She did her period of novitiate in La Tour Saint-Joseph, Saint-Pern, France where she was given the religious name by which she is known. After her profession of religious vows, she was sent to the United States.^[1]

In 1926, McCrory was appointed superior of a nursing home of the Little Sisters of the Poor in the Bronx, New York. While on a retreat the following year, she felt urged to do more for the aged under her care. She felt that the European model of the care of the elderly and many of the customs which the Little Sisters had brought from France did not meet the needs of Americans. In addition, she felt that caring for only the destitute elderly, as is the practice of the Little Sisters, was not sufficient, as old age strikes all classes of people, leaving them alone and frightened.

Care for all the elderly

Being unable to effect any necessary changes in her present situation, McCrory sought advice and counsel from Cardinal Patrick Hayes, the Archbishop of New York. The cardinal encouraged her in her work and suggested that she expand her ministry to include the aged throughout the New York City area. Eventually, this need was recognized throughout the United States. In order to accomplish what she felt called to do, and with the blessing of Cardinal Hayes, McCrory and six other Sisters withdrew from the Little Sisters of the Poor and were granted permission from the Vatican to begin a new congregation for the care of the aged, incorporating Mother Angeline's ideals.^[2]

Thus, though the formation McCrory received from her original congregation dedicated to the aged, she was now able to further develop this service with new methods. From the very start, the Carmelite friars in New York took a deep interest in McCrory and her companions. In 1931 the new congregation became formally affiliated with the Carmelite Order and was henceforth known as the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm.

Death

McCrory died on 21 January 1984, her 91st birthday, at the motherhouse of the congregation. She was interred in the congregation's cemetery at St. Teresa's Motherhouse in Germantown, New York.

She was fond of saying: "If you have to fail, let it be on the side of kindness. Be kinder than kindness itself to the elderly."^[3]

Legacy

At present, the Carmelite Sisters serve in 18 elder-care facilities around the country, plus one in Ireland.^[4]

Veneration

The cause for McCrory's beatification has been officially opened and her case is now being investigated by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the Vatican.^[5] It was started by a ceremony at the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center, where the Most Rev. Paul Gregory Bootkoski, Bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen, formally opened the investigation of a possible miracle on 18 May 2009 in order to consider evidence possibly leading to Mother Angeline's canonization.^[6]

The diocesan investigation is the first phase in a fact-finding church process designed to determine whether McCrory's intercession in Heaven resulted in a miracle on earth. Two verified miracles must be attributed to a deceased candidate for sainthood before he or she can be canonized.^[7] The miracle being investigated at the Diocese of Metuchen is one of those reported miracles that has been deemed worthy of investigation by a Vatican designee, called the Postulator, assigned to the case. The alleged miracle involves a family in the Diocese of Metuchen who prayed to McCrory to intercede with God after their unborn child was diagnosed with a genetic abnormality. After the child was born, the defect was not present to the degree expected.^[8]

On 28 June 2012, Pope Benedict XVI issued a decree formally acknowledging that McCrory had led a life of "heroic virtue".^[9] The next stage in the process would be for the Holy See to declare that a miracle had truly occurred through her intercession. If the miracle is verified, the pope can then beatify McCrory. If a second miracle is then attributed to her, she will be eligible for being declared a saint.

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