There was no idea then of founding a religious institution; McAuley's plan was to establish a society of secular ladies who would spend a few hours daily in instructing the poor.

Gradually the ladies adopted a black dress and cape of the same material reaching to the belt, a white collar and a lace cap and veil.

Archbishop Murray asked the Sisters of Mercy to declare their intentions as to the future of their institute, whether it was to be classed as a religious congregation or to become secularized.

In 1839 Mary Francis Bridgeman professed her vows and joined the congregation In the 10 years between the founding and her death on 11 November 1841, McAuley had established additional independent foundations in Ireland and England:[3] Tullamore (1836), Charleville (1836), Carlow (1837), Cork (1837), Limerick (1838), Bermondsey, London (1839), Galway (1840), Birr (1840), and St Mary's Convent, Birmingham (1841), as well as branch houses of the Dublin community in Kingstown (1835) and Booterstown (1838).

McAuley opened the first Convent of Mercy in England at Bermondsey on 19 November 1839 for the education of children and the visitation of the poor, sick, and needy.

[5] In May 1842, at the request of Bishop Fleming, a small colony of Sisters of Mercy crossed the Atlantic to found the congregation at St. John's, Newfoundland.

In 1860, St Catharine's Convent was founded in Edinburgh and in 1868, the English community established houses in Shrewsbury and on the island of Guernsey.

[4] Together with other nuns, six Bermondsey Sisters of Mercy, including Mary Bernard Dickson, travelled to Crimea to work under Florence Nightingale.

[7] At the request of the bishop of Mahikeng, Dr Anthony Gaughran, sisters came to South Africa to found convents there.

In keeping with their mission of serving the poor and needy, many sisters engage in teaching, medical care, and community programs.

[11] In 1869 Sister of Mercy Susan Saurin brought suit against her superiors accusing them of bullying, assault and imprisonment, and claiming £5,000 in damages.

The "Great Convent Case" opened at Westminster Hall with heightened press interest given Victorian antipathy to all things Catholic.

[12] The Daily Telegraph made a special publication on the "Inner Life of the Hull Nunnery Exposed" to cover the trial.

The report found that girls supervised by congregations or orders, chiefly the Sisters of Mercy, suffered much less sexual abuse but instead endured frequent assaults and humiliation.

"[16] In 2011, as part of their Sculpture Trail initiative, the Ennis Tidy Towns Committee erected a statue at the site of the old St. Xavier's Primary School, now the Clare Museum.

In June 1841, O'Connor was appointed Vicar General of Western Pennsylvania, and two years later, Bishop of the newly constituted Diocese of Pittsburgh.

[34] In 1858, Mother Mary Teresa Maher led a group of ten Sisters of Mercy to Cincinnati from Kinsale, Ireland.

[45] Mercy Health is an nonprofit Catholic healthcare organization in the Midwestern United States, and is headquartered in the suburban western St. Louis County suburb of Chesterfield, Missouri.