With the inheritance she bought a property in an affluent part of Dublin, where she was determined to bring the needs of the poor to the attention of her wealthy neighbours.

[citation needed] Eventually McAuley and the other women who had joined in her work became a formal religious order taking the name Sisters of Mercy.

[citation needed] The work of the Sisterhood of Mercy spread throughout the world after McAuley's death, and her passion for education as a means of improving quality of life was always at the centre of the Sisters' activities, so that schools as far apart as Australia and North America bear the name of Catherine McAuley.

The same systems were recreated by the Cullenites in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa – Also colonised countries of the British Empire.

Red House is 'romero' In Doncaster, a convent of the Sisters of Mercy was established in 1887, and the original Catholic school was founded.