Margaret Aylward

Margaret Louisa Aylward (1810-1889) was an Irish Catholic nun, philanthropist, and founder of the Sisters of the Holy Faith.

Early life Margaret Aylward was born on 23 November 1810 in Thomas Street in Waterford to a wealthy merchant family. She was educated by the Ursuline nuns in Thurles, County Tipperary. After doing some charitable work in Waterford in her early years, Aylward joined her sister in the Sisters of Charity in 1834 as a novice. She left the noviciate in 1836 and returned to Waterford to continue her charity work in a secular role. Aylward again attempted to join a religious order in 1846 when she entered the Ursuline noviciate in Waterford, however she left after two months.

Charity work in Dublin By 1851, Aylward had moved to Dublin where she was active in re-energising the Ladies' Association of St Vincent de Paul. This association was concerned with the 'temporal as well as the spiritual relief of the sick poor in Dublin.' The women involved in St Brigid's Orphanage organised themselves into a society called the Daughters of St. Brigid. However, while the establishment of St Brigid's brought Aylward closer to religious orders, historian Maria Luddy notes that in the 1850s, Aylward was not concerned with the establishment of a religious community, rather she wanted to 'live in a community of women who were united by their religious convictions but did not necessarily desire to take formal religious vows.' Archbishop Cullen of Dublin was an important figure in persuading leaders of religious communities of women, like Catherine McAuley, to formally organise as religious congregations in order to continue their charitable work and be respectable. While Aylward was resistant to this idea for a while, she eventually agreed. In 1857 the Sisters of the Holy Faith were established, and in 1869 the order were approved by Pope Pius IX. Matthews had been placed with a nurse in Saggart, County Dublin when her father had died and her mother had emigrated to the Bahamas. When her mother returned, Aylward was notified by Matthews' foster mother that she was missing.