Mary Baptist Russell

Mary Baptist Russell, RSM (18 April 1829 – 6 August 1898) was a Mercy Sister, nurse, philanthropist, and educator.

Biography Born Katherine Russell 18 April 1829 at Seafield in County Down she was the daughter of Arthur Russell and Margaret Mullan Hamill. Her father was a ship's captain turned Brewer. They had six children. Her mother had previously been Mrs Hamill and had already had six children from that marriage.

Russell was educated through both a governess and private schools in Newry. She was inspired by the Sisters of Mercy Convent in Kinsale who had taken up a mission of famine relief. Russell joined them by entering the convent on 24 November 1848, and on 2 August 1851 she had completed her profession. In 1854 Archbishop Joseph Alemany requested for Irish nuns to come to California. Nine nuns were selected and though young, Russell was chosen as the new mission's mother superior.

Personal life After leaving Ireland, Russell only returned once in 1878. She only saw one family member again, her brother, Charles Russell, in San Francisco in 1883. Russell began to suffer from strokes from 1891. She died 6 August 1898 in St Mary's Hospital.