Teresa Lalor

Teresa Lalor, V.H.M. (born ca. 1769, County Laois, Ireland; d. 9 September 1846, Washington, D.C.) was an Irish immigrant to the United States, and a nun, co-foundress, with the Most Rev. Leonard Neale, S.J., the second Archbishop of Baltimore, of the Visitation Order's first monastery in the United States.

Early life Christened Alice, she was born in County Laois, Ireland, the daughter of Denis and Catherine Lalor, but moved with her family to County Kilkenny as a child. Her childhood was spent in Ireland with her sisters. At her request, John Lanigan, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Ossory, made arrangements for her entrance into a convent of his diocese,

Moving to Philadelphia in 1797, she became acquainted with Fr. Neale, then the pastor of St. Joseph's Church in that city, and under his direction she devoted herself to works of piety and charity with a small group of associates. The group went on to open an academy for the instruction of girls.

Georgetown Fr. Neale was transferred in 1799 from Philadelphia, to become President of Georgetown College; she and her associates, the widows Mrs. McDermot and Mrs. Sharpe, also went to Georgetown, and were for a time domiciled with a small community of Poor Clares, exiled from France. Neale purchased a house for Lalor and two companions to open a school of their own, a house which stood within the grounds of the later Georgetown Visitation Monastery, the oldest monastery of the Order in the U.S. Sister Ignatia Sharpe died in the summer of 1802, after a long illness. In 1804 the Poor Clares were able to return to France, and Mother Lalor bought the house and land. They made corn bread from corn they raised, husked, and shelled before sending to the mill. a creek which emptied into the Potomac crossed the property. The sisters cleaned, salted and put up their own fish. They had a fine vegetable garden. They also saved the parings and cores of apples, and by boiling these made a sweet drink to vary the meager fare. Her remains, with those of Archbishop Neale, are interred in the crypt beneath the chapel of the monastery which they founded. She was a first cousin of Patrick "Patt" Lalor (1781-1856) (elected in 1832 as the first Catholic Member of Parliament for County Laois in two centuries)