Our Lady's Hospice

Our Lady's Hospice & Care Services is a hospice with its main centre in Harold's Cross, Dublin and a specialist palliative care unit in Blackrock, County Dublin in Ireland.The Hospice provides specialist loving care for people with a range of needs from rehabilitation to end of life care.The Hospice was founded by the Religious Sisters of Charity, a congregation themselves founded by Mary Aikenhead.Our Lady's Hospice is commonly misspelt Our Ladies Hospice. The "Our Lady" is referring to the Mary, mother of Jesus.FoundersMary AikenheadMary Aikenhead (1787–1858) was born in Cork and was a member of the Anglican Communion until the age of 15 when she converted to Roman Catholicism. During her life she founded 13 houses around Ireland, all working for the poor, the ignorant, the imprisoned, the sick, the dying and the deprived. She established St. Vincent's Hospital, in St. Stephen's Green in Dublin in 1834, the first hospital in Ireland to be staffed and run by women. The hospital was the precursor of St. Vincent's University Hospital in Elm Park, County Dublin.Religious Sisters of CharityIn 1815, Mary Aikenhead founded the Congregation of the Religious Sisters of Charity in Dublin in response to the grinding poverty pervading the city. The Congregation's response to the needs of the people was inspired by their motto Caritas Christi Urget Nos, meaning The love of Christ empowers us.