History
The Society of Saint Margaret was founded as a nursing order in 1855 by the Reverend John Mason Neale to care for the poor and ill in the countryside in Sussex, England. They also taught and evangelized as there was opportunity. This work was so original and exciting that many were drawn to support and join the Sisterhood. As the demand for the help of the Sisters grew, daughter houses were established in Aberdeen (1864) and London (1866).
In 1873, the Sisters of St. Margaret came to Boston to act as superintendents at Children’s Hospital. Not limiting themselves to the work of nursing, the Sisters established a School of Embroidery, an Altar Bread Department and a Parochial School in connection with the Church of the Advent. From the very beginning the Sisters did a great deal of visiting among the sick and the poor, including serving the hungry from the soup kitchen at the Church of the Advent. In 1881, the first long term work outside of Boston was established in Montreal where the Sisters had been nursing in an epidemic of smallpox. In time, other works were developed: in Washington, DC; Philadelphia, PA; Newark, NJ; Bracebridge, Ontario; Lexington, KY, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
In 1883, the Sisters moved to Louisburg Square on Beacon Hill, Boston. This location was used as a Convent and a small private hospital. It also served as a place for others to come for retreat and spiritual guidance, and the Daily Office and Eucharist were celebrated in our chapel.
The Sisters of St. Margaret began their ministry in Port-au-Prince in 1927. Click here to read the history of the Sisters ministry in Haiti.
When St. Monica’s Home, a nursing home run by the Sisters in Roxbury, closed in 1988, the community decided to move the Mother House from Beacon Hill to Roxbury. So the former St. Monica's was adapted for its new use as the Sister's center of operations and a new modern chapel was built. The community moved into the building in 1992.
In January, 2011, the Sisters put this convent on the market because the property has become too large for us. We cannot afford to remain here and are in the process of relocating our center of operations to Duxbury, a property that the Society of St. Margaret has owned since 1903. We will continue to have a presence in Boston. Several Sisters will live in a small residence in the city in order to maintain the important urban ministries with which we are involved.
Today, there are mission houses in New York City (Manhattan), NY, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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