History:

The Sisters of the Little Company of Mary was founded by Venerable Mary Potter in Nottingham, England in 1877 to provide a healing ministry, to relieve suffering, to stand in solidarity with those who suffer, and to be a sign of hope for people who are sick, dying and in need. The founding tradition of Mary Potter and her Sisters in the Little Company of Mary is to live in spirit with Mary on Calvary who stood by her dying Son Jesus.

The Sisters of the Little Company of Mary arrived in Australia in 1885, establishing hospitals, nurse training schools, outreach and other services to care and support those in need.

Our Story:

The names “Calvary” and “Little Company of Mary” are names that are part of the story of Venerable Mary Potter – Founder of the Little Company of Mary.

Mary Potter is responsible for imparting to us our particular expression of mission: We are to bring the healing ministry of Jesus to those who are sick, dying, and in need through “being for others”. Mary’s story, and those of the Sisters who followed her, is at the heart of “Being for Others” as expressed in Little Company of Mary Health Care today.

Her founding motivation – to live in spirit with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, who stood by her dying son, Jesus, on the cross of Calvary – ignited her dreams. Mary Potter believed in the value of the individual human life and the importance of hope to sustain the human spirit. Life was infinitely valuable. All creation was worthy of love and respect. Her own mission was to bring to all she met, an understanding of their essential beauty and intrinsic value. In 1877 she founded a Catholic congregation of women, the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary, whose primary ministry was to be devoted to the care and nursing of the poor, the sick and the dying, with a particular emphasis on prayer for the dying of the world. Interestingly enough, Mary Potter did not see that her Sisters would be the only ones to engage in nursing within the Catholic hospital situation. True to her inspiration that religious and lay people work together for the formation of the world in Christ, and that all are born for holiness, Mary Potter encouraged the participation of lay people in the hospital ministry. In order to achieve this, she began Nursing training programs - the first being in 1908 in Rome.

Who we are today, as Little Company of Mary Health Care has developed from the spirit and courage of those first women who came together in an
abandoned stocking factory in Hyson Green, Nottingham in the midlands of
England. Mary Potter and the early Sisters have been followed by many different women across the globe, committed to the service of all people, through prayer, presence and compassionate care. Over time, others also came to help: men and women who shared this commitment to the service of healing but who were not Sisters. Known as the Greater Company of Mary, they too, have a special place in our story. 

The Sisters of the Little Company of Mary soon spread their care across the seas and in 1885 six courageous Sisters left the industrial heartland of England to come by boat to Sydney.
Once in Australia, the sisters immediately set to work nursing the sick in their homes, conducting a soup kitchen and a night refuge, a school for the blind and a paris school and providing other social services to those in need.
In 1889, the Sisters founded what was to become Lewisham Hospital in Sydney.  In the space of a few short years, the Sisters and Lewisham Hospital developed a reputation for excellence in health care.  it also become the school of training for the LCM Sisters and once the Sisters completed their nursing training here, they moved to other areas throughout Australia to establish new hospitals and nursing training schools.  That reputation for compassion and care lead to invitations to serve communities across Australia, and the sisters responded wherever they could make a difference to the people of the area.  The service provided within the hospitals depended on the local needs but maternity nursing was always a consideration. Permission to assist women during birth was a unique role granted to the LCM Sisters in 1886 as a result of Mary Potter's petitioning and provided the sisters involved were of mature age.  Not until 1936 was approval widened to other religious sisters.  
From these humble beginnings, and with the desire to meet the needs of others, the Sisters started an approach to health care that was to expand and grow.  In a time when it was unusual for women to work outside the home, the Sisters with support and advice built hospitals, developed community services, negotiated agreements with governments, completed business training and accomplished many other community endeavours.  Why?  Simply because they believed, as Mary Potter did, that each person is unique and that they, and the services they founded, were called to meet the particular needs of each person as best they could.  There were many obstacles over the years but these courageous and resourceful women did what they could to meet and overcome these challenges.
Today, Little Company of Mary Health Care in Australia has just under 9,000 full time, part time and casual staff.