Mary Potter

Mother Mary Potter (22 November 1847 – 9 April 1913) founded the sisters of the Little Company of Mary in 1877. On 8 February 1988, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her Venerable. Early life Mary Potter was born in a rented house at 23 Old Jamaica Road in Bermondsey, South London. She was the fifth child, and the only girl, born to William and Mary Anne (Martin) Potter. One of her brothers was the chess master William Norwood Potter. Mary Potter had a congenital heart and lung disease which left her in frail health, and with a permanent cough, for the rest of her life. Her father left the family home in 1848, went to Australia, and never returned, leaving his wife to raise the children by herself. When Potter was 19, she was introduced to her brother's friend, Godfrey King and became engaged. King, who had tried a vocation as a Trappist monk, gave Potter pious books. After about four months, she wrote to Godfrey to terminate the engagement, after the bishop of Southwark, Thomas Grant, suggested she seek her calling as a religious sister. Because of her delicate health, her mother suggested that Brighton would be a healthy place for her to go.