Sister Frances Warde

This marker honors Mary Frances Warde, the Irish nun who brought the Sisters of Mercy to America. Born in Ireland in eighteen ten, she was among the original Sisters of Mercy and became the foundress of the order in the United States. From Pittsburgh she led new foundations to Chicago, Providence, Manchester, and Bangor, and from those grew schools and hospitals reaching as far west as Omaha and California.

Her order's work later reached Cedar Rapids, where sisters taught and opened a hospital that grew into Mercy Medical Center. Mount Mercy University here carries her legacy too, in a building named Warde Hall. She died in eighteen eighty four, having planted an educational and healing tradition across the country that long outlived her.