Blue Sisters: The highly-anticipated new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Cleopatra and Frankenstein

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The Blue Sisters was the popu­lar name of the Little Company of Mary, which was a congregation of Catholic nuns. They ran Malta’s first private hospital, the Zammit-Clapp Hospital in St Julian’s. According to Sister Ester, the women living at the shelter vary in age and with regard to their level of trauma. By 1922, the Little Company of Mary congregation had grown large enough to establish provinces with regional provincials. The four provinces were Australasia, England, Ireland and Italy. [7] Modern day [ edit ] Rachel McMillan began to lodge at the house, then in Kent, in 1895, while working for the county council. Margaret joined her in 1902, earning her living by lecturing for the Ethical Society and Workers’ Educational Association. She continued to write, and books such as Education through the Imagination (1904) brought her to international attention. The author also had a small finger in the pie when, as a young lawyer, he was asked by Bonello to research a particular aspect of the test of reasonableness in English Common Law. He relates how he rushed to the university library to research the matter and recalls his excitement when he came across valid material that would help in the issue.

Margaret had long argued that it was impossible to educate a hungry child and her work contributed to the passing of the Education (Provision of School Meals) Act in 1906. Both sisters led a deputation to Parliament in 1907, leading to the compulsory medical inspection of school children. Throughout the book, Borg remains faithful to his goal expressed in the foreword: “The aim of this book covers not only the legal aspects of the saga but also the factual and political side of things.” The sisters help some women cope with AIDS, and others to raise their children, many of whom were conceived in rape. According to Sister Ester, "the connection with their children, surprisingly, is a significant part of the healing process, and not part of the trauma, as some tend to believe." Borg glides through the law with ease, cutting through brambles and explaining without unnecessary verbal excursions. The story is a sad one. I remember it well, but reading the book made me recall and understand better what had happened.They were founded three decades ago in southern Sudan, and named the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary. But in a region dramatically affected by the South Sudanese civil war, they are usually known by the bright colour of their habits. To most who know them, they are the “Blue Sisters.” They started their mission in 1911 when Emilia Zammit, wife of Henry Clapp, donated to the government of Malta a hospital that she had built at her own expense.

In 1980, the government introduced the need for a licence to run a hospital. Sur­prisingly, a condition was introduced in the Blue Sisters Hospital licence that at least one-half of the hospital beds were to be made available to the National Health Scheme. The sisters opposed it. Apart from the fact that it would have been impossible to resolve financially, this would have negatively affected their original contractual obligation to manage the entire hospital. Ranojeet Baroi, 28, has been teaching in this school for almost two years since graduating. He and his three siblings were all students at St. Mary's Infant School. Mr Justice Joseph Herrera delivered a landmark decision favouring the Blue Sisters. The judgment discussed the concept of reasonableness and the claim by public authorities of unfettered discretion in great depth.

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In 1882, they went to Italy. Mary Potter had gone to gain approval for the constitutions of her new congregation, and while there she established Calvary Hospital on the Via Santo Stefano Rotondo, not far from St. John Lateran. [5]

The counsel for the government did not agree with such a strong direction from the court and insisted on continuing the case as originally filed. But the government filed a new action the following day along the lines suggested by the president of the court himself. It was, indeed, a ground-breaking judgement, valiant and audacious in the face of executive arbitrariness, a judgement which was met with even more arrogance by the government authorities.” The sisters help some women cope with AIDS, and others to raise their children, many of whom were conceived in rape. According to Sister Ester, “the connection with their children, surprisingly, is a significant part of the healing process, and not part of the trauma, as some tend to believe.”

In 2011, South Sudan became an independent country, but in in December 2013, President Salva Kiir Mayardit accused his former deputy Riek Macho of attempting a coup, unleashing a civil war that Pope Francis himself has tried to stop by inviting both leaders to a recent spiritual retreat at the Vatican. The conflict has generated more than 1.5 million displaced people. Rachel and Margaret McMillan were born respectively in 1859 and 1860 in New York State to Scottish parents. They moved to Scotland on the death of their father in 1865 and were educated in Inverness. Rachel then taught at a ladies’ college in Coventry but left to nurse her grandmother. Margaret, meanwhile, completed her education in continental Europe and embarked on a career as a governess. The McMillan sisters set up the country’s first school clinic in Bow, East London, in 1908. This closed within two years, but paved the way for their clinics at 3 Deptford Road, Greenwich (1910), and at 353 Evelyn Road, Deptford (1911), which treated some 6,000 children a year. The education that I got in our school is not in other schools, the care of the teachers is not in other schools. If we could not do something, the teachers would teach us again and again. My success has been possible because of studying in this school," Ali told GSR.

In 1893, three Little Company of Mary sisters arrived in Chicago to begin their ministry in the United States, providing home-based hospice care. In 1930 Little Company of Mary Hospital was founded in Evergreen Park, Illinois. [8] [9] As of 2019, there were sisters working in California, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Their healthcare ministries include hospitals, home care, hospice, extended care, and outreach programs. The need for properly qualified teachers led to the establishment of a training college for nursery nurses and teachers, which Margaret started in 1918. A new Rachel McMillan Training College was opened in Deptford by Queen Mary in 1930. Ali said there are many schools in the vicinity, but he sent his son to this school up to grade three and later admitted him to an outside school. Around 150 children from the slums are now students at the school.By 1927, the expanded nursery school accommodated 350 children and provided for large classes to be taught all year round in the open air under shelters, built around a garden. The Medical Officer of Health for the London County Council noted that year that the school’s records showed ‘conclusively the beneficial results of the regime there, associated as it is with good food, fresh air, cleanliness and medical treatment on diseased and debilitated babies’. The Little Company of Mary is currently present and operational in Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Ireland, Italy, South Africa, South Korea, Philippines, United Kingdom, United States of America, and Zimbabwe. [4] They continue to assist in healthcare in these countries, as well as praying and accompanying them during their illness.