The Diocese of Bathurst came into being in the same year. Because some Mercy Sisters had arrived ? established in Bathurst, it was decided by Archbishop Polding to invite Mother Ignatius to make a foundation in Sydney. The Bathurst Sisters withdrew from their recent endeavours in Bathurst and joined the Sydney foundation in the following year.

Mother Ignatius McQuain appears to be an extraordinary woman. With her companion, Sr. Joseph(ine) Doyle, she conducted a school, trained the novices, managed the financial and housing problems of the community as well as visited the sick and poor of the local Rocks area of Sydney. With some Sisters leaving, Mother Ignatius nevertheless continued the work. The Community’s first postulant, Sr. Stanislaus Read became her loyal support and the community rallied. Schools of fine reputation were conducted. The famous school at North Sydney, called Monte Sant’Angelo was founded in the 1870’s. Later this convent served as the novitiate and mother house for the expanding congregation with its schools at Church Hill, Parramatta Pymble, Waterloo and in 1891 the Mater Misericordiae Home for Girls, Other schools were established in the Sydney suburbs of Erskineville, Rosebery, Redfern, Chatswood, Mosman and Watsons Bay, a foundling home at Waitara. Early this century the Congregation began what was to become a highly regarded Sydney Hospital, the Mater (Misericordiae) in North Sydney.

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