Mercy assumed responsibility for
St. Caroline’s Hospital, now named
Mercy Medical Center Redding.
Living space was again spare. A
tale recounts that the house was so
small that one of the sisters slept in
the bathtub!
In 1985, the Eskaton hospital in
Mt. Shasta needed new sponsor-
ship, and sisters began to serve in
the shadow of the mountain. Sister
Mary Baptist’s dream of service in
the farthest north of the state was
completed.
Why did these women make such
sacrifices? What drew them to
leave family and relative comfort
for unknown sites and hardships?
Letters they wrote reveal that
their strength was drawn from the
healing mission of Jesus, as well as
from the shared life in community
with other women drawn to that
mission. Sister Catherine McAuley,
the first Sister of Mercy, wrote,
“[God] knows I would rather be
cold and hungry than the poor…
should be deprived of any consola-
tion in our power to afford.”
Concern for the marginalized of
society impelled the pioneers. It
continues to motivate all employ-
ees, sisters and laypersons who
serve in the three hospitals in the
North State. When one’s job is
transformed into one’s mission,
then caring for others and living
out the Dignity Health core values
of dignity, excellence, stewardship,
collaboration and justice become a
source of energy.
So how can I continue my petty
complaints about a few long hours
on the road? I am in the company
of Sister Mary Baptist and her
companions. Enjoy the ride!
ABOVE: Sister Mary Baptist Russel
By Sister Anne Chester
When
traveling 250 miles to
Auburn for a meeting with other
Sisters of Mercy, I do enjoy the
smoothly banked curves of High-
way 5, but I complain about the
length of the trip. Then I remem-
ber another sister traveling a
similar route—Sister Mary Baptist
Russell. In the spring of 1857,
this well-educated daughter of a
middle-class Irish family climbed
into a stagecoach in Sacramento
for the bumpy, often dangerous
trip to Shasta County to assess
needs for the sisters’ services.
In 1871, a long train and stage-
coach trip brought Sisters of Mercy
fromNew Hampshire to Yreka to
open a boarding school. They dis-
covered only a piano in the house
“prepared” for them! The school
survived until the mining rush
slowed 10 years later. The sisters
moved on to Red Bluff, first to
start a school and, 25 years later, to
accept the donation from Elizabeth
Kraft to operate what became St.
Elizabeth Community Hospital.
In the late 1940s, the Sisters of
ABOVE: St.
Caroline’s Hospital
(built in 1907)
was located on
the corner of
Sacramento and
Pine streets in
Redding, Calif. In
1944 the Sisters of
Mercy Sacramento
assumed ownership.
MISSION
On the road
with a full heart
10
