In 1965 a community of religious women with a unique dedication came to Western Pennsylvania. The Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm were invited to the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown by Bishop J. Carroll McCormick; for more than 40 years they have served at Garvey Manor in Hollidaysburg.”

The foundress of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, Mother Angeline Teresa McCrory, born in Northern Ireland in 1893 and raised in Scotland, began her religious life as a Little Sister of the Poor. She was sent on mission to the United States in 1915, serving successively in Brooklyn, Pittsburgh, and the Bronx.

Her initial motivation for joining the Little Sisters of the Poor (“It was my strong love for old age and its infirmities that influence me”) was to lead her to a deepening of her vocation to care for the aged and infirm when in 1929, she and six companions began a new foundation to be known as the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm. Though they deeply loved their vocations as Little Sisters of the Poor, the seven Sisters had vision of care for the elderly that would respond to the culture of the United States, celebrating American holidays, making their facilities more homelike, and providing a place of care for those with the means to pay. Because of the French Motherhouse of the Little Sisters of the Poor at that time disagreed with such innovations, Mother Angeline Teresa and her Sisters, supported by Cardinal Patrick Hayes of New York, opened a home of their own that would embody their dream of providing holistic care for the elderly.

During her long tenure as Mother General and in the years leading up to the Mother Angeline Teresa’s death on her 91st birthday, January 21, 1984, the community opened 59 foundations. At present, they serve in 25 homes in nine states, and in a home in Dublin, Ireland.

Mother Angeline Teresa’s love for the elderly is reflected in the community motto: “The difference is love.” This is lived out at Garvey Manor, sponsored jointly with the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, housed since 2003 in a modern, residential style 132 bed skilled nursing facility, and the adjoining Our Lady of the Alleghenies Residence. At the heart of the campus is Saint Joseph Chapel, enhancing the Catholic identity of the home.

For additional information on the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, please visit their homepage by clicking here.