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3orn Catherine Rosamond FitzGibbon, she was an angel of mercy
to N. Y's destitute and discarded children. Her story* stricken with
influenza, the beautiful socialite daughter of a prosperous N.Y. family,
fell into a comatose state which the family mistook for death. As
burial plans were discussed, she sought divine intervention, praying
not to be buried alive. A vision of infants pleading for help came
to her and she revived just in time to prevent a tragic end to her life. k
Catherine joined the Order of the Sisters of Charity of St.
Vincent de Paul, becoming Sister Irene. At the age of 46, she and Sister
Teresa age 27, were given $5 and help of Sister Ann Aloysis,and,
an empty building on East 12th Street, to begin a new charity named
the FOUNTLING ASYLUM OF THE SISTERS OF CHARITY of the City of New York,
t
on October 11, 1869.^
The newly assigned dwelling needed much work preparing it to receive babies by January 1, 1870# The sisters set about the task of scrubbing and furnishing the house. The first evening the doorbell rang through the quiet hours and upon opening the door the Sisters found a tiny baby lying on the stoop. u
Mrs. Paul Thebaud donated the cradle in which the first baby was
Cr
placed and for / year^ infants were left without inquiry or observation.
Infanticide and abandonment of children was describedi Day by day the papers tell of human waifs thrown into areas, left on doorsteps, or far worse, flung lifeless into vacant lots". 0
Daily reports of police taking infants found in the street to '	the	Almshouse on Blackwell's Island to be nursed and cared for appeared
in the newspapers. Few babies survived. b
By 18?2 the crib was no longer placed outside the door where a mother might leave her child unseen. Now the mother was obliged to ring the bell, deliver the infant to the Sister in attendance, and agree to stay for 3 months. (Hint - no baby bottles). u
On Page 31 of the History of N.Y. Foundling Asylum by Dr. Alfred J. Vignec, the sisters mission was described, "Certainly the most satisfactory phase of the institute's work was the number of children returned
to their parents': ^
The first of the train adoption by the Sisters occurred January 1873. "Baby Specials" had to be chartered on trains to take them to