women

Jean Donovan

Jean Donovan

April 10, 1953 - December 2, 1980
Missionary to El Salvador volunteering to feed the poor during the country's civil war
From Westport, Connecticut
Served in El Salvador
Affiliation: Catholic
Death: Raped and murdered by a military death squad
"I don’t know how the poor survive. People in our positions really have to die to ourselves and our wealth to gain the spirituality of the poor and oppressed."

Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O'Connor

March 25, 1925 - August 3, 1964
Author
From Savannah, Georgia
Served in Milledgeville, Georgia
Affiliation: Catholic
"What people don't realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross. It is much harder to believe than not to believe. If you fell you can't believe, you must at least do this: keep an open mind. Keep it open toward faith, keep wanting it, keep asking for it, and leave the rest to God."

Dorothy Day

Dorothy Day

November 8, 1897 - November 29, 1980
Journalist, Social Activist and Co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement
From Brooklyn, New York
Served in New York City
Affiliation: Catholic
"The mystery of the poor is this: That they are Jesus, and what you do for them you do for Him. It is the only way we have of knowing and believing in our love. The mystery of poverty is that by sharing in it, making ourselves poor in giving to others, we increase our knowledge of and belief in love."

Annie Armstrong

Annie Armstrong

July 11, 1850 - December 20, 1938
Missionary and Founder of the Woman's Missionary Movement
From Baltimore, Maryland
Served in Baltimore, Maryland
Affiliation: Southern Baptist
"The central figure of the world, the greatest man, the King of Kings, our Lord and Master came not to be ministered unto but to minister. In His incarnation, by the emptying of self, He grasped not at divine sovereignty, but service."

Lottie Moon

Lottie Moon

December 12, 1840 - December 24, 1912
Missionary to China
From Albemarle County, Virginia
Served in Penglai, China and later in the areas of P'ingtu and Hwangshien
Affiliation: Baptist
"How many there are ... who imagine that because Jesus paid it all, they need pay nothing, forgetting that the prime object of their salvation was that they should follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ in bringing back a lost world to God."

Phoebe Palmer

Phoebe Palmer

December 18, 1807 - November 2, 1874
Evangelist, Writer and Founder of the Five Points Mission in 1850, a mission to the slum area in New York City
From New York City
Served in New York City, New York
Affiliation: Methodist
"God's time is now. The question is not, ‘What have I been?’ or ‘What do I expect to be?’ but, ‘Am I now trusting in Jesus to save to the uttermost?’ If so, I am now saved from all sin."