Frances Teresa Ball was born on 6^th January 1794, at 63 Eccles Street, Dublin to John Ball (silk merchant and wholesale mercer) and Mable Clare Bennett. In 1803, she like her sisters, was sent to be educated at the Bar Convent, York, England. Following the sudden death of her father, Frances Ball returned to Dublin in 1808. Dr Daniel Murray, Archbishop of Dublin, close family friend, and life-long consultor, patron and friend, supported her in her vocation, to which her mother was initially strongly opposed. On 11^th June 1814, she returned to the Bar Convent York, where she entered the novitiate. M. Coyney, Superior, Bar Convent, York agreed to accept Frances Ball, but insisted on a longer than usual novitiate (7 years), to train her for her return to Ireland to establish an independent branch of the Institute. Frances Ball was professed on 9^th September 1816, adopted the religious name Teresa and remained in York until August 1820.

M. Teresa Ball and two Irish novices, Ignatia Arthur and Baptist Therry, left Liverpool on 10^th August 1821, and arrived in Dublin on 12^th August 1821. The annals written by M. Teresa Ball, c. 1832 record their arrival in Dublin, and the establishment of the Irish branch of the Institute.

‘They immediately proceeded to St Mary’s Convent, Stanhope Street, where they were kindly received by the Sisters of Charity for nine months, which time was required to investigate the title to Rathfarnham House & Demesne; but the delay being protracted longer than was expected, with the approbation of the Archbishop they took a house at Harold’s Cross, to which they were induced from numerous applications for the admission of children into the establishment. They found a house convenient for their purpose next to the Poor Clare Convent, where they commenced the holy work on the 4th of July 1822. The day of their arrival two children entered the house, they could not admit more than 12 or thirteen, the house being very small, they were obliged to decline receiving more till the opening of Loretto House on the 4^th of November, the same year.’

(Rathfarnham House and 40 acres of land had been purchased by Handwritten annals Dr Murray for £2,300 in May 1821.)

On taking possession of Rathfarnham House on 4^th of November 1822, ‘the house was full of workmen, many improvements being found necessary to render it convenient for the purposes of the Institute.’ M. Teresa Ball, who had a great eye for architecture, searched for bricks to match those in the original building. She discovered that Dutch ships coming into Dublin used similar bricks as ballast. The third storey blended perfectly with those in the original house.

At work in the gardens

The grounds, like the house, were in need of much repair.

'The Demesne was a complete desert, there had been a walk around the back lawn, but no trace then remained of it. The weeds in the garden had grown six feet high and no sign of a walk could be discovered in them. The orchard was a bog, which by drains has been brought to its present fruitful state. The walls of the gardens were raised several feet, and the summer house was built in 1830.'

The sisters laboured together for the success of the community and school

On 5^th December 1822, one of the ‘frequent and violent’ storms struck. This storm was ‘greater than any that had been in the memory of many. All the windows in the house were shattered. The fine old trees on the left side of the front lawn were all torn up, except one, which appeared to have been miraculously preserved.....Had it fallen it must have inevitably destroyed the little Chapel. Young trees were immediately planted to replace those thrown down and the front lawn was adorned with evergreens.’

‘Few can form an idea of what was to be undergone, in organizing the house, training the Novices, instructing the Domestics, and endeavouring to satisfy the demands of parents. For nearly five years, Mass was never said at the same hour, the chaplain living till then, in Dublin, as his present habitation was not built until 1828.’