Her Legacy
Mary Virginia Merrick, “Miss Mary” as many called her, was born into a very unstable period in America, shortly after the end of the Civil War. At the time the city of Washington had many pockets of extreme poverty and was a segregated city that offered few opportunities for the poor to better their lives. A quote from the book, The Early Years of the Christ Child Society tells the story: “It is difficult to realize the extreme poverty existing in the 1880’s and 90’s. There were slums, unpaved streets and alleys, and many destitute and scantily clothed children. With such a wide field to cover, it was almost impossible to discover where help was most needed.”
What began as her personal act of charity, first gathering her family and friends to make a baby layette for a baby due to a poor family, then providing Christmas gifts for 17 poor children in 1884, grew into a local charity in 1887. Just a few years later the Christ Child Society became a national organization and chapters began forming in other cities. Today, the National Christ Child Society has 44 chapters across the United States, all serving children and families in need based on needs in their own communities. In 2024 alone its members served 100,000 children and their families, distributed 1.2 million diapers, gave away 135,000 books and delivered 25,700 layettes for under-resourced newborns. The Christ Child Society’s impact are truly manifold fruits from such humble beginnings.
Mary’s leadership of the Christ Child Society was visionary. In the early years of the Christ Child Society there were very few organized opportunities for the laity to serve the poor and the church, but Mary Virginia Merrick believed firmly in the importance of lay women and men serving the poor and thus she founded a Society that has now allowed thousands to do so for the past 138 years.
To Mary, it was very important that The Christ Child Society’s volunteers engage in charitable work and by doing so thus encounter Christ in the poor they serve, as Mary herself encountered Christ in the poor. She encouraged her members to “See the Christ Child in every child served” and she established the Society’s motto “Laborare est orare” (To work is to pray). She was an early pioneer of a lay apostolate, and she believed firmly in the importance of lay action in the service of the Catholic Church.
Mary was an early supporter of the establishment of the School of Social Work at Catholic University, because she saw need for this new profession in order most effectively to meet the various needs of the poor. Dedicated to the well-being of the “whole child” well before this approach was common, Mary also was strategic about making sure that the Christ Child Society did not duplicate the efforts of other community organizations, saying: “Find a need and fill it” and “Go only to untilled fields”. In this way, she ensured that Christ Child chapters might have significant local impact. Over her long life of service—she remained the National Christ Child Society president until 1945 and remained active in the Society until she died in 1955--she also encouraged the membership to continue to evolve its programs with the changing needs of their communities.
As a young girl she had everything that the world prizes, she was born of privilege to prominent and socially conscious parents who loved her very much. She lost everything she cared about, when after a fall she became confined for the rest of her life to being in a recumbent position in bed or in a spinal carriage, and later in a recumbent wheelchair with the aid of a heavy metal spinal brace. This incident in Mary’s young life ended her early dream of becoming a Daughter of Charity. Then, at eighteen, Mary lost both of her parents to illness, within 15 days of each other, and she became responsible for the care and education of 6 of her underaged siblings. Mary most certainly lived a heroic life of faith and virtue, even as she battled with her own personal suffering, first resolving every day “to do something for the Christ Child” and then establishing the Christ Child Society while still in her teens. Her perseverance to help children, despite her long life of pain and diminished abilities, was truly extraordinary.
What an example Mary is for us in today’s world, as she refused to be cast aside by society due to her physical handicap. She serves as a model of how one can follow Christ, despite one’s physical limitations.
Her Living Legacy: The National Christ Child Society
The National Christ Child Society was founded by Mary Virginia Merrick in Washington, DC, in 1887, to serve children in need.
Today, 5,000 volunteers in 44 chapters across the United States continue her legacy of service to children in need.
Some of the services provided by National Christ Child Society members today include: infant layettes (including member-made items), literacy and empowerment programs, hygiene and school supplies kits, and residential services. Our founder continues to inspire our work.
How she inspires us today
Patty Myler, Historian and NCCS Past President
“I was fortunate to grow up in the parish where MVM lived for the last 35 years of her life and as a young child, when I was about 8 or 9, I was at Mass on several occasions when she had been wheeled up to Church to attend Sunday Mass, it was obvious how all felt about her holiness by their demeaner on those occasions, they seemed to sit up straighter, sing louder and pray harder! It was obvious that we were in the presence of a “Holy Woman”!”
Molly Fanning,
NCCS Past President and Past President of the Christ Child Society of Columbus
“I think how charismatic she must have been in communicating her mission considering she inspired so many people to be her hands and feet as programs were developed to serve the people in DC and as chapters expanded across the country. When I think about her constant pain and discomfort I am inspired by her perseverance in the face of that. It is truly a miracle living in the days before aspirin, antibiotics and effective pain medications that she survived for such a long and fruitful life.“
Maureen Wesley,
NCCS Past President and Past President of the Christ Child Society of Detroit
“We have so often heard that she vowed to do something everyday for the Christ Child. This was a promise she kept. To me what makes the Christ Child Society unique is centered in her deep spirituality. Many organizations do amazing service to children but Mary Virginia Merrick originated this service by seeing each child as the Christ Child. What greater value can be placed on the life of a child?”
Carol Pickle, President of the Christ Child Society of Denver, Past NCCS President, and Past President of the Christ Child Society of Pasadena
“The Pasadena Chapter developed a program called “The Christ Child Treasures” – in which we would teach self esteem and manners to 5th grade girls and boys. At the first lesson, we showed the kids a Mary Virginia Merrick video. After the movie we asked for any questions. Hands shot up! ‘What happened to her to make her have to stay in a wheelchair?’ ‘How could she do all that she did when she was in so much pain?’ ‘Wow…she really was a great lady – how come we haven’t heard about her before?’ I then saw Mary Virginia Merrick through the eyes of a child, and I realized that it was as it was and is supposed to be because Mary saw the Christ Child in every child.”
Anne Kelley,
Past NCCS President, Past President of the Christ Child Society of Monterey Bay
“I am always inspired by her words. She was tireless and the story is she was still working on Washington chapter meeting agenda when she had her fatal stroke. I can believe it; she worked so hard and so long to help children! In her own words: ‘Let not a day pass without having learned something, without having overcome yourself in something, without having performed a kind act, without having accomplished for something.’ This inspires me to give my all.”