Sister Ursula Mattingly, SC (23 October 1808 – 1874) was a Roman Catholic religious sister, nurse, and hospital administrator. A member of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, she is best remembered for her role as foundress of Sisters of Charity Hospital in Buffalo, New York. She has been called "one of the most successful and experienced hospital nurses in the country." Biography Early life and career Honora Mattingly was born in Maryland on 23 October 1808. She entered the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph (now known as the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul) on 10 October 1830. When she was clothed with the habit, she took the religious name Ursula. Her early assignments included the Baltimore Infirmary, the Philadelphia Almshouse, the Maryland Hospital for the Insane, and multiple orphanages. Founding Sisters of Charity Hospital In 1847, John Timon, CM, the first Bishop of the Diocese of Buffalo saw the lack of an organized healthcare system in the City of Buffalo, and the additional issue of a Protestant-dominated medical field. He traveled to Baltimore in March 1848, seeking a religious order to administer the new hospital, and decided on the Sisters of Charity, based in Emmitsburg, Maryland, because they were founded by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American saint, and because they had much prior experience working with Protestants. On 3 June 1848, Sister Ursula and eight other sisters, Sisters Ann de Sales Farren, Hieronimo O'Brien, Anacaria Hoey, Clare McDurby, Mary Aloysia Lilly, Mary Eliza Dougherty, and Agatha O'Keefe, arrived in Buffalo. The Sisters moved into an unused brick schoolhouse and adjoining cottage that had been donated by Bishop Timon, which they outfitted with 100 beds and living quarters for themselves. On 1 October 1848, Sisters of Charity Hospital officially opened as Buffalo's first large healthcare facility, under the leadership of Sister Ursula. Protestant dissent Very little attention at first was given to the hospital originally, with The Buffalo Morning Express reporting the news simply by writing: "The city is well received in having a hospital for its own." But, issues arose, and the presence of the nuns was especially inflammatory among the Protestant populace. In a 2009 New York History Review article titled, "John Timon — Buffalo's First Bishop: His Forgotten Struggle to Assimilate Catholics in Western New York," Paul E. Lubienecki wrote: In antebellum America religious communities of women often