Mother Mary MacKillop - destined to become Australia's first Saint. Keith checks on the progress of the beatification of founder of the order of St Joseph's in the Adelaide City region of South Australia
On the 8th of every month, Mass is celebrated in a modest but historic chapel in the grounds of St. Joseph's Convent in Kensington. And on August 8, 2009 it will be 100 years since the death of the Blessed Mother Mary MacKillop who is destined to become Australia's first saint.
The eldest of eight children, Mary was born into a poor but deeply religious family in Melbourne in 1842. It was at Penola, in the south east, where she was working as a governess that 19 year old Mary answered a call that would change her life forever… and change the very nature of education in Australia. In 1861 she met the local Catholic priest, Father Woods, who like her was appalled at the poverty and lack of education in country regions.
Sr. Marion Gambin, Sisters of St Joseph: "She came to Penola at the invitation of (Father) Julian Tenison Woods to provide catholic education because those children who were so poor, particularly the ones who lived in those remote country places didn't have that opportunity."
Mary opened her first school in 1866 and Penola became the birthplace of the religious congregation known as the Sisters of Saint Joseph. She came to Adelaide soon after and over the next few years the Josephite's care for the poor extended to 45 schools and charitable institutions across South Australia. The story of this remarkable woman is told at the Mary MacKillop Centre in Kensington.
Sr. Patricia Keane, Mary MacKillop Centre: "This exhibition tells the story of the social work here in south Australia. A lot of people know about the educational side of Mary MacKillop's work but this is the social work that began in Adelaide."
Here, we learn about the work of the Josephite nuns and their Rule of Life, which dictates they should 'never see an evil without trying to do something about it.'
Sr. Patricia Keane: "Mary is about much more than education. It was just amazing the number of groups of people that she helped. We have the orphanage, the children there that had no parents to care for them. We have the refuge were these young women that were unmarried, pregnant women as well as women from jail. We have the reformatory where girls were a bit too young to go to the jail - so there was just an amazing scope of people that Mary and the Sisters reached out to."
Sister Patricia runs regular tours of the many spots around Adelaide touched by Mary MacKillop but there's plenty to see just in the triangular block between Portrush Road and High Street in Kensington. The college bearing Mary's name is one of many that carries on the educational tradition. Saint Joseph's Convent houses the Order's administration centre and is home to the sisters and the humble Chapel next door? Well, this is sacred ground for the sisters. Built in 1876 it was the first dedicated 'Mother House' - home to Mary when she lived at Kensington for 11 years. (1872-1883) It was during this time that she endured one of the toughest periods of her religious life - excommunication from the church.
Sister Patricia: "The rule of the Sisters of St Josephs originally was that we had rather extreme poverty which meant we didn't own anything. And as a result of Mary's excommunication and some of the Sisters, not all of them, being made homeless, when Mary went to Rome to get the official approval for the Constitutions of the Sisters of St Joseph - one of the major changes was you must have one property to call you own so that never again will the sisters be homeless. Be literally kicked out on the street."
In nearby Queen Street, Norwood, more links with Mary's untiring work. The Women's Refuge, which helped hundreds of women in trouble, is now part of Saint Ignatius Junior School. And next door, Saint Ignatius Church. Here, the Jesuits stood by Mary during her 5 months in the religious wilderness.
Sister Patricia: "They knew the excommunication itself was invalid and there was no real ground for an excommunication to happen. So they, thank goodness, the Jesuits in their wisdom said we will continue to support you and told Mary have courage and things will work out in the end."
Mercifully they did and Mary continued her work in South Australia until 1883 before moving to Sydney where she passed away in 1909. She takes pride of place in the new Mary MacKillop Plaza next to Saint Francis Xavier's Cathedral in the city. Judith Rolevink's bronze stature appropriately depicts her holding hands with two children. She was beatified in 1995 and the world now awaits her canonisation. But as the as the theologians in Rome work through the process, for many, Mary already is a saint.
Sr. Marion: "Mary was a great Australian. And so I think the Canonisation is something not only for Catholics and the Catholic Church but something that will be significant for Australian people."
There was a hope that the Pope would announce Mary's her Canonisation on the 100th anniversary of her death. We understand it's not going to quite make it but she will become Australia's first saint - Saint Mary.
Sister Patricia conducts a number of tours around Kensington-Norwood and other parts of Adelaide, not to mention pilgrimages around the state and even interstate. Contact the Mary MacKillop Centre for more details or call in for a visit at Phillips Street, Kensington. It's open Monday to Thursday and the first Sunday of each month.
Mary MacKillop Centre
19 Phillips St
Kensington
Mon - Thurs 10am-4pm
First Sun 1.30-4pm
Ph 8364 5311Published 2nd August 2009
