Mary goes to Ireland
April 21, 2024
To celebrate 150 years since Mary MacKillop embarked on her first overseas journey (March 1873 – December 1874), the Sisters of Saint Joseph share reflections and details from Mary’s travels to and from Europe – sourced from Mary’s letters and Congregational Archives. This is the final journey in the series.
Mary MacKillop went to Rome in 1873 to have the Rule approved – a task that took the best part of two years. Towards the end of those two years, Mary visited England, Scotland and Ireland hoping to find some women to come to Australia to join the fledgling Institute.
Mary MacKillop received revised Constitutions in Rome – 150th Anniversary
April 8, 2024
We commemorate the 150th anniversary of when Mary MacKillop received the revised Constitutions of the Institute (Sisters of Saint Joseph) in Rome on 21 April 1874.
In October 1867, Fr Julian Tenison Woods drafted the original Rules of the Institute of St Joseph, with the subtitle, for the Catholic Education of Poor Children. This was approved By Bishop L B Sheil, Bishop of Adelaide on 17 December 1868.
Mary MacKillop, Patron of our Diocese of Port Pirie
March 18, 2024
In the Diocese of Port Pirie in South Australia, there’s a beautiful well-kept graveyard, some seven kilometres out of Port Augusta, with the stunning Flinders Ranges as its backdrop. In good times the roses bloom and the kangaroos keep the lawn mowed and the grave-sites company. But on the area’s outer edge are the older graves of early pioneers – no roses or lawn here, just a few Blackbutt Eucalyptus, Weeping Myall and Saltbush surviving in red, sandy Earth.
On one side is a huddle of three graves, the centre on being that of Sister Laurencia Honner who died as a result of a fire on 11 May 1878, aged eighteen years. The local newspaper described her funeral at the time, the long line of buggies snaking out of town to Stirling North. Notably there is no mention of the grieving Sisters of Saint Joseph, her companions in this isolated, treeless town. Nor do they note the presence of Mary MacKillop who had made the arduous journey of some 350 kilometres by Cobb and Co and then buggy to Port Augusta to be with Laurencia before she died. If we were ever unsure about where Mary MacKillop walked, we can be sure her footprints are here at the grave of Laurencia.
Baptism of Mary MacKillop
February 22, 2024
Mary MacKillop’s parents, Flora McDonald and Alexander MacKillop, were married in 1839 and settled in Marino Cottage, Brunswick Street, Newtown, now called Fitzroy. The MacKillops, McDonalds and Camerons were among many Scottish pioneers of strong faith who worshipped at St Francis’ Church. It was to there as the centre of Catholic community life, that Flora and Alexander took their first child Mary to be baptised on 28 February 1842, as Maria Ellen, or Mary Helen.
130th Anniversary of Mary MacKillop’s first visit to Aotearoa New Zealand
January 24, 2024
Mary MacKillop’s first visit in Aotearoa New Zealand began from her arrival on 25 January 1894 and concluded on 8 March 1895.
The itinerary of Mary’s visit, ascertained from correspondence compiled by Sister Anne Marie Power, shows that some places were visited more than once.
Twenty-eight years on from the founding of the Congregation in 1866, Mary visited the Sisters in Aotearoa New Zealand. This was a visitation of the Sisters, many of whom had been sent from Adelaide and Sydney by Mary at the request of the bishops in New Zealand for teaching staff. The Sisters were in regular communication with Mary by letters and they were encouraged to write often. It must have brought great joy to see her again in person.
Beatification of Mary MacKillop Anniversary
January 18, 2024
My first impression goes back to the morning prayer held in St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney before the beatification, when Pope John Paul II came to officiate at this event. The presence of the pontiff at such a gathering was awe inspiring, with some of our Sisters able to meet him personally.
Mary MacKillop: Gifted and Graced
January 14, 2024
No doubt 15 January 1842 was a day of celebration for Flora MacKillop (nee MacDonald) and Alexander MacKillop and their extended family on the birth of their first daughter in Merino Cottage, Fitzroy, Melbourne. Mary MacKillop’s parents were Highland Scots, Alexander MacKillop arriving in Sydney in January 1838 and Flora MacDonald in April 1840. Father Geoghegan blessed their marriage on 14 July 1840 and baptised the child Maria Ellen, [1] known as Mary Helen, on 28 February 1842.
Christmas now, with Mary MacKillop
December 8, 2023
Christmas is near. With such joy, we celebrate the birth of a Child, a reminder that we are all children of a lavishly loving God who, in Jesus, chose to have no boundaries between divinity and humanity!
Following Jesus, Mary MacKillop lived in a way that held no boundaries around her love for God and her love for humanity. Love is love is Love.