34 Facts About Mary MacKillop

Mary Helen MacKillop RSJ was an Australian religious sister of Scottish descent.

Mary MacKillop was born in Melbourne but is best known for her activities in South Australia.

The process to have MacKillop declared a saint began in the 1920s, and she was beatified in January 1995 by Pope John Paul II.

Mary MacKillop was canonised on 17 October 2010, during a public ceremony in St Peter's Square at the Vatican.

Mary MacKillop is the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Brisbane.

Mary Helen MacKillop was born on 15 January 1842 in what is the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria, to Alexander MacKillop and Flora MacDonald.

Mary MacKillop's parents lived in Roybridge, Lochaber, Inverness-shire, Scotland, prior to emigrating to Australia.

Mary MacKillop visited the village in the 1870s where St Margaret's, the local parish church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Argyll and the Isles, now has a shrine to her.

Mary MacKillop began his studies for the priesthood at age twelve, and two years later went to the Scots College in Rome; he studied at Blairs College in Kincardineshire, but at the age of 29 left, just before he was due to be ordained.

Mary MacKillop migrated to Australia and arrived in Sydney in 1838.

Mary MacKillop's mother, Flora MacDonald, born in Fort William, had left Scotland and arrived in Melbourne in 1840.

Mary MacKillop was educated at private schools and by her father.

Mary MacKillop received her First Holy Communion on 15 August 1850 at the age of nine.

In February 1851, Alexander Mary MacKillop left his family behind after having mortgaged the farm and their livelihood and made a trip to Scotland lasting some 17 months.

Mary MacKillop started work at the age of 16 as a clerk in a stationery store in Melbourne.

Mary MacKillop stayed for two years with the Camerons before accepting a job teaching the children of Portland, Victoria in 1862.

Mary MacKillop clashed with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Brisbane, James Quinn, over the control of the many schools she established; Mary MacKillop believed the sisters should control the schools while Quinn believed the diocese should control them.

Father Horan met with Sheil on 21 September 1871 and convinced him that the Josephites' constitution should be changed in a way that could have left the Josephite nuns homeless; the following day, when Mary MacKillop apparently did not accede to the request, Sheil excommunicated her, citing insubordination as the reason.

Mary MacKillop travelled to Rome in 1873 to seek papal approval for the religious congregation and was encouraged in her work by Pope Pius IX.

Mary MacKillop relocated to Sydney in 1883 on the instruction of Bishop Reynolds of Adelaide.

When Mary MacKillop returned to Australia in January 1875, after an absence of nearly two years, she brought approval from Rome for her sisters and the work they did, materials for her school, books for the convent library, several priests and most of all, 15 new Josephites from Ireland.

On 31 May 1886, Mary MacKillop's mother, Flora MacKillop was travelling from Melbourne to Sydney in the SS Ly-ee-Moon, to visit Mary and another daughter who was a nun.

Mary MacKillop continued her work for the Josephites in Sydney and tried to provide as much support as possible for those in South Australia.

In 1883 the order was successfully established at Temuka in New Zealand, where Mary MacKillop stayed for over a year.

Mary MacKillop wrote letters of support, advice and encouragement or just to keep in touch.

Mary MacKillop founded a convent and base for the Sisters of St Joseph in Petersburg on 16 January 1897.

Mary MacKillop was accompanied by fellow Sisters Benizi, M Joseph, Clotilde and Aloysius Joseph.

Mary MacKillop developed rheumatism and after a stroke in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1902, became paralysed on her right side.

Mary MacKillop died on 8 August 1909 at the Josephite convent in North Sydney.

In 1925, the Mother Superior of the Sisters of St Joseph, Mother Laurence, began the process to have Mary MacKillop declared a saint and Michael Kelly, Archbishop of Sydney, established a tribunal to carry the process forward.

The process for Mary MacKillop's beatification began in 1926, was interrupted in 1931 but began again in April 1951 and was closed in September of that year.

Mary MacKillop was the subject of the first of the "Inspirational Australians" one dollar coin series, released by the Royal Australian Mint in 2008.

Mary MacKillop was posthumously inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.

The Mass of Mary MacKillop McKillop is a setting for congregational singing, composed by Joshua Cowie.