Audrea Warner introduces Australia's saint Mary MacKillop whose feast day is 8 August and who had strong relationships in New Zealand.

Mary Helen MacKillop is now known as Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop or Saint Mary MacKillop. She was the cofounder of the Sisters of St Joseph and a teacher, innovator and influential woman. Mary started a new religious order in Australia to have the capacity to meet the needs of the Church in rural areas. Her Congregation actively took the Church to the people and lived among them, often in twos and threes. Mary’s approach was viewed as unorthodox by some bishops and priests and she faced many obstacles. Nevertheless, her belief in the authenticity of her “call” and the support of many in the Church, as well as others, helped her persevere.

Mary MacKillop was canonised on the 17 October 2010, making her the first Australian-born saint. Her canonisation was the recognition of an extraordinary, faith-filled life. The New Zealand bishops wrote in their pastoral letter at the time: “Mary MacKillop is truly a woman for our time. Her holiness, powered by her deep love of God, together with her streetwise philosophy, make her a model of hope for all who grapple with doubt, misunderstanding and injustice. She brings us the gift of hope.”

Early Life

Mary’s parents, Alexander MacKillop and Flora McDonald, were Scottish Catholics who emigrated to Australia where they met and married. Mary was born on 15 January 1842 in the Fitzroy suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. She was the first of eight children.

Mary’s education was mixed — she attended a private school and was taught by her father. Her father saw education as an important part of his children’s lives. However, Alexander was unsuccessful in his business dealings and did not provide well for his family. This meant that Flora and the children were often without a home and reliant on the generosity of family and friends to survive.

As the eldest, Mary was aware of responsibility and hardship, and this undoubtedly influenced her later decision to dedicate her life to helping others. At the age of 14 she began working as a clerk for a stationer in Melbourne to help support her family, and by the time she was 16 she had begun working as a governess to the children of her aunt and uncle, Alexander and Margaret Cameron, who lived in Penola, South Australia.

It was during her time in Penola that Mary met Father Julian Tenison Woods. He became her friend and mentor and shared his vision for Catholic education in the rural areas. Mary began a little Catholic school in a renovated stable in Penola in 1866. Shortly after, when she was 25, Mary took her vows as a Religious Sister and became known as Sister Mary.

Other women joined her and they became the “Sisters of Saint Joseph”. The primary focus of the new Sisters was to educate children, especially in rural areas where there was no access to Catholic education.

From Penola, Mary moved to Adelaide and set up schools as other women joined her. The Sisters also established homes for children and seniors who had no other support.

Sisters of St Joseph in Temuka

The New Zealand connection began with Louis Fauvel, a French Marist priest who was the parish priest of Temuka in the South Island. Fauvel had met Julian Tenison Woods in Sydney in the 1870s and heard about the Josephite Sisters.

He wrote to Mother Mary 15 times requesting Sisters for his parish. "I write pretty long in advance to give you time to get the Sisters ready for St Joseph of Temuka. When our new church is opened, the present one will be transformed into a school. There is an acre and a half of good ground at the disposal of the Sisters. The actual presbytery (a 7-roomed house) will be sufficient, I suppose, to accommodate for a time our little battalion of St Joseph. [He requested at least five Sisters.] Trusting, Reverend Mother, that ... you will favourably incline your good heart towards my petition and grant it."

New Zealand had experienced an influx of immigrants of different social classes, Christian denominations and cultures. For many money was scarce, yet they yearned for a better life with purpose. Many English and Irish had settled on the farming land of the Canterbury Plains and Fauvel was keen to provide Catholic education.

Mary MacKillop’s Sisters were not the first Sisters of St Joseph to come to New Zealand. A few years earlier a little group had arrived from Perthville in New South Wales, and had already settled in Whanganui in the North Island. The Whanganui Sisters were a distinct group being under the authority of the Bishop not Mary MacKillop.

In 1883, three Sisters, Cala-sanctius, Raymond and Immaculata, arrived from Adelaide by ship to Lyttelton and by train to Temuka.

One writer described the arrival of the Sisters in Temuka, wryly noting: “A French priest beseeches Mother Mary MacKillop, an Australian nun of Scottish descent, to allow Australian Sisters, some of whom came from Ireland, to educate the children of a country community in South Canterbury of mainly English heritage.”

Mary MacKillop in New Zealand

Mary did not come to Aotearoa herself until 1894. She stayed for over a year, travelling to the 11 small Josephite communities in the North and South Islands, most of them in country areas. She visited New Zealand two later times.

Mary often worked alongside the Sisters and the communities who were supporting them. She negotiated with priests and bishops, keeping the Rule of the Sisters and the ministry of faith education at the forefront. It was not always easy for a woman to stand up to the clergy who had a different idea of how women Religious should conduct their lives. Even with these pressures, Mary found time to make connections — she was known to write to the children she met and joined in the concerts and parish picnics.

Mary's Spirit Lives On

Mary MacKillop was loved by her Sisters and respected by many in Church and society whose lives she touched. She lived her belief: “We must teach more by example than by words”. She began with little more than a vision and hope, faith and courage. But through perseverance and leadership she left a legacy that has been inspirational for many: “Never see a need without doing something about it.” She saw a need, and with Julian Woods and the early Sisters created the Josephites.

I have been inspired by her life. We need more love, trust, kindness and education in our world, especially in this time of pandemic, and we can ask Saint Mary MacKillop to encourage us in doing our bit to increase love and the inclusion of all people in our neighbourhoods, country and world.

Mary MacKillop died in Sydney on 8 August 1909. Her tomb is a pilgrim site in the Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel in North Sydney. 

Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 262 August 2021: 18-19