Mary MacKillop

Mary MacKillop was born on the 15th January in 1842 in Melbourne Australia. Mary is to be Australia's first saint. The Catholic Church needs some more proof of her closeness to God before it decides to make her one. Her father had spent the family fortune, so the MacKillop's were poor. They had to rely on relatives to get by. Mary left home to work when she fourteen, only fourteen. She gave all of the money she earned to her family. By the time she was fifteen Mary had decided she was going to be a nun. She wanted to devote her life to the poor people.

In 1861 she went to work in Penola, a small town in south Australia. Here Mary met a Catholic priest, Father Julian Woods. They became close friends. Together they opened Australia's first Catholic school. At that time only the rich could afford schooling. Pupils were accepted weather their parents could afford to pay or not. Mary was a great teacher, and soon became very popular in the community. She still felt a religious calling, but Mary couldn't find an order that suited her. So she and Father Woods started their own, 'The Sisters of St. Joseph". She took a vow of poverty, which meant Mary and followers had to beg for money. ''She was certainly a century ahead of her time in her courage, in standing for what she believed in''.

In 1867 Mary moved to Adelaide and one other school. Before long there were 17 schools under her care, but the church leaders were annoyed by her independence. What Mary wanted was to have the nuns under her own rule, but the Bishop in Adelaide wanted her to abide by his rules. She didn't, and the Bishop became so angry that he excommunicated Mary, meaning he threw her out of the church. This was a terrible blow and Mary was devastated and very poor. She kept her faith though, and the next year the Bishop accepted Mary back. Although she could have become bitter, Mary never blamed the church leaders for their actions. Nowhere in her writings is there any record, showing any bitterness or any disobedience or aggression in relation to any of the Bishops.