As Australia’s first Saint, Mary MacKillop is a highly significant figure for the Catholic community.
A woman who overcame excommunication to adapt Catholicism to an Australian context, she was officially canonised in 2010. The Sisters of St Joseph, the congregation that MacKillop founded continues her legacy today.
Garry McLean, the Chief Executive Officer of the Mary MacKillop Heritage Centre however believes that Mary is a figure who can be celebrated by all Australians, regardless of their religious beliefs. The well-publicised process of her canonisation brought her story and legacy into the public sphere and capitalised on Australia’s love of a home-grown hero enjoying success on the world stage.
The Heritage Centre is a shrine to the life and legacy of Mary MacKillop and the Sisters of St Joseph. Overlooking the Fitzroy Gardens on Albert Street, East Melbourne the centre was originally the providence that Mary established. The providence similarly to convents provided residence to the Sisters of St Joseph, but it also sheltered the poor and needy of Melbourne at the time.
Mary MacKillop was born in Melbourne in 1842 as the eldest of eight children of Scottish migrants and was required to work from a young age to help support her family who struggled financially.
She took up a job as a governess for the children of her aunt and uncle in Penola South Australia which put her into contact with Father Julian Tenison Woods. Father Woods encouraged MacKillop and a number of other women to make a commitment to educating the poor through forming a congregation which became known as the Sisters of St Joseph.
Mary understood the unique needs of rural Australia and knew that the established ways of running a congregation would not be successful in servicing and educating the needy in rural Australian communities. The Sisters did not serve to the standard practice of reporting directly to a local bishop because of these differing circumstances, instead preferring to identify areas of greatest need themselves and work independently. This inevitably put the Sisters of St Joseph into conflict with parts of the Catholic Church hierarchy. Such disagreements eventually led to the point where Mary was excommunicated from the Catholic Church, albeit only for a few weeks.
Throughout these turmoils the Sisters of St Joseph, led by Mary MacKillop, continued to build a network of schools, shelters and children’s homes, particularly in rural Australia where services were often severely lacking. Following Mary’s death in 1909, momentum soon developed for her achievements to be properly recognised.
The recognition of two miracles performed by Mary MacKillop satisfied that part of the criteria for canonisation.
Both of the recognised miracles involved the disappearance of a cancer of two women who both prayed to MacKillop. In both cases doctors could not offer any explanation as to how the cancers had disappeared. The canonisation of Mary MacKillop occurred on October 17th 2010, and according to Garry Mclean is highly significant to Australian Catholics as well as to the general population. He believes that everyone can celebrate Mary MacKillop’s legacy as a great Australian and the nation with a long and established Christian population can celebrate having its first saint.
The Mary MacKillop Heritage Centre has been developed into a museum dedicated to telling her story and also remains the place of residence for the Sisters of St Joseph, allowing them to continue her legacy. Accommodation on site does provide the Sisters an income to continue their work, but also in the spirit of Mary MacKillop it provides accommodation to those in need as they access services such as the Peter McCullum Cancer Centre and St Vincent’s Hospital.