MacKillop, Mary

Fast Facts

Type of person	Individual
Date of birth	1842
Place of birth	Melbourne
Principal occupation	Nun
Date of death	1909
Place of decease	Sydney

Mary MacKillop was only 27 when she visited Willunga in 1869. She had taken the name of Mary of the Cross after indicating her intention to live the religious life three years previously.

The parishioners of Willunga had worked unsuccessfully to establish a Catholic school in the town, but it was with the help of the newly formed Catholic Education Council that the purpose built schoolroom was erected and opened in 1868. The Council, whose Director General was Father Julian Tenison Woods, relied on Mary and her small group of Sisters of Saint Joseph to staff the new school.

At a time when there were only 10 sisters in the Institute, Sr Agatha Nolan, Sr John Baptist Fitzgerald and, later, Sr Laurence O’Brien came to Willunga to establish the school. Knowing from her own experience that the nuns’ situation could be trying, Mary was anxious for her sisters in such isolated schools but, as Fr Dowling recollected in 1909, they had ever the kind heart of Mother Mary to turn to for encouragement…..Mother Mary told me how anxious she was for the comfort of the sisters, working so hard and bearing so little (SA Register, 8 Sept 1909, p.5).

Sr Tersa Eichoff’s letter to Mary MacKillop from Willunga in 1881 certainly illustrates their loving sisterhood…Fr Esser is very sick. I think he has lumbago. Do you know a cure for it? (Jackson 1986)

Mary told her mother that the events surrounding her excommunication by Bishop Shiel in 1871 had made her much older in many things. She believed that they have strengthened me for still weightier cares than I have yet had. (Modystack 2011). During this 5 month period, the nuns were not allowed to wear their habits. It is not clear whether they continued to teach at the Willunga school or not.

As Mary travelled to Willunga in 1872, Father Peter Hughes, the Parish Priest, was sent by Bishop Shiel to meet her and lift this censure of excommunication. He met her at Morphett Vale and absolved her in the Catholic church there. Bishop Shiel died in the Willunga Presbytery a week later, having lived there since early 1871. In 1882 the school in Willunga closed, and the remaining St Joseph’s children moved to the new Willunga Public School.

It is recounted in Willunga even today that, when Mary visited Willunga, she often came by boat to Port Willunga, where people would wait on the steps for her arrival. Her visits to the area would also include a trip to the school at Yankalilla. It is possible that she stayed in the house at 16 St George’s Street, which was bought for the nuns in 1869. Mary MacKillop is the first Australian saint. She is known as Saint Mary of the Cross.

Related Articles Sisters of St Joseph

Sources

• Jackson K 1986 The History of St Joseph’s Old School Willunga 1868-1882 np
• Modystack W 2011 Mary MacKillop A Woman Before Her Time 2nd edn New Holland NSW
• The Register 8 Sept 1909 <http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/58285451>

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