Mary MacKillop, Patron of our Diocese of Port Pirie

Sr Laurencia’s grave by Joan McDonald.

In the Diocese of Port Pirie in South Australia, there’s a beautiful well-kept graveyard, some seven kilometres out of Port Augusta, with the stunning Flinders Ranges as its backdrop. In good times the roses bloom and the kangaroos keep the lawn mowed and the grave-sites company. But on the area’s outer edge are the older graves of early pioneers – no roses or lawn here, just a few Blackbutt Eucalyptus, Weeping Myall and Saltbush surviving in red, sandy Earth.

On one side is a huddle of three graves, the centre on being that of Sister Laurencia Honner who died as a result of a fire on 11 May 1878, aged eighteen years. The local newspaper described her funeral at the time, the long line of buggies snaking out of town to Stirling North. Notably there is no mention of the grieving Sisters of Saint Joseph, her companions in this isolated, treeless town. Nor do they note the presence of Mary MacKillop who had made the arduous journey of some 350 kilometres by Cobb and Co and then buggy to Port Augusta to be with Laurencia before she died. If we were ever unsure about where Mary MacKillop walked, we can be sure her footprints are here at the grave of Laurencia.

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Baptism of Mary MacKillop

St. Francis Church and School [ca. 1875] by Liardet, W.F.E. / State Library Victoria.
In 1839, Rev P. Geoghegan arrived in the colony of Victoria as its first priest. In less than ten weeks, he had erected a wooden church where “friends used to meet Sunday after Sunday to exchange the news of the old world, or to help on some work in aid of faith or Fatherland.” [1]

Mary MacKillop’s parents, Flora McDonald and Alexander MacKillop, were married in 1839 and settled in Marino Cottage, Brunswick Street, Newtown, now called Fitzroy. The MacKillops, McDonalds and Camerons were among many Scottish pioneers of strong faith who worshipped at St Francis’ Church. It was to there as the centre of Catholic community life, that Flora and Alexander took their first child Mary to be baptised on 28 February 1842, as Maria Ellen, or Mary Helen.

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130th Anniversary of Mary MacKillop’s first visit to Aotearoa New Zealand

Mary MacKillop (second row) with Sisters of Saint Joseph and Postulants in Temuka, South Canterbury on 10 January 1895. SOSJ ANZ Archives.

Mary MacKillop’s first visit in Aotearoa New Zealand began from her arrival on 25 January 1894 and concluded on 8 March 1895.

The itinerary of Mary’s visit, ascertained from correspondence compiled by Sister Anne Marie Power, shows that some places were visited more than once.

Twenty-eight years on from the founding of the Congregation in 1866, Mary visited the Sisters in Aotearoa New Zealand. This was a visitation of the Sisters, many of whom had been sent from Adelaide and Sydney by Mary at the request of the bishops in New Zealand for teaching staff. The Sisters were in regular communication with Mary by letters and they were encouraged to write often. It must have brought great joy to see her again in person.

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Beatification of Mary MacKillop Anniversary

Pope John Paul II to Australia for the Beatification of Mary MacKillop during Mass at Randwick, 19/1/1995. [1]
The Beatification of Mary MacKillop took place on 19 January 1995. To commemorate the anniversary of Mary MacKillop’s Beatification, Sr Eleanor Capper shares her experience of that memorable day.

My first impression goes back to the morning prayer held in St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney before the beatification, when Pope John Paul II came to officiate at this event. The presence of the pontiff at such a gathering was awe inspiring, with some of our Sisters able to meet him personally.

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Mary MacKillop: Gifted and Graced

Young Mary MacKillop.

No doubt 15 January 1842 was a day of celebration for Flora MacKillop (nee MacDonald) and Alexander MacKillop and their extended family on the birth of their first daughter in Merino Cottage, Fitzroy, Melbourne. Mary MacKillop’s parents were Highland Scots, Alexander MacKillop arriving in Sydney in January 1838 and Flora MacDonald in April 1840. Father Geoghegan blessed their marriage on 14 July 1840 and baptised the child Maria Ellen, [1] known as Mary Helen, on 28 February 1842.

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Christmas now, with Mary MacKillop

Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel, North Sydney.

Christmas is near. With such joy, we celebrate the birth of a Child, a reminder that we are all children of a lavishly loving God who, in Jesus, chose to have no boundaries between divinity and humanity!

Following Jesus, Mary MacKillop lived in a way that held no boundaries around her love for God and her love for humanity. Love is love is Love.

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30th Anniversary of Reinterment of Mary MacKillop in the New Shrine

Mary MacKillop’s new tomb 1993.

The date, 20 December 1993, is etched in my memory not only because it was my mother’s 77th birthday but also because I was witness to an exuberant outpouring of excitement, adoration and awe.

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We are but travellers here

“We are but travellers here!” These words of St Mary MacKillop tell the story of those who have walked through the doors of St Joseph’s House of Studies in Lyneham since it opened in 1969.

This House, once a home for Sisters of Saint Joseph in training, was reopened in June 2020 as MacKillop House, a place of refuge and safety for homeless women.

As one of the first residents of the House of Studies it is a privilege to be involved once again with this special place.

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