Australia's only Catholic saint still inspiring prayerfulness and helping poor 115 years after death (2024)

Catholics around Australia will mark the feast day of Saint Mary MacKillop today, including in Penola, in South Australia's south-east, where she opened the first free Catholic school for the poor in Australia in 1866.

August 8 marks 115 years since St Mary died in North Sydney, where the Sisters of Saint Joseph that she founded are still based.

Masses will be celebrated in churches around the country to remember Australia's only Catholic saint, whose work led to the Catholic education system of today.

The coming year will also mark the 30th anniversary since Mary was beatified and the 15th year since the Josephite nun became a saint.

Many celebrations that were due to be held in 2020 were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What is Mary MacKillop known for?

Mary and the Penola parish priest, Father Julian Tenison Woods, formed the Sisters of Saint Joseph in 1867 as an order devoted to teaching the poor — the first Catholic religious founded by Australians.

The headquarters of the order was later moved to Adelaide and then Sydney, before Mary died in 1909.

She was canonised in 2010 after the Catholic Church verified two miracles that it said had occurred in people who had prayed to Mary for her to intercede between them and God.

Marie Valuenzela runs the Mary MacKillop Penola Centrethat is next to the second, more permanent schoolhouse that Mary taught at in Penola from 1867.

She said the about 10,000 visitors per year to the interpretative centre ranged from people who knew nothing about Mary but were visiting the Coonawarra region for its wineries and historic buildings to those devoted to her.

"We get a lot of who people who have quite a strong reaction emotional reaction when they're in the schoolhouse," Ms Valuenzela said.

"People come and say there's a presence or they felt quite overcome even going through the displays.

"Some people are quite overcome with emotion — that's terrific."

Loreto O'Connor is the only Sister of Saint Joseph still based in Penola.

During the mass each Friday, she reads out the prayers written in a book in a shrine to Mary at the St Joseph's church.

"A lot of people who will come and do that, they just find great solace and comfort, and it's really moving reading out those prayers on Friday," Sister Loreto said.

How does St Mary inspire others?

The head of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, Monica Cavanagh, said Mary was a good model of how to live out the gospel in real life and was an inspiration not just to Catholics but all Australians.

She said Mary showed the value of perseverance in the face of adversity — in family tragedies, opposition from church leaders and bad economic times.

"People can say, 'She's like us, she's one of us' and therefore we can draw on her spirituality and her prayerfulness and be inspired to go out and make a difference in the world in which we live," she said.

"[People can] be encouraged in their journey of life, particularly when it has difficult moments in it."

She said feast days — days on which a particular saint is celebrated — were important in the lives of Catholics and especially to Mary herself.

"It is a day of celebration and Mary herself always taught the children that there were some particular special days in the life of the community, particularly the Catholic community, and on those days she encouraged the sisters to make sure they did something different," Sister Monica said.

"It might have been to provide them with some treats, or it may be to provide some extra play time – something to mark these special days in the life of the children — so this marks a special day in the life of our Australian saint."

Pilgrimage in Mary's footsteps

Mary inspired the foundation of the "Aussie Camino" 10 years ago.

Inspired by the famous Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain, the Aussie Camino follows Mary's journey from being a lay teacher in Portland, Victoria, to the founding of the school in Penola.

Natasha Dawson guides pilgrims along the route within South Australia through her business, Walk the Limestone Coast.

She said the 160-kilometre Aussie Camino was still not well known in Australia, and even less so internationally.

"It's a really great overall experience and I find at the end people are quite emotional about the journey they've had as they've walked across the landscape," Ms Dawson said.

The inaugural director of the Mary MacKillop Heritage Centre in East Melbourne, Annie Bond, will lead pilgrims on an official Australian National Pilgrimage in October.

Sister Monica expects there will be more celebrations of Mary next year to coincide with the Catholic Jubilee year that has the theme "Pilgrims of Hope".