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Saint Mary MacKillop

“Mary Helen MacKillop” was born on 15th January 1842 at Newtown, Colony of New South Wales. She was also called as “St Mary of the Cross MacKillop”. She died at the age of 67 on 8th August 1909 at North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She was a Regional Sister of St Joseph. She was an Australian of Scottish descent and announced as a saint by the Catholic Church.

She established the “Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart” for to assemble all the religious sisters together at one place. After that they had started establishing of schools and welfare institutions for the poor people in the rural areas who are intended to study, throughout Australasia.

Her parents used to live in Roy Bridge, Inverness-shire, at Scotland and they were interested on moving to Australia. She visited the village on 1870s, near the village there is a church named as “Catholic Church St.Margaret’s”.

MacKillop father had educated her and she done schooling at private schools. When she was eight, she experienced her “First Holy Communion” on 15th August 1850. In the year 1851, Alexander MacKillop left his family and job and made a trip to Scotland for a period of 17 months.

As a clerk in stationery store she began earning in Melbourne at the age of 14. To support her family, she used to make a job as a governess in 1860, in the estate of her uncle and aunt. There she used to take care of the children and teach them; also she helped for the poor people whenever it’s possible.

She did this job for two yearsupto 1862. Later, she teaches in the Portland school and after that she had opened her own boarding school of “New Bayview seminary and Bayview College for Young Ladies” in 1864. After that she spent her remaining life with family.