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Blessed Mary MacKillop
Centenary of the death of Mary MacKillop
The centenary of the death of Blessed Mary MacKillop, a woman whose name has become synonymous with great vision, outstanding holiness and heroic character, is being commemorated by Australian Catholic University's (ACU) campuses in Brisbane, North Sydney and Melbourne.
Brisbane
A Gala Celebration to Celebrate Mary MacKillop took place on 8 November in Brisbane City Hall. To mark the centenary of the death of Mary MacKillop, the Sisters of St Joseph (QLD) and the Brisbane Campus (McAuley at Banyo) organised a gala celebration. The event captured Mary MacKillop’s story and celebrated the legacy of her work and contribution to Australian life and education.
The featured image above is of the statue of Mary MacKillop from the Cathedral of St Stephen, Brisbane. John Elliott the sculptor began with the trunk of a hundred-year-old camphor laurel tree. He sliced it and hollowed it out and then began painstakingly to recombine its elements, allowing the figure of Mary MacKillop to emerge. The ancient tree and its rough bark recall the slab hut in which she opened her first school, and the old fence posts she passed as she travelled through the Australian bush on horseback.
Melbourne
A symphony mass was held in Melbourne in August, with performances by Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra, the Australian Catholic University Choir and the Music Glenelg Festival Singers.
The performance was not in the form of a church service, but rather a mass that told Blessed Mary MacKillop’s story through a narrator, interspersed with the religious beliefs she lived by," said Music Glenelg event director, Graeme Firth. "She was an extraordinary Australian and a very religious person, so we took great care to treat this sensitively."
A public lecture was also presented by the former Postulator for her Cause for Canonisation, Fr Paul Gardiner SJ at the Melbourne Campus (St Patrick's).
Fr Paul Gardiner SJ at the Melbourne Campus
Sydney
The North Sydney Campus (MacKillop) commemorated the event in August with a mass in the Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel, followed by a lecture and panel discussion about the historical and contemporary relevance of her work. The speakers included Sr Anne Derwin RSJ, Sr Noelene Quinane RSJ and Ms Claire Grantham.
A blessing of the Isabel Menton Centre by Most Reverend Anthony Fisher OP (Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of Sydney) also took place in North Sydney. Read Bishop Anthony's homily (PDF 104kb).
Blessed Mary MacKillop was born in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, directly opposite the University’s Melbourne Campus and she dedicated her life to works and values which resonate deeply with the University’s Mission.
Co-founder of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, Blessed Mary MacKillop is the only Australian to be beatified.
In November last year, Archbishop of Sydney, His Eminence Cardinal George Pell, unveiled a sculpture of Blessed Mary MacKillop at the North Sydney Campus.
