Author(s): William Modystack

Biography

On October 17, 2010, Mary MacKillop, co-foundress of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, became Australia's first saint after a long campaign and papal investigation. More than 8,000 Australians proudly attended the ceremony at Vatican City. This meticulously researched biography gives an insight into the shy but determined young woman who experienced a strong sense of religious vocation. From humble beginnings in a small country town in South Australia, her dream of a religious institute devoted to the care of the poor slowly became a reality. Mary's success did not come without adversity. Her struggles to have the institute accepted brought about her own excommunication and culminated in a visit to Rome in 1873. She fought against the determined efforts to bring the institute under diocesan control, which would have endangered the purpose of the sisterhood and weakened its bonds with Rome. Mary's life as the guiding force of the Sisters of St Joseph is carefully documented by the author, showing her in the light of her genuinely sympathetic nature and the cheerful bearing of hardships, disappointments and personal losses.