MORE than 800 students and staff of St Rita’s College, Clayfield, packed St Stephen’s Cathedral on August 25 for an 80th anniversary Mass.
Archbishop John Bathersby of Brisbane celebrated the Mass that coincided with the day 80 years ago that Mothers Ursula Kennedy and Mary Madden signed the title deeds for Stanley Hall, which was to become St Rita’s College.
Former staff, students and Presentation Sisters, including congregational leader Sr Mary Franzmann and one of its oldest members, Sr Assumpta O’Flynn, joined the celebrations.
In his homily, Archbishop Bathersby praised the work of the Presentation Sisters in educating young women in the archdiocese over the past 80 years.
“In doing so they have contributed significantly to the mission of the Church in this archdiocese, to the promotion of the reign of God in our midst, to the common good of society, and ultimately to the greater glory of God whose presence we need more than ever today,” he said.
The archbishop said the seeds that were sown 300 years ago in Ireland by the order’s founder, Nano Nagle, found a resting place in the hearts of the Presentation Sisters who followed in her footsteps, and since then have borne abundant fruit in the hearts of the young women educated on a distant hillside at Clayfield.
“Indeed the seed planted there has ‘fallen into rich soil and has grown and produced its crop a hundredfold’,” he said.
In honour of the occasion, the Presentation Sisters presented the college with quotations from Nano Nagle through a series of drawings by Presentation Sister Anne Nevin.
After the Mass and a return to the college, guests witnessed the unveiling and blessing of a bronze cross, depicting scenes from the life of Nano Nagle, from the college’s patron, St Rita, and a series of vignettes representing the holistic education of St Rita’s students.
Artist Catharina Hampson-Brans designed the cross, which was blessed by Archbishop Bathersby.
The blessing was followed by the cutting of a huge birthday cake, surrounded by 800 fairy cakes, decorated in the college’s house colours.
