THE Holy See has declared that Blessed Mary MacKillop is now patron of Brisbane archdiocese, causing great jubilation.
The declaration, received on May 6, follows a request from Archbishop John Bathersby of Brisbane who petitioned the Congregation for Divine Worship for Mary to be made diocesan patron.
Archbishop Bathersby said the Australian woman’s “deep faith, energy, courage, vision and contribution to Catholic education made her a most appropriate patron for the archdiocese”.
Provincial of the Josephites in Queensland Sr Moya Campbell said the order “was delighted” at their founder’s selection for a number of reasons, including her involvement in opening four schools for Brisbane and Maryborough’s poorer children in 1870.
Dean of St Stephen’s Cathedral Ken Howell, making the announcement in the May 10 cathedral bulletin, said he had “witnessed first hand the devotion and faith of the people expressed visibly each and every day at the archdiocesan shrine in honour of Mother Mary of the Cross”.
The shrine was established in 1999 after an announcement by Archbishop Bathersby that the first church building of Brisbane – the chapel beside the cathedral – would be restored and become a centre of devotion to Mary MacKillop.
Archbishop Bathersby said Blessed Mary MacKillop “is inspirational whether she is ‘Blessed’ or a ‘saint’ of the Church which, please God, she will be in the not too distant future”.
“As a woman of faith, courage and determination, Blessed Mary MacKillop displays the best of our combined Australian and New Zealand character, and will undoubtedly attract many people, whether Catholic or not, to the joy and peace of the Christian faith,” the archbishop said.
Archbishop Bathersby said he had developed a special devotion to Blessed Mary ever since celebrating a Mass in her honour in the small convent hut where she acted as housekeeper for her sisters in the later years of her life, beside Arrowtown church in New Zealand.
Sr Campbell told The Catholic Leader that the Josephites were “especially delighted” to see their founder made patron in the year of the archdiocese’s 150th anniversary and the 100th anniversary of their founder’s death.
Speaking from St Stephen’s Chapel where a wooden sculpture of their founder is located, Sr Campbell said the honour “is truly a recognition of the greatness of this woman and her enduring contribution to the early life of Australia”.
“In December, 1869, Mary MacKillop and five of the Sisters of St Joseph came to Brisbane and rented a house in South Brisbane.
“During 1870, they opened three schools for the poorer children in Brisbane and one in Maryborough.”
Mary MacKillop was beatified by Pope John Paul II on January 19, 1995.
Blessed Mary MacKillop’s cause for canonisation has been recently given a boost with doctors from the Medical Board of the Vatican concluding that there was no scientific explanation for the cure that had been presented to them as part of Mary’s journey to sainthood.
