HE Discalced Carmelite nuns from Ormiston, south of Brisbane, ventured beyond their monastery walls on July 25 for the first time in 18 years.
The nuns undertook a special journey to Brisbane’s St Stephen’s Cathedral in commemoration of the Jubilee year.
Bishop Michael Putney welcomed the 22 nuns at the steps of the cathedral and led them on a guided tour inside.
They prayed at the Jubilee door, touched a rock from the Holy Land and another from North Stradbroke Island, prayed under a window depicting their founder, St Therese of Lisieux, and visited the baptismal font at the rear of the cathedral.
The nuns also prayed at the Mary MacKillop Shrine in St Stephen’s Chapel, where they lit candles and touched her statue.
The visit marked the 73rd anniversary of the Carmelites’ establishment in Queensland and a pilgrimage by a group of nuns to the cathedral in 1927, where they were met by Archbishop James Duhig.
By coincidence, Josephite Sister Maria Giles from Nundah was at the cathedral in 1927 and happened to be visiting St Stephen’s on July 25 to see the Carmelite nuns walk up the same steps their predecessors climbed 73 years earlier.
Eighty-five year-old Sr Giles was only a 12 year-old student at St Stephen’s School in 1927 and said she was overcome to see the Carmelite nuns.
“Only God could have arranged this; this is what I call one of God’s little surprises,” she said.
