A LIVING link to the original Sisters of Mercy who arrived in Brisbane with Mother Vincent Whitty in 1861 celebrated her 100th birthday on May 31 at the Emmaus Residential Care Facility in Nudgee.
When Mercy Sister Brenda Browne arrived in Brisbane as a young nun in 1924 she lived with Mercy Sister Bridget Conlan, one of the original six Sisters of Mercy who arrived with Brisbane’s first bishop, James Quinn.
Family was the theme for her 100th birthday celebration as about 100 Mercy Sisters, other religious and friends, including two cousins, Mercy Sister Scholastica Condon and Mercy Sister Loyola Boyle, both from County Kerry in Ireland, gathered at Emmaus for a Mass led by Brisbane Archbishop John Bathersby.
Archbishop Bathersby concelebrated Mass with Fr Jim Smith, Emmaus chaplain, Divine Word Missionaries Father Liam Horsfall and Fr William Scanlan from England.
