Religious Education
ST MARY OF THE CROSS
The name Mary is one of the most endearingly popular names in the Christian world and both this week and next we will celebrate 2 important feast days, both in honour of 2 very different Marys!
It’s important to make a distinction between Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop and Mary, the mother of Jesus and we can understand why some of our students often confuse the two!
While both women are celebrated in our Catholic tradition for their faith and devotion to God, they lived in very different times and roles. Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the mother of Jesus and holds a special place in salvation history as the Mother of God. St Mary MacKillop, on the other hand, was a religious sister and educator in 19th-century Australia. She is admired for how she lived out her faith in practical and courageous ways, particularly in service to the poor.
This Friday, 8th August, we celebrate the feast day of Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop, Australia’s first and only canonised saint. Mary MacKillop’s life is a powerful reminder of what it means to live the Gospel through action – caring for the poor, standing up for what is right, and trusting completely in God’s providence. Mary MacKillop was canonised as a saint by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome on October 17, 2010. Her life of deep faith, courage, and compassion earned her a place among the saints of the Church, making history as Australia’s first saint.
Though born in Fitzroy, Victoria, in 1842, Mary MacKillop's legacy reached far beyond Melbourne. Together with Father Julian Tenison Woods, she co-founded the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart – an order dedicated to educating the poor, especially in rural and underserved communities. In Melbourne and across Victoria, Mary opened schools, orphanages, and refuges, often facing resistance from Church authorities and civil leaders. Still, she stood firm in her belief that education was a pathway to dignity and opportunity.
Though the number of Josephite Sisters is gradually declining – a natural reality for many religious orders around the world – their mission lives on. The values Mary instilled continue in Josephite schools, ministries, and communities who work with the poor, the marginalised, and the voiceless.
The distinctive badge worn by the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart (the
Josephite Emblem) has its origin in tradition, and is symbolic of the devotions that were special to Mary MacKillop and Julian Tenison Woods. In the early days, the Sisters wore a monogram of blue braid on the front of their brown habits. The shape of the monogram was the A of 'Ave' and the M of 'Maria'. Ave Maria, 'Hail Mary' is a popular prayer to Mary the Mother of God. Inside the blue monogram, the Sisters embroidered three Js to remind them of the importance of Jesus, Joseph and John the Baptist in their lives. Jesus was the one to whom Mary gave her life. Joseph was Mary's special patron to whom she prayed often and most fervently. John the Baptist was the one who prepared the way for Jesus as Mary MacKillop wanted her Sisters to do.
When the Sisters of St Joseph began to wear more modern dress rather than the brown habit, the design chosen for their emblem featured the traditional monogram and a cross. Mary called herself 'Mary of the Cross' and was called on to bear the cross many times throughout her life. She endured not only poverty and hardship throughout her life but also suffered from poor health and spent the last 8 years of her life in a wheelchair after suffering from a stroke when she was only 59.
As we celebrate her feast day this week, may we all be inspired by Mary MacKillop’s unwavering faith, her heart for justice, and her trust in God’s plan.
Let us pray that we too might, in her words, “never see a need without doing something about it.”
Kathryn Ady
Religious Education Leader
