Mary MacKillop’s Story

Mary Helen MacKillop was born on 15 January 1842 in Fitzroy, Melbourne, to Scottish immigrants Alexander and Flora MacKillop, the eldest of eight children. Money was tight and stayed that way, so by her mid-teens Mary was working, as a clerk, then a governess and then a teacher, to keep her family afloat. Long before she became a saint, Mary MacKillop was simply a young woman who did what needed to be done.

A calling to serve

At the age of 24, Mary made the boldest decision of her life. She dedicated herself to God and took the name Mary of the Cross. It was a turning point, and the beginning of a life spent moving toward the people others overlooked.

Founding the Sisters of St Joseph

Alongside Fr Julian Tenison Woods, Mary opened a school in a disused stable in Penola, South Australia. Her vision was simple and, for the time, radical: every child deserved an education, regardless of their family's means. Other women were drawn to that vision and joined her. Together, Mary and Fr Julian founded the Sisters of Saint Joseph, Australia's first religious order.

The Sisters were committed to walking alongside people experiencing poverty, going wherever the need was greatest and living among the communities they served. That commitment took Mary across the country, into rural and remote towns most people had never thought to reach.

Facing opposition with grace

Mary's path was not an easy one. She faced fierce opposition throughout her life, including a period of excommunication, a punishment she did not deserve and one that was later lifted. Through it all, Mary held to two things at once: she refused to let anyone speak ill of those who had wronged her, and she never wavered in her convictions. That combination, forgiveness without submission, is, in many ways, the clearest picture we have of who she was.

A legacy that lived on

Mary MacKillop died on 8 August 1909. In 1992, Pope John Paul II declared that Mary had lived a life of heroic virtue, tested by adversity. It was the first formal step in the Church's recognition of her as a saint, and from this point she was known as the Venerable Mary MacKillop.

On 19 January 1995, Mary was beatified by Pope John Paul II at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney. Its significance being, the recognition happened in Australia, on the ground she'd walked and taught on. Australia had its own Blessed Mary of the Cross MacKillop.

On 17 October 2010, Pope Benedict XVI canonised Mary of the Cross MacKillop in Rome. She became Saint Mary MacKillop, Australia's first saint.

But her real legacy isn't the title, it's the schools she opened, the Sisters who carried her work forward, and the belief that every child has a right to education.

More than a century on, that same conviction drives what we do at Mary MacKillop Today. Every year on 8 August, we mark Mary MacKillop's Feast Day,  a chance to reflect on her legacy and to carry her spirit forward through our work with communities in Australia, Timor-Leste, Fiji, and Peru.

Visit our Feast Day page to learn how you can be part of it

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