Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillopPrint Page 
The cairn commemorates Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop.
Mary Helen MacKillop RSJ (1842 – 1909), now known as St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, was an Australian nun who has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church. Of Scottish descent, she was born in Melbourne, but was best known for her activities in South Australia. Together with Reverend Julian Tenison Woods, she founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart (the Josephites), a congregation of religious sisters that established a number of schools and welfare institutions throughout Australasia, with an emphasis on education for the rural poor.
With the process to have MacKillop declared a saint having begun in the 1920s, she was beatified in January 1995, by Pope John Paul I. She was canonised on 17 October 2010, during a public ceremony in St Peter's Square at the Vatican. She is the first and only Australian to be recognised by the Catholic Church as a saint.
Location
| Address: | Evans Avenue & Muggs Hill Road, Mitcham, 5062 |
|---|---|
| State: | SA |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -34.981143 Long: 138.619484 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Monument |
|---|---|
| Monument Theme: | People |
| Sub-Theme: | Religion |
| Actual Event Start Date: | 17-October-2010 |
| Actual Event End Date: | 17-October-2010 |
Dedication
Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop came this way to visit her good friend Joanna Barr Smith at "Torrens Park" (now Scotch College)
It was an unusual friendship. On the one hand was Joanna, a rich, wordly, Protestant woman, and on the other Mary, who was a penniless Roman Catholic nun. In 1899, Joanna wrote to Mary, perhaps prophetically, that "the whole community will rise up and call you "Blessed"
In 1881 Robert and Joanna Barr Smith made a block of land at the top of Muggs Hill Road available to the religious order co-founded by Mary MacKillop and Father Julian Tenison Woods, the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. On this block which overlooked Mitcham Village and the grounds of Torrens Park, they erected a large blue stone dwelling and set aside the remainder of the land for use a cemetery for the Sisters
This building was demolished in 1926 and some of the original stone has been used in this cairn
This plaque commemorates the canonisation of Saint Mary of the Cross Mackillop on 17 October 2010
