"God gives me strength for what is necessary" Feast Day: 8 August

Mary MacKillop, Australia's first saint, was a servant of the poor and uneducated, the founder of the Sisters of St Joseph. Beatified by Pope John Paul II in Sydney in 1995, the city housing her shrine in the suburb of North Sydney, Mary MacKillop established an incredible legacy with her generosity and determination to respond to every need with Christ's charity across our great continent. The shrine was the first place visited by the WYD Cross and Icon after they arrived in Australia, and will be the point of departure for the Pilgrimage Walk to Southern Cross Precinct for the Evening Vigil and Final Mass with the Pope.

Blessed Mary MacKillop, known as Mother Mary of the Cross, was born in Melbourne in 1842. Her family emigrated from Scotland and as the eldest child she took up many of the responsibilities of the household.

When Father Julian Tennyson Woods met Mary in 1861 he was inspired by her desire to serve God, and they shared the belief, uncommon for the day, that Catholic education should be accessible to all children.

She worked in service to Christ and His Church throughout Australia and New Zealand; riding on horseback from place to place through Penola, Adelaide, the outback and finally Sydney. She cared for a neglected Aboriginal girl at Penola, travelled through the night to be with a dying sister at Port Augusta and braved a stormy water crossing at Kincumber to reach a dying child.

She is perhaps best remembered as the co-founder of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart with Father Julian. Their main work was the education of young children, with special emphasis on training in religious knowledge and practice.

In the century that followed, the Josephite Sisters would open numerous schools throughout Australia and New Zealand. Its members also worked among the destitute poor in whatever way seemed appropriate.

The zeal of saints often raises criticism. And Mary was the recipient of uncertainty and even jealousy from those around her, including the local clergy and some sisters within her own community. This led to the point of her excommunication by the Bishop of Adelaide. Mary responded to this with diligent obedience and trust in the providence of God. The same bishop later restored her to communion with the Church before his death, humbly recognising his grave mistake.

As Mary grew older, her health deteriorated, but she did not allow sickness to deter her from her work among the sisters and for the poor. While visiting communities in New Zealand in 1901 she suffered a stroke and had to return to Sydney where she died on 8 August, 1909.

In all of this, Mother Mary MacKillop is an icon for Australia. Years after her sisters would continue to live her motto, 'Never see a need without doing something about it'.

Blessed Mary MacKillop's life is filled with evidence of openness to the Holy Spirit, exercising the fruits of goodness, charity and self control in the face of many obstacles. You can ask her to pray for the grace to receive and respond to the power of God's holiness in the Great South Land of the Holy Spirit.

Blessed Mary MacKillop, witness to the young and the distant - pray for us