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Mary Helen MacKillop born in Brunswick
Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne on 15 January.
She was Baptised on 28
January in St Francis’ Church, Lonsdale
Street, Melbourne. -
Celebrates her first holy communion on August 15.
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Starts working at age 14 and soon after becomes the primary breadwinner for her family.
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Becomes governess to the children of her uncle, Alexander Cameron, at Penola in South Australia, where she meets Father Julian Tenison Woods, who becomes her spiritual guide.
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Takes a job as a teacher at Portland Catholic Denominational School.
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Along with Father Woods, starts the first free Catholic school in Penola, at first in a stable and later in a more substantial stone
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Joins with Father Woods to form a new religious order of nuns, the Sisters of St Joseph, devoted to teaching the poor, with Mary as mother superior; opens a convent-cottage and a school in Adelaide; takes her religious vows on August 15.
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Takes her final vows on December 8; and leaves for Queensland to open schools there.
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Opposition to the Sisters grows over the issue of central government and refusal to accept government grants for education; the sisters face trouble in Adelaide over 'visionaries'.
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Bishop Laurence Sheil of Adelaide excommunicates Mary on September 22 for alleged insubordination; 47 sisters are expelled.
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Bishop Sheil removes the excommunication order on February 23, nine days before he dies; the sisters are restored to their habits on March 19; an investigation vindicates Mary and the sisters; Father Woods is advised to relinquish direction of the sisters.
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Mary travels to Rome for a personal audience with Pope Pius IX, obtains papal approval for the sisterhood but the 'Rule of Life' Father Woods set down is discarded and another is drawn up, causing a breach between Mary and Father Woods.
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Mary returns to Australia with 15 Irish postulants, following travels in Europe to visit schools.
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Mary is elected as the first superior general of the Sisters of St Joseph.
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The sisters are obliged to leave Bathurst because of Bishop Matthew Quinn's refusal to accept central government of the institute.
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The sisters are obliged to leave Queensland because of the bishop's refusal to accept central government of the institute.
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Mary re-elected as superior general.
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The sisters expand to New Zealand with the establishment of their first foundation at Temuka on the South Island; Bishop Reynolds dismisses Mary in Adelaide over accusations she was an alcoholic (Mary drank brandy to relieve very severe menstrual pain), and she moves to Sydney.
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Cardinal Moran says Mary's election in 1881 is invalid and appoints Mother Bernard Walsh as leader.
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A decree from Rome declares the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart is an approved regular congregation, some alterations are made to habits and the sisters' rule.
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Mary suffers the first of many bouts of serious illness, as the order she founded has 300 sisters working in nine dioceses in Australia and New Zealand
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Mary is elected as superior general once again, replacing Bernard Walsh
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Mary suffers a stroke and travels to Rotorua in New Zealand.
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Mary dies on August 8 at Mount Street in North Sydney and is buried at Gore Hill Cemetery.
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Construction of a memorial chapel in North Sydney
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Newly elected superior general, Mother Laurence O'Brien, raises the question of whether Mary MacKillop could be a candidate for beatification.
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Canonisation process begins; it was postponed in 1931 over claims she was an alcoholic and re-opened in 1951.
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1995: Pope John Paul II beatifies Mary MacKillop at a ceremony in Sydney on January 19.
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Mary MacKillop is canonised on October 17 in Rome.