St. Mary MacKillop
Patron Saint of Australia and Archdiocese of Brisbane
St. Mary MacKillop was the first Australian to be canonized. She was born in 1842, and in 1866, founded the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart. Her order began their ministry at just one school, but in Mary MacKillop’s lifetime, they eventually expanded to working at over forty schools in Australia. She recognized that the poor who lived in rural areas did not have the same access to education as those in urban areas, so the focus of the sisters became education and welfare for the rural poor throughout Australia and eventually also New Zealand. Today, her order continues to work throughout rural Australia, and St. Mary MacKillop is revered throughout the country.