St. Mary MacKillop (Mother Mary of the Cross )

Ø  First Australian Saint Ø  Known as Mother Mary of the Cross Ø  Co-founder of The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart with Fr Julian Tenison Woods Ø  The first religious order in Australia Ø  The Josephite nuns became colloquially known as the Brown Joeys.
Born	On 15th  January 1842 at Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia
Died	On 8th  August 1909 at Sydney, Australia following a stroke
Venerated	On 13th  June 1992 by Pope John Paul II
Beatified	On 19th  January 1995 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized	On 17th  October 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI
Feast	8th  August

Mary Helen MacKillop  was born on 15 January 1842 in Fitzroy, Melbourne, the eldest of eight children of Alexander McKillop and Flora, nee McDonald.                  Mary was educated at private schools but chiefly by her father who had studied for the priesthood at Rome. To help support her family, she worked as a nursery governess and store clerk while still in her teens. Tutor in Melbourne, Australia. Teacher at the Portland School in 1862. Established a “Seminary for Young Ladies” in her home. Known for her holiness, her constant work in the local church, and for turning to prayer before making decisions.                Mary and her sister moved to Penola, South Australia. There Mary met Father Julian Tennison Woods with whom she opened a free Catholic school for the poor. Co-founded the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart in 1866; it was Australia‘s first religious order. It had a mission educate poor children in remote areas, and the Sisters received episcopal approval in 1868. Mother Mary soon had seventeen schools under her care.           Mary’s independence and social ideas concerned Church authorities, and she was ordered by her bishop, who believed some exaggerated stories about the educator, to surrender control of the schools and her Order. She refused, and was excommunicated in 1871. Mary was crushed, but never blamed Church officials, In 1872 her bishop, having determined the baseless nature of the accusations, apologized, and returned Mary to full communion.          She visited Pope Blessed Pius IX in 1873, and travelled through England, Ireland and Scotland to seek funds for her schools. Superior-general of her Order in 1875. She travelled from house to house in the Order for the rest of her life, working to improve education for the poor, and general conditions for the Aborigines. She was a prolific correspondent, over 1,000 of Mary’s letters have survived. Her order continues its good work today with hundreds of Sisters in Australia, New Zealand, and Peru.          MacKillop died on 8 August 1909 in the Josephite convent in North Sydney. Beatified On 19th January 1995 by Pope John Paul II and canonized on  17th  October 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI.

St. Giulia Salzano

Ø  Foundress of the Congregation of the Catechetical Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1905. Ø  Prophetess of the New Evangelization
Born	On 13th  October 1846 in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Caserta, Italy
Died	On 17th  May 1929 in Casoria, Naples, Italy of natural causes
Venerated	On 23rd  April 2002 by Pope John Paul II (decree of heroic virtues)
Beatified	On 29th  April 2003 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized	On 17th  October 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI
Feast	17th May

Giulia Salzano  was born in Santa Maria Capua Vetere in the province of Caserta on 13 October 1846, the daughter of Adelaide Valentino and Diego Salzano, a Captain in the Lancers of King Ferdinand II of Naples.               Her father died when she was four, and she was entrusted for her upbringing to the Sisters of Charity in the Royal Orphanage of Saint Nicola La Strada, where she remained until she was fifteen. She earned a teaching diploma and then taught in the local school at Casoria, in the Province of Naples, having moved there with her family in October 1865.          Alongside her teaching, she had a great interest in the catechism, imparting the faith to children, young people and adults. She also encouraged devotion to the Virgin Mary.        Together with Blessed Caterina Volpicelli she promoted love of and devotion to the Sacred Heart, living the motto: “Ad maiorem Cordis Iesu gloriam”.         In her constant concern to make known the teachings and life of Jesus through education and witness, she founded the Congregation of the Catechetical Sisters of the Sacred Heart in 1905.         She devoted her life to the charism of catechesis, affirming: “While I have any life left in me, I will continue to teach the catechism. And then, I assure you, I would be very happy to die teaching the catechism”.              “Donna Giulietta”, as she was called by the people of Casoria , died on On 17th  May 1929 in Casoria, Naples, Italy of natural causes . Beatified On 29th  April 2003 by Pope John Paul II and canonized on On 17th  October 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI.      On account of her charism she can be considered a Prophetess of the New Evangelization

St. Camilla Battista da Varano

Ø  An  Italian  Princess, Ø  A member of the Poor Clares, Ø  A prolific writer
Born	On 9th  April 1458 in Camerino, Macerata, Italy
Died	On 31st  May 1524 in Camerino, Macerata, Italy of natural causes
Beatified	7 April 1843 by Pope Gregory XVI
Canonized	17 October 2010 Pope Benedict XVI
Feast	May 17th

St. Camilla of Varano was born in Camerino  in 1458 Camerino, Italy , of Giulio Cesare of Varano and Giovanna Malatesta.          Camilla early felt a call to the religious life, which her family initially opposed, hoping for a good marriage for her.Her father did all in his power to force his daughter into a brilliant marriage, even to the extent of imprisoning her. But Baptista resisted his plans so firmly that after two years and a half he restored her to liberty, for fear, as he said, of drawing upon himself the Divine vengeance, and gave his consent to her becoming a nun.          On 14 Nov. 1481, Baptista entered the monastery of the Poor Clares at Urbino. Not long afterwards her father founded a new monastery of that order at Camerino, and presented it to his daughter. Baptista introduced the primitive observance of the rule there, and thenceforth her vigorous and impressive personality found scope not only in the administration of this monastery, of which she became the first abbess, but also in the production of various literary works. These include the: “Recordationes et instructiones spirituales novem”, which she wrote about 1491; “Opus de doloribus mentalibus D.N.J.C.”, written during 1488-91 and first published at Camerino in 1630; “Liber suae conversionis”, a story of her life, written in 1491, and first published at Macerata in 1624.          She died in Camerino on May 31, 1524. On April 7, 1843, Pope Gregory XVI declared her Blessed. On Feb. 4, 1893, her writings were also approved. Then, on October 17, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI will officially declare her a saint.

St. Bonifacia Rodriguez y Castro

Ø  Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of Saint Joseph
Born	6th  June 1837 in Salamanca, Spain
Died	8th  August 1905 in Salamanca, Spain
Venerated	1st  July 2000 by Pope John Paul II (decree of heroic virtues)
Beatified	9th  November 2003 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized	On 23rd  October 2011, Rome by Pope Benedict XVI
Feast	6th June

St. Bonifacia Rodriguez  born in Salamanca, Spain, on June 6, 1837, in the bosom of an artisan family. Her parents, Juan and Maria Natalia, were deeply Christian, having foremost in their mind the education in faith of their six children among whom Bonifacia was the eldest.          A group of girls from Salamanca, her friends, attracted by the witness of her life, begin to meet in her house-shop in the afternoon of Sundays and feast days in order to avoid dangerous forms of entertainment of the time. They found in Bonifacia a friend who would help them. Together they decide to form the Association of the Immaculate and St. Joseph, later called Josephine Association. Thus, the shop of Bonifacia acquires a clear apostolic and social dimension of preventing the woman worker from being led astray.          Bonifacia feels called to religious life. Her great devotion to Mary continues to nurture in her heart the dream of becoming a Dominican in the convent of Sta. Maria de Dueñas in Salamanca.          But a momentous event will change the course of her life: the encounter with a Catalan Jesuit Francisco Javier Butiña y Hospital, native of Bañolas-Gerona (1834-1899), who arrives in Salamanca in October of 1870 with a great apostolic concern toward the world of manual workers. He was writing for them “The Light of the Manual Worker”, a collection of life stories of distinguished faithful who sanctified themselves in humble occupations. Attracted by his evangelizing message about the sanctification of work, Bonifacia puts herself under his spiritual direction. Through her, Butiña gets in contact with the young women who frequented her shop, majority of whom are also manual workers. And the Holy Spirit moves him to found a new congregation oriented towards the protection of the woman worker out of this group of women workers.           Rodríguez took up the challenge along with her mother and five other members of the Association, who then moved into the small Rodríguez home to form a religious community, with her as their leader. They took the name Servants of St. Joseph, to show their identification with him as the primary laborer in the Holy Family, and also seeking his protection. They took religious vows on 10 January 1874. Father Butinyà, is honored as their co-founder.         Three years later, the Congregation moved from the working-class neighborhood where Bonificia had lived her entire life to a large, old house which was in total disrepair. The Servants named it the House of St. Teresa. They continued to work, though, with the members of the Josephite Association which Rodríguez had founded in her first days of religious commitment. This collaboration continued to prove fruitful to both groups in working their missions.          Butinyas began to write to Mother Bonifacia, urging her to go Catalonia in order to expand the Congregation. For various reasons, she was not able to comply with his repeated requests. Thus, in February 1875, Butinyà established a community of Sisters on his own in that region of the country, following the pattern he had helped establish in Castile. Soon there were several new communities of the Servants of St. Joseph in that region. They remained canonically separate from the community in Salamanca. however Bonifacia made  attempts to the complete union of all the communities          She died on 8th  August 1905. Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Bonifacia on 9 November 2003 in Rome. On 23rd  October 2011, Canonized by Pope Benedict XVI

St. María of Mt Carmen Sallés y Barangueras ( Mother Carmen)

Ø  Spanish foundress of the Conceptionist Missionary Sisters of Teaching Ø  Known as Carmen of Jesus
Born	On  9 April 1848 in Vic, Barcelona, Spain
Died	On 25th  July 1911 in Madrid, Spain of natural causes
Venerated	On 17th  December 1996 by Pope John Paul II (decree of heroic virtues)
Beatified	On 15th  March 1998 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized	On 21st  October 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI
Feast	25th July

Mother Carmen was born on April 9, 1848, at Vich near Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain .The daughter of José Sallés and Francisca Rosa Barangueras, Carmen studied pedagogy at La Ensenanaza school run by the Company of Mary and began teaching young woman following her graduation.          She worked with disadvantaged girls and prostitutes and saw that early education was essential for helping young women. She died on July 25, 1911, in Madrid, Spain. Canonized On 21st  October 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI