Outspoken Australian Woman made a Saint

That's Mary MacKillop, now known as St Mary of the Cross, sculpted by John Elliott in St Stephen's Cathedral, Brisbane.

Not an inappropriate name, given her history and the attempts of perverted and conniving priests to make this courageous and unswerving woman go away - but when did the Catholic Church ever demonstrate any great regard for the work of women or the welfare of children?

Here's what Ynes Sanz wrote about her in  Fanny the Flying Housewife & other stories, 2009.

Two Marys

Mary Helen MacKillop, also known as Saint Mary of the Cross 1842 — 1909

i St Stephen's Cathedral, Brisbane

come away

from the frankincense

and chasubles

in a dim-lit chapel

stone walls chisel-ticked

enclose a stillness

inhale this new scent

calling up old linen

and young women's dreams

behind a rood-screen

of scribbled tree slabs

is a sanctuary

imbued with the spirit

of camphor laurel

one hundred years in growing

a figure looms from a plinth

no-eyes becoming eyes

under your grateful gaze

woman and tree both

wild and problematical

stout beauty at their heart

light a candle for her

and see in its flicker

Mary striding on

ii St Francis' Church Melbourne

For the poet's daughter, artist, 1970 —

Here Friends,

we see the Blesséd Mary,

aloft against a creamy ground,

flowers at her feet,

in the niche where we placed her,

waiting for the day

that she becomes a saint.

You may be surprised

at her meek demeanour

and downcast eyes,

but we like to remember

a compliant heart

may be found even

inside a rebel breast.

We see in her statue

a symbol of Women's

Work in worship.

See the fine detail

made by our master sculptor.

Note the work in the gilded crucifix

woodgrained rosary and

simple prayer book

so skilfully painted as if worn with constant use.

What's that you say?

The statue's painter

was a woman?

No I was not aware,

but come, let me show you,

head-high to your right,

another of the Church's

treasured works of art.

 
© Ynes Sanz 2009