Sisters of Charity of Australia-Cedar Herald Index

The Sisters of Charity of Australia, or the Congregation of the Religious Sisters of Charity of Australia, is a congregation of religious sisters in the Catholic Church who have served the people of Australia since 1838. Sisters use the post-nominal initials of RSC.

History

Mother Mary Aikenhead, who had founded the Religious Sisters of Charity in 1815 in Dublin, Ireland, then part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was requested by John Bede Polding OS., the first Catholic bishop in Australia, to send some sisters to help the many female convicts who had been transported to Australia as penalty for their crimes.

Sisters of Charity of Australia

Arriving in New South Wales, then still a colony of the British Empire, on the Francis Spaight on 31 December 1838, the five Sisters who had volunteered to go to Australia from Ireland were the first Religious Sisters to set foot on the Australian continent. They were led by Mother Mary John Cahill. The other sisters were Mary Lawrence Cater, Mary Baptist De Lacy, Mary Frances de Sales O'Brien and Mary Xavier Williams, who was a novice.

Sisters of Charity of Australia

The Sisters of Charity of Australia have operated independently of the congregation in Ireland since 1842. St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, was founded by the Sisters in 1857. In 1925, the Sisters of Charity ventured to Queensland, Australia, to open a school, Mt St Michael's College - originally known as Grantuly until 1941 - in Ashgrove.

Sisters of Charity of Australia

The spirituality of the Sisters of Charity derives from the life of St. Vincent de Paul and the vision of Mary Aikenhead, their foundress. In addition to the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, the Sisters of Charity take a fourth vow of service to the poor. For the Sisters of Charity, "Service of the Poor" denotes not only the alleviation of a present affliction by immediate action, but also includes having a "preferential option for the poor".

Services

The ministries of the Sisters of Charity of Australia have been varied in nature from the time of their founding. From ministering in prisons to managing hospitals and acting to conserve environments, they have been quick to "read the signs of the times" and move to where they have been most needed, in the greatest service to the poor. One of their most prominent ministries was the establishment of St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney in 1857. St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne was opened in 1893.

In 2009, the stewardship of St Vincent's Health Australia was passed to Mary Aikenhead Ministries, a newly founded arm operating under the Australian division of the Sisters of Charity.

In 1957, the Sisters opened Mt Olivet Hospital as a hospice in Brisbane. It now provides a wider range of hospital services and has been renamed St Vincent's Private Hospital.

In addition to hospital services, under the stewardship of Mary Aikenhead Ministries, St Vincent’s Health Australia started their first aged care facility in 1977 at Kangaroo Point under the banner of St Vincent’s Care Services. This has since expanded to 23 aged care homes as well as retirement living and in home care services across Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

Heritage Centre and Archives

In June 2019, the Sisters of Charity of Australia opened their Heritage Centre and Archives in Potts Point, Sydney, adjacent to St Vincent's Ladies' College, the Congregational Chapel, and the original site of St Vincent's Private Hospital Sydney. The Centre houses an exhibition space which tells the story of the Sisters of Charity since their arrival in 1838, as well as the archives and meeting spaces.

Schools

Following is a timeline of the schools which were either founded by the Sisters of Charity of Australia, or at which the Sisters had a foundational or otherwise significant impact on the school through teaching and administration. This timeline was authored by Danielle Achikian in her book Ministry of Love: The story of the Sister of Charity.