pathways, August 2007
The Sisters of Charity celebrate ... 160 years in Hobart and 150 years at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney.
The final preparations are in hand for celebrations to mark publicly the 160th anniversary of the arrival of the Sisters of Charity in Hobart, Tasmania.
So, in June 1847, in response to pleas from Bishop Willson, of Hobart, Sisters John Cahill (pictured left),
de Sales O'Brien and Xavier Williams (pictured right)
set sail aboard the Louisa
and arrived in Hobart where they were warmly welcomed by Bishop Willson and the Catholics of his diocese. On July 2, the Sisters moved into the residence next to St Joseph's Church where they were to remain for over a century. The ministry of the Congregation in Tasmania was blessed in having the warm support of Bishop Willson and his vicar Father Hall, and it prospered accordingly ... (
Sisters of Charity website)
A Mass and dinner for Tasmania's Religious and clergy were held on June 20, the 160th anniversary of the three Sisters' sailing into Hobart.
Tasmania's Archbishop Adrian Doyle, in his
homily, said that it had been a "significant and courageous decision" on the part of the Sisters to mark a new start in Hobart instead of returning to Ireland after the abortive attempt to establish themsleves in Sydney.
"So much of the religious landscape in Tasmania, and indeed the whole of Australia, would have been different had they too opted to return home.
"They may not have been heavily into strategic plans and themes for conferences but they were 'witnesses of charity and builders of peace'...
"The vineyard that was planted 160 years ago has continued to grow and to mature. There have been times when pruning needed to occur. But the fruit is there to be seen, in the special apostolates of education (Mount Carmel College, Sandy Bay), health (the former St Vincent's Hospital, Launceston, now a campus of the Little Company of Mary's Calvary Hospital) and assistance to the poor (especially in the days of the Female Factory, South Hobart)."
On Our Lady of Mount Carmel Day, July 16, Mount Carmel College also highlighted the anniversary.
On Saturday, August 18, a visit will be paid to the site of the Female Factory. Mass will be celebrated in St Joseph's Church at 5pm before a dinner is held at Wrest Point from 7pm. During the dinner, a book written by Hobart Sister of Charity, Josephine Cannell RSC, To the Beckoning Shores, will be launched. Among the guests will be Congregational Leader, Sr Elizabeth Dodds RSC.
MEANWHILE ... celebrations which began in January this year are continuing in Sydney to mark the 150th anniversary of St Vincent's Hospital.
A sesquicentenary Mass will be celebrated on Sunday, August 26, in St Mary's Cathedral, at 2pm.
Five Sisters of Charity - Mothers Mary John Cahill, Xavier Williams and de Sales O'Brien, and Sisters Baptist De Lacy and Lawrence Cator - were the first religious community of women to come to Australia when they arrived on the Francis Spaight in December 31, 1838. Their mission was to care for the poor and needy.
St Vincent's Hospital opened at 'Tarmons', Potts Point, in 1857. Initially an outpatient hospital, a women's ward opened on November 4, 1857 and a men's ward followed in April 1858. Supported by generous donations from the local community, St Vincent's Hospital thrived and the Sisters soon had to begin planning for a larger hospital. St Vincent's Hospital was relocated to its current site in Darlinghurst in 1870.
Today, St Vincent's Hospital is one of Australia's leading teaching, research and acute care hospitals with a world-renowned reputation in cardiac care, HIV/AIDS medicine, lung and bone marrow transplantation and cancer services.
The hospital has more than 300 inpatient beds and treats more than half a million patients each year.
During its 150 years of service, St Vincent's Hospital has pioneered clinical practice in a variety of specialties. Among many firsts, St Vincent's conducted Australia's first heart transplant in 1968 and the first bone marrow transplant in 1975. The first case of AIDS was diagnosed in Australia at St Vincent's Hospital in 1982.
The hospital now is part of the St Vincent's Darlinghurst Campus which comprises Sacred Heart Hospice, St Vincent's Private, St Vincent's Clinic, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research.
In 2001, the St Vincent's Darlinghurst Campus merged with the Mater Hospital in North Sydney to become St Vincents & Mater Health Sydney, part of the national Sisters of Charity Health Service. St Joseph's Hospital and St Joseph's Village in Auburn, which are also facilities of the Sisters of Charity, joined St Vincents & Mater Health in 2005.
COMMEMORATIVE BOOK
St Vincent's Hospital 1857-2007: 150 years of Charity, Care and Compassion
A commemorative pictorial history celebrating 150 years of St Vincent's Hospital and the Sisters of Charity
publisher: Kingsclear Books
$35 from The Little Shop, St Vincent's Hospital foyer
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