After Mary MacKillop, Moves to Recognise Caroline Chisholm as Australia's Next Saint

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
4 Jan 2010

Now Pope Benedict XVI has cleared the way for Mary MacKillop to become Australia's first saint,  attention has turned to Caroline Chisholm, one of Colonial Australia's most heroic women as a possible candidate for sainthood.

Following the Pope's statement the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell said the  canonisation of Mary MacKillop gave hope to the cause of other women, such as Caroline Chisholm and the "enormous work she did for women in Sydney" during the rough and squalid nineteenth century in the penal colony.

"If Caroline Chisholm had belonged to a religious order or like Blessed Mary MacKillop had  established one, I am sure she would have been considered for beatification by now," says Clara Ceoghegan, historian and long-time champion of the cause for Sainthood for Caroline Chisholm. "But because she was a lay woman, her unstinting work for women immigrants in the Colonies in the 1800s was barely noticed by the Church hierarchy of the time."

Although Caroline Chisholm's life was characterised by dedication and an unceasing commitment to the physical and spiritual wellbeing of single women and families who immigrated to what was then a penal colony on the other side of the world, because she was a lay woman, a mother of six and a wife, records of her work, letters and life are far harder to come by than those that exist for Mary MacKillop.

But a search is now underway to uncover more information as well as any incidents where prayers said in her name have resulted in her intercession and possible miracles.

CAROLINE DIED IN BRITAIN - CANONISATION CAUSE UP TO THEM
Although Church tradition dictates that the bishop or archbishop of the diocese where a candidate for possible canonisation died, the Diocese of Northampton where Caroline Chisholm was born and where she later died, have not acted so far.

"She is not known in England the way she is here," Clara explains. But she does not believe this will be a problem.

"These days we live in a globalised age and I am convinced if we start the ball rolling in Australia and collect all the information we can, it can be forwarded to Northampton where they can take over and continue the process from there."

According to Clara and members of the Caroline Chisholm's Friends the English-born mother of six is very much a woman of today, despite the fact she lived and died more than 130 years ago.

"She really was a citizen of the world and as a pilgrim and advocate for women, worked tirelessly in England, India and Australia for the wellbeing of all."

But details of Caroline Chisholm's life and correspondence, as well as the results of prayers to this extraordinary woman since her death in 1877 remain patchy.

"Several biographies of Caroline Chisholm have been written and with each, new information comes to light," says Clara who cites the recent publication of a letter written to Bishop Ullathorne, the first bishop to be assigned to Australia, as one of the most exciting and definitive finds of recent times.

WORK WITH MIGRANTS A VOCATION AND A PASSION
"In the letter Caroline makes it clear she did not convert to Catholicsm because of her marriage, and was already in the process of becoming a Catholic when she met her husband. She also talks about her work with immigrant women and migrant families as her vocation and laments she has had to take her boys out of school as she can no longer afford to keep them there."

Unlike her contemporaries, Elizabeth Fry and Florence Nightingale, who were also great reformers, Caroline Chisholm was not wealthy and her work, which was fully supported and encouraged by her husband, took a considerable financial as well as personal toll on the family.

"She truly was heroic," says Clara, adding that the letter from Caroline to Ullathorne was uncovered by Dr Carol Walker and appears in her 2009 biography: A Saviour of Living Cargoes, The Life and Times of Caroline Chisholm.

Clara, who is also Education officer for the Archdiocese of Melbourne's Office for Evangelisation, says attempts to highlight the extraordinary work of Mrs Chisholm and promote her cause as a Saint date back to the 1920s when a Sydney newspaper first suggested the woman who had single-handedly saved the lives of thousands of young female immigrants and families, be considered for canonisation.

In the 1950s, with the publication of Mary Kiddle's biography, the question of sainthood was raised again and in the 1960s, picked up by the Catholic Women's League who worked on Caroline Chisholm's cause for more than 20 years. But with the unexpected death of CWL member and Chisholm biographer, Mary Hogan, progress stalled and fell into abeyance.

Then 10 years ago with the publication of British writer, Joanna Bogle's biography, the Emigrants' Friend, canonisation for Caroline Chisholm was once again in the news.

A CASE FOR CANONISATION
But this time, inspired by the likely canonisation of Mary MacKillop this year, Friends of Caroline Chisholm are determined to make a case for her canonisation and pay tribute not only to her devout and profound faith, but her work with migrants, most of whom were tipped ashore in the free-for-all that was Sydneytown of the 1800s with nowhere to stay, no jobs and no money.

Making it her mission to provide housing and work for these women so they would not have to turn to prostitution in desperation, Caroline Chisholm frequently gave them shelter in her own home. She also set about improving conditions on the ships that brought them to Australia as well as successfully petitioning the British Government to grant free passage to Australia for Irish orphans and the wives and families of convicts whose sentences were served.

By establishing the Family Colonisation and Loan Society, which was backed by the Colonial Government of Australia, Caroline ensured immigrant ships were staffed with competent surgeons and contained hospital facilities for the specialist care to young mothers. She also insisted that ship owners run vessels that were hygienic, offered privacy and adequate rations.

Full of energy and a passion for helping the poor and females in particular, she founded Australia's first employment register and in 1841 set up the Female Immigrants' Home on Sydney's Bent Street where in the first year of operation 1400 women were given shelter before finding work and a future on settlements in the Australian bush.

Any information, letters, anecdotes or evidence of Caroline Chisholm's intercession as a result of prayers would be gratefully received by the Friends of Caroline Chisholm. To find out more log on to: www.mrschisholm.com