The second pilgrimage held in Eden to honour Australia’s first saint was attended by a long line of worshippers.

Led by Catholic Archbishop Christopher Prowse, it drew a couple of buses filled with pilgrims, some coming from as far away as the South Coast and Canberra to show their respect for Mary MacKillop. 

According to Benedetta Bennett, a Sister of St Joseph, Saint Mary MacKillop’s mother Flora drowned off Green Cape in the wreck of the Ly-ee-moon in 1886 while travelling to Sydney to assist with a bazaar to raise money for orphanages. 

“Her body was picked up by the pilot boat and brought to Eden, to the Pier Hotel, where some ladies cared for it until it could be taken to Sydney,” Sister Bennett said.  

“In gratitude Mary MacKillop promised to send Sisters to Eden to commence a school and when visiting Eden personally thanked the ladies for their care of her mother’s body.” 

She established the Sisters of St Joseph Convent, then visited the church and school in 1899 and 1901 where she taught the students. 

“So this place was very much appreciated by Mary MacKillop,” Archbishop Prowse said.

“She came here twice to thank the people of Eden for the reverence that the people of Eden gave to the dead body of her mother until the family could come down from Sydney and claim the body and take it for burial up in Sydney.”

He said Eden was “a place of great love for Mary MacKillop”.

“Clearly, if your own mother died somewhere you would remember, and Mary MacKillop would remember coming here.

“She promised to send the Josephite Sisters here over 100 years ago and they’re still here. Long may they live.” 

He was speaking to the pilgrims at a lookout over Aslings Beach, ending by saying “that which we hear Mary MacKillop heard; the surging of the seas”. 

Starting at the Australian Rules oval the pilgrimage ended at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church and was followed by a Mass.

After the walk, Archbishop Prowse blessed a recently-installed bronze statue of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop which had been donated by an anonymous benefactor in honour of the saint. It has been placed at the St Mary MacKillop Museum. 

Sister Bennett said a lesson that could be learnt from the relationship St MacKillop had with her mother was the importance of reciprocal love and trust within the family unit. 

“As Mary learned generosity, forgiveness, trust in God’s Providence from her mother, so we need to look to people of a similar calibre for our example," she said.