STORY - Once in a lifetime

It took Sr Cabrini Boyle a few hours to open the envelope Fr Peter Rees had left for her. When she did open it she was “completely shocked” because the envelope contained a note from Fr Peter telling her that Sugarloaf Parish would be sponsoring her to attend Mary MacKillop’s canonisation ceremony in Rome.

The canonisation is going to be extra special for Sr Cabrini due to her long standing devotion to Br Andre Bessette. Br Andre will be canonised alongside Mary MacKillop in October. She recalls reading about Br Andre, known as the “Miracle Man of Montreal” when she was a novice. “I just loved him. He was an uneducated simple person who was given very menial jobs to do yet he sanctified himself and through him miracles happened.”

Sr Cabrini speaks with great reverence about Mary MacKillop: she most admires her tenacity and great faith and is in awe of her ability to always speak kindly of others, no matter what they did to her. Through Sr Cabrini’s friendship with Sr Mary Joseph, a Brown Josephite who used to live at Boolaroo, the parish has a Mary MacKillop relic in the church at West Wallsend. Sr Mary Joseph gave Sr Cabrini a piece of wood from Mary’s original coffin and Artie Vestidello, a dedicated parishioner, has now created a beautiful frame for this precious relic.

Sr Cabrini’s own story reflects the faithful lives lived by Mary MacKillop and Br Andre. One of the youngest of twelve children, her father died when she was only four, leaving her mother to raise the family on her own. Sr Cabrini recalls that the family motto was “God will provide” which mirrors Mary’s injunction to “Trust in God”. At the age of eleven Sr Cabrini was involved in a car accident that almost killed her. Her mother was told it would be better if she died as the likelihood of serious brain damage was very high. Her mother “rang every prayer place in NSW” and sat by her bed and prayed. Seven days later, after an operation the doctor had read about but never performed , Sr Cabrini woke from her coma. Many years later, when she entered the convent at Lochinvar, a Redemptorist priest in Western Australia recognised her name in a publication and wrote to tell her that he often preached about her mother’s great faith.

Although Sr Cabrini believes that she has met many saints in her life, her own mother and many of the nuns she has worked with among them, she knows that having a canonised saint for Australia is incredibly important and delights in the interest shown by all Australians, not just Catholics.

Sr Cabrini’s first trip overseas was a pilgrimage to Medjugorje in 1998 which included a three day visit to Rome. She recalls marvelling at the juxtaposition of the modern and ancient and remembers thinking to herself, “It will be a dream fulfilled if I ever get to Rome again.” Now, thanks to the wonderful people of Sugarloaf Parish, that dream is coming true. She says, “I am so grateful to the parish for allowing me this once in a lifetime experience, one that I never imagined.”

Joanne Isaac

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