A Mass of Thanksgiving

13 April 2013. More than 850 people fill St Mary’s Cathedral to celebrate a Centenary Mass of Than

13 April 2013. More than 850 people fill St Mary’s Cathedral to celebrate a Centenary Mass of Thanksgiving for Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor. The procession includes no less than six bishops, two monsignors and 42 priests. In his homily, Principal Celebrant, Bishop Terence Brady, Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney, says Eileen’s status as a ‘saint-in-waiting’ is not without foundation. “To many of us, she is already an uncanonised saint,” he says. “Many of us have a desire to see Eileen O’Connor officially beatified and ultimately to be declared a saint of our church. Work already has been completed, however more is to be done and it is really up to a number of us here today to work much more deliberately to make it happen. I dream for the day when the words declaring Eileen O’Connor a saint of the universal church will fill St Peter’s Square.” The bells of St Mary’s peal for 30 minutes as hundreds of friends – old and new – mingle in the brilliant autumn sunshine.