Mary Glowrey, a Melbourne University graduate who went on to work as a missionary in India, looks set to become the nation's second saint after the first stage of the long process began yesterday.
Glowrey was born in 1887 in Birregurra, 135km southwest of Melbourne, but moved to Melbourne to study medicine.
After graduating with a bachelor of medicine and a bachelor of surgery, Ms Glowrey worked for a short time in Sydney before moving to Melbourne's Eye and Ear Hospital and St Vincent's Hospital. She later opened her own practice on Collins St.
She said she had her religious calling at East Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral in 1915 after reading a pamphlet about the plight of children in India.
In 1920 she migrated to Bangalore, where she joined the Congregation of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and carried out missionary work there until her death in 1957.
The Catholic Women’s League of Victoria and Wagga Wagga has been working closely with the Society of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in India for the past two years preparing for the commencement of Mary Glowrey’s cause.
The Archbishop of Bangalore, the Most Rev. Dr. Bernard Moras, appointed Fr Paul Puthanangady on 11 November this year to assist and guide the Society of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the preparation of all documents and records needed in the preliminary phase of Mary Glowrey’s cause. The Catholic Women’s League of Victoria and Wagga Wagga hold more than 80% of Mary Glowrey’s personal writings.
The inaugural President of the League was Mary Glowrey, a gifted young doctor whose actions were grounded in an understanding of the absolute inviolability of human life. In 1920, Mary left her thriving career as an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist. Surrendering herself completely to God’s will, Mary sailed for India to become a medical missionary with the Congregation of the Society of Jesus Mary Joseph in Guntur. Pope Pius XI bestowed a special blessing on her medical mission work and Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart, as Mary Glowrey was then known, became the first nun-doctor missionary.
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