In March of 2013, Irish-Australian nun Mary Glowrey was declared a “Servant of God” by the Bishop of Guntur in India setting her on her journey to becoming recognized as a Saint.

Born in 1887, Sister Glowrey was the third of nine children born of Irish ancestry in Birregurra,  Victoria with her grandparents on both sides having left Ireland during the famine. She worked
at St Vincent’s Hospital and the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne but felt compelled to go to India when she read about the high level of infant mortality there.

“It brought me face to face with Christ. My life’s work lay clear before me now. It was to be medical mission work in India,” she said later in life.

During her time in India, she became a medical missionary with the Society of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Guntur and spent the rest of her life working in India, training local women to become nurses and midwives. She was also the founding president of the Catholic Women’s League of Victoria and Wagga Wagga.

Later in life she developed a tumour and travelled to the Netherlands to get it removed. Afterwards, she travelled to Ireland to discuss the possibility of training Indian women as doctors at University College Cork but her request was denied. She died in Bangalore in 1957 at the age of 70.

In order for her to become fully recognized as a saint, there must be evidence of favors or miracles attributed to her work. Bishop Gali Bali has invited anyone who can help this cause to come forward. The League has also established a register to record the accounts of people who believe they received spiritual favours through her intercession. However, it is understood there is a lot of evidence of her intercessory power and if accepted, will become Australia’s second saint after Mary McKillop, writes the Irish Echo.