Color Street Photography

St Francis Xavier's Catholic Cathedral
Adelaide.

This church is near my bus stop in the city centre of Adelaide and occasionally when I alight, I will visit the Cathedral because on weekdays it is quiet - often with no more than one or two congregants praying peacefully. The first occasion depicted was like this. On the second occasion, some kind of ceremony was underway though the Priest was absent so I must presume it was not mass.

I have a very tenuous connection to this place. A few years ago, a 19th century nun named Mary MacKillop was sanctified to become Saint Mary MacKillop. A statue of her now stands beside the cathedral. In life, for a time she had been excommunicated by the local Bishop following a dispute over certain matters. She had previously formed her own Order of nuns and during her excommunication, they basically were forced to become homeless and unable to continue their work.

That is, until an Adelaide entrepreneur and civic minded businessman stepped in and donated homes for them to live, work and pray. Eventually the excommunication was lifted (tacit recognition by the church authorities that she was in the right all along - the Bishop involved sounds like a bone head) and she was able to continue her work. The entrepreneur who helped her out in time of need was the uncle of my Great Grandmother. They were far from being Catholics and the uncle was simply someone who was dedicated through his life in the new colony of South Australia to "good works" - helping people in need.53605311566_81e3b93db2_h.jpg


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