The Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of Saint Benedict was the first Australian ‘home grown’ Congregation of Catholic women religious.
Archbishop John Bede Polding, an English Benedictine monk and Australia’s first bishop, founded the congregation in Sydney in 1857. He gathered together five women and formed the Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict. Polding invited Sister Scholastica Gibbons, a Sister of Charity living in Sydney, to assist in the founding of the Good Sams.
Life was extremely difficult for women whether on their own or struggling to support a family. There was no social welfare, limited state education and often nowhere to live.
Specific ministries of the Sisters were the care of needy women and the education of children; Polding also encouraged the Sisters to apply themselves to every other 'charitable work'. |
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