Constance Helen Gladman (23 December 1922 – 30 November 1964), also known as Sr. Mary Rosina, was a professed religious of the

Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart The Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic religious institute founded on 30 August 1874 by Servant of God Jules Chevalier (1824-1907), the Founder of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. From the Latin ...

and a

Servant of God "Servant of God" is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression "servant of God" appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in th ...

. There is current action to seek her canonisation. She was born in

Koroit, Victoria Koroit is a small rural town in western Victoria, Australia a few kilometres north of the Princes Highway, north-west of Warrnambool and west of Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Moyne local government area located amidst rolling green past ...

the oldest of seven children, raised in Warrong and educated in

Warrnambool Warrnambool ( Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Warrnambool had a population of 35,743. Situated on the Princes Highway, Warrnambool (Al ...

and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. She died in

Kokopo Kokopo is the capital of East New Britain Province in Papua New Guinea. It is administered under Kokopo-Vunamami Urban LLG. The capital was moved from Rabaul in 1994 when the volcanoes Tavurvur and Vulcan erupted. As a result, the population of ...

(Near

Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in ...

), on the island of

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the Dam ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. Sister Rosina was beheaded in her classroom while working as a teaching nun among impoverished communities. There is a push for her

canonisation Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of s ...

as a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

References

1922 births 1964 deaths 20th-century Australian Roman Catholic nuns Australian educators Female Roman Catholic missionaries Australian Roman Catholic missionaries Australian people murdered abroad People murdered in Papua New Guinea Roman Catholic missionaries in Papua New Guinea Australian expatriates in Papua New Guinea Missionary educators Deaths by decapitation Servants of God {{Australia-reli-bio-stub