Mary Gertrude (born Anne Greene, 1884–1965), was an Australian nurse and provincial superior, and a member of the Sisters of

St. John of God John of God ( pt, João de Deus; es, Juan de Dios; lat, Joannes Dei; March 8, 1495 – March 8, 1550) was a Portuguese soldier turned health-care worker in Spain, whose followers later formed the Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God, ...

Early life

Born in

Killard Doonbeg (Killard) ( ga, Cill Ard) is a civil parish on the Atlantic coast of County Clare in Ireland.Placenames Database ...

, County Clare, Ireland, she settled in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

around 1905.

Vocation

She worked as a nurse in hospitals run by her order in Western Australia. In 1929, she began serving at the order's mission in north Western Australia, where she was influential in securing a hospital for Aboriginal Australian patients with leprosy. She cared for patients in the hospital for ten years. Mother Mary Gertrude was appointed provincial superior of her order in the North-West in 1947, and served two six-year terms. She became a member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1948. After her service as provincial superior, she was appointed superior of the Sisters of St. John of God convent in Derby.

Death

She died as the result of a car accident in Broome, on 20 February 1965. She is buried in the Broome cemetery.

References

1884 births 1965 deaths People from County Clare 20th-century Australian Roman Catholic nuns Irish emigrants to Australia {{Australia-reli-bio-stub