Ave Maria

28 September 1902. Eileen O’Connor is confirmed at St Ignatius Church, Richmond, Victoria. She chooses the confirmation name of Maria, a precursor to her lifelong devotion to Our Lady. In late 1911, Eileen experiences several apparitions of Our Lady and Our Lord and offers her suffering to the work of Our Lady. In April 1913, she co-founds Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor, a community of Catholic women dedicated to serving the sick poor in their own homes. This mantilla and set of rosary beads belonged to Eileen.