Born on 23 June 1887 in Birregurra, Victoria – about 135 km west of Melbourne – Mary Glowrey was the third of nine children. Intelligent and eager to learn, she did well at school and by the time she left her outstanding academic accomplishments had earned her a cash scholarship to begin studying for a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne. However after a great deal of prayer and the encouragement of her father, Mary switched to Medicine, an unusual choice for a woman in those days. By 1910, one year after the death of fellow Victorian and religious, St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, she graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery.

In July 1919, six months before she left Australia to minister to India’s poorest, Dr Mary Glowrey wrote to her mother. ‘For four years now I have realised that this is God’s appointed task for me,’ she explained. ‘…there is so much work to be done in India and while I stay here it remains undone.’ Mary was 32 years old at the time, a successful professional woman with private medical rooms in inner Melbourne and appointments at the city’s leading hospitals. The sense of vocation she had experienced in 1915, and only briefly shared with family, had not dimmed as she worked, studied and served the community during war-time. She was particularly determined to use her skills to help poor Indian women, who would not consult male doctors. 

The next two years were spent in New Zealand where she did her residency. Returning to Melbourne in 1912, Mary Glowrey built a successful private practice with rooms in Collins Street. During this time she also worked at Victoria’s St Vincent’s Hospital, where she had gained invaluable clinical experience as a student, as the hospital’s” Physician to Outpatients.” She would later say: “I can never sufficiently express the gratitude I owe to St Vincent’s Hospital.” Mary’s religious vocation came in 1915 after attending Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral, when by chance she happened to read a pamphlet about the appalling death rate amongst babies in India, and the urgent need for medical missionaries there. The 28-year-old fell to her knees and knew that God was calling her to a life of medical mission work in India. But with the world in the turmoil of World War I, she had to wait until the global conflict ended before she would be able to travel to India and begin her mission. Despite her spiritual humility and natural reticence, the following year Mary was elected founding president of the Catholic Women’s League of Victoria and Wagga Wagga in 1916 and led this inspiring group of young Catholic women seeking to change society through prayer as well as action. Dr Mary Glowrey left Melbourne for India to embark on her vocation as a medical missionary. During this time, she also studied for a higher medical degree with an emphasis on obstetrics, gynaecology and ophthalmology, and in 1919 graduated as Doctor of Medicine. In 1920, 33-year-old Mary sailed for India where she joined the Congregation of the Society of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Guntur.

The remainder of her life until her death in 1957 was spent ministering to the spiritual and medical needs of the people of India, particularly the poor. Her love of India, its culture

and its people led her to explore traditional Indian medicines and to use these as part of her medical arsenal. Recognising the need to promote the Christian use of medicine, in 1943 in the midst of World War II she founded the Catholic Hospital Association of India (CHAI) and several years later established a Catholic Medical College in India to train health professionals both in medical care as well as in Catholic teachings and the understanding of the inviolability of human life.

Throughout her life she was said to radiate Christ by word and example. According to those who knew her she never attempted anything without first praying to the Holy Spirit, knowing that with the help of the Holy Spirit all things are possible. For the final two years of her life, she suffered excruciating physical pain which she bore with extraordinary courage and patience. Mary died in Bangalore on Sunday, 5 May 1957.

Sister Doctor Mary Glowrey Legacy

CHAI was founded in 1943 by an Australian, Sister Doctor Mary Glowrey in the city of Guntur (Andhra Pradesh Capital Region). In his opening address to the roundtable, Director General Rev Mathew Abraham, spoke of CHAI’s beginnings in providing compassionate and affordable care. For a decade, Mary Glowrey was the only member of a religious order permitted to practise medicine through a special dispensation from the Pope. Today, there are 1000 Sister Doctors, 25,000 nurses and 51,000 sisters. University Chancellor Allan Myers AC QC acknowledged this remarkable connection with CHAI, through Mary Glowrey, and the current relationships in palliative care and disability, through programs such as the Mary Glowrey Scholarships. A celebration of the legacy of Mary

Glowrey (unimelb.edu.au) The Catholic Health association of India has turned 75, celebrating past and future links with the University of Melbourne. The Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI) is India’s second largest health provider, a charitable organisation that provides health care to over 20 million patients each year through local community workers.

Professor Craig Jeffrey, of the Australia-India Institute, told the gathering that the common thread across sectors and vertical collaboration was the commitment and emphasis on compassion and seeing and treating the person behind the patient.

The celebrations continued at a reception at the High Commission and this included an address by the Bishop Theodore Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops conference of India. He thanked Australia for the gift of Mary Glowrey. He considered the place where a person came from was the source of who they were. As a young woman, Mary Glowrey, after reading a pamphlet on the plight of children in India, travelled to Guntur to give her compassion and skills as a medical practitioner to the people of India. This was followed by the inauguration of the Mary Glowrey Lilian’s Disability Award by Mr Frank a Ron from the Lilian’s foundation. In her opening address at the commencement of the round table discussion to the reception in her home, The High Commissioner HE Harinder Sidhu acknowledged the remarkable contribution that CHAI has made to compassionate care in India and Mary Glowrey’s legacy, an organisation whose contribution should be acknowledged, celebrated and supported.