The pages of a book written about St Therese of Lisieux changed Sr Carmel Martin RSM’s life forever, reports The Catholic Leader.

The book whispered of holiness through ordinary moments, igniting her heart to embrace love, littleness and a divine calling.

*Sr Carmel Martin RSM with a photo of her parents a medallion of the Tree of Life that she says symbolises family and connectoin with everything around us. PHOTO: Catholic Weekly.*

Sr Carmel, a Mercy Sister who has lived in Australia for many decades, now lives among a handful of other sisters at Nudgee on Brisbane’s northside.

Her vocational story began in rural Ireland when at eight, “Aunty Bessie” gifted the book of the life of St Therese.

“When I was little, I was very skinny and always pale but always loved reading,” she said when recalling receiving this gift.

“I fell in love with Jesus (from reading the book and) wanted to dedicate myself to Him, like St Therese.”

From a family with three sisters and seven brothers, Sr Carmel was in the middle of the girls.

“My vocation came from my parents (John and Bridget),” she said.

“My mother had marvellous faith and daddy did too.”

The Martin family, who were farmers near Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland, were unable to provide a dowry needed to become a Carmelite nun.

“I had finished primary school, and we were poor, of course and my mother had organised that I would go boarding with the Sisters of Mercy, and I possibly would have come home on the weekend,” she said.

At 13, she, and a cousin, who became Mercy Sister Jo Dooley, attended high school in Timoleague, County Cork, which was run by the Brisbane Mercy Sisters.

As a result, they later left for Australia aboard the ocean liner RMS Straithaird to follow the call as Sisters of Mercy “on mission” in Australia.

“As we travelled, I realised that my commitment to being a Sister of Mercy meant that I was leaving my life with my family behind me,” she said.

“…Although, of course the bond with family was unbreakable, ‘a spiritual thing’, and we would always keep in close touch.”

Sr Carmel was professed as Sr Mary Brigetta and then completed junior and senior exams in Australia.

With interest in the Italian, French and German languages, she later studied in Boston towards a Master of Education, specialising in religious education methods, which preceded years of working for Toowoomba Catholic Education.  

“The Holy Spirit was there all the way through,” she said about her study and working years.

“I wish I had the names of all the students I taught.” 

Recalling names was a sentiment ringing true for her time in Stanthorpe where Sr Carmel was first sent to fill in for other Sisters of Mercy “on vacation”.

“I was sent to Stanthorpe (for a month) to take the ‘country kids’ in Thulimbah (just outside the Stanthorpe township) for catechism classes after Mass,” she said, admitting having “no idea what to do”.

After a first taste of Stanthorpe people and weather, Sr Carmel would eventually return as a teacher for a decade from 1973 and then in the role of principal.
She found both “delightful”.

“I didn’t mind the cold, it reminded me of home (Ireland),” she said.

Another standout role was in Brisbane at Holy Spirit School, New Farm among a “wonderful Year Five class”. 

There Sr Carmel taught Sr Sandra Lupi, who is now the congregational leader for the Mercy Sisters.  

“Sandra is a good friend,” she said.

“If I need new shoes, she takes me ‘shopping’. I hope she will be around when I die.” 

Sr Carmel remembered missionary work in Papua New Guinea that followed her teaching career.

“I was in the Catholic training colleges where young Papua New Guineans train for primary teaching,” she said.

“I lectured in the religion department of Holy Trinity Teachers’ College for the first few years, and after that, I had a sabbatical year back in Australia with the Aboriginal community in Woorabinda.

“They are wonderful people in Papua New Guinea.

“I used to go out with another lecturer from the college, into the mountains and watch the lyrebirds. It was wonderful.

“I had a scarf that somebody gave me in Melbourne and this woman there thought it was lovely and I said, ‘You can have it’.

“It was such a pleasure to give to them but there were no big expressions of gratitude. We knew we were appreciated.”

Appreciating her life with other companions at Nudgee, Sr Carmel’s looking forward her 90th birthday on the Feast of the Epiphany in January 2026.

“I’m very peaceful about life,” she said.

This article by Selina Venier was published in The Catholic Leader.