A desire to help the poor and to be a missionary led to a vocation to the religious life which has now spanned across several continents over more than 30 years for Perth woman, Margaret Talbot, or Sr Mary Margaret of the Eucharist as she is now known.
In a special interview with The Record Magazine, Sr Mary spoke about her life as a religious sister and what inspired her to dedicate her life to God through constant prayer and the Eucharist.
Born in Jamshedpur, India, Margaret was the fourth of eight children of Patrick, a mechanical fitter and turner and Crystal Talbot, full-time mother.
In 1961, the family moved to London, England, where Margaret started school at St Mary’s Primary Hendon, Middlesex, before heading to St Thomas Aquinas College, Stanmore.
After some nine years in England, the family emigrated to Perth, arriving in Australia by boat in 1970, and Margaret resumed her education at Sacred Heart, Highgate which she completed at the age of 16, where she then went on to complete a commercial technical course for one year at what was then known as Balga TAFE.
With the help of her sister Primrose, Margaret went on to work in the records section with the Department of State Housing, having previously undertaken work at a large retail company.
It was 1975 and it was then, she recalls, that she started feeling a strong call to do something different. What she now knows as her initial calling.
“I wanted to be a missionary and I read a book called Something Beautiful for God, by Malcolm Muggeridge on Mother Theresa,” Margaret said.
“I understood very clearly afterwards that I had a strong desire to be with the poor, I wanted to help,” she said.
An active member of Mirrabooka Parish, St Gerard’s Church, Margaret was volunteering her skills as Secretary to the St Vincent de Paul Society, visiting those in need and delivering vouchers to assist with purchasing food and clothing.
In early 1980, Margaret made the decision to enter the Sisters of Charity, which was at the time based in Fiztroy, Melbourne.
“I liked the Order very much and used to go visiting prisoners, drug addicts and the poor with other sisters.
“At the time I was very young and missed my family very much,” she says.
And so, after six months, Margaret returned to Perth, taking up work at an aged care facility. She spent the next the few years contemplating where life would take her next, praying for inspiration.
“I belonged to a group who used to dedicate going to the Blessed Sacrament every day for one hour for a month,” Margaret explained.
“Unfortunately a series of events prevented me from going to a pilgrimage to Lourdes to see the Holy Father, so I waited until the time was right,” she said.
“I belonged to a group who used to dedicate going to the Blessed Sacrament every day for one hour for a month,” Margaret explained.
It was the invitation of then Geraldton Bishop Barry Hickey to attend the Eucharistic Congress in Nairobi, Kenya in August 1985 that Margaret realised God had something special planned for her life.
It was there that Margaret found a brochure on the Order of Perpetual Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The order was originally established in Italy by Blessed Mother Mary Magdalene of the Incarnation, who was made Blessed in 2008.
“I thought it was a nice souvenir,” Margaret recalls of the experience.
“But I was determined to find out more so when I returned home to Perth I wrote to the Mother Superior, but I didn’t receive a response.”
Margaret took her cause to then Cardinal Otunga, who in turn wrote to local Bishop Caesar Maria Gatimu.
It was Bishop Gatimu who encouraged the Mother Superior to accept Margaret into the Order. And so on 7 October 1986, Margaret entered the Order as a Postulant for three months, which was extended for another three, due to fact it was too difficult for her to return to Australia.
After 15 months as a Novice, she made her first profession on 26 December, 1989 and her Solemn Profession on 26 December, 1992. Her mother Crystal was present for both occasions.
Now based in Vigevano, Milan, Sr Mary Margaret says she never forgets the words of Bishop Gatimu.
“He encouraged me in my desire to love Jesus through the Eucharist,” Sr Mary says.
“And instilled in me the words of the Magnificat.”
From pages 12 and 13 of Issue 11: ‘Adult Faith: Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Book of Numbers’ of The Record Magazine