The good Sams

In February 1857, in a derelict former gaol in Sydney's Pitt Street South, a group of five women women donned the habit and began their religious formation, becoming the first congregation of religious women founded in Australia. The Sisters of the Good Samaritan-- the Good Sams-- were established by John Bede Polding, Catholic archbishop of Sydney. While endorsing the main principles of the ancient Rule of Saint Benedict, Polding adapted the traditional rules of enclosure to involve this small group of women in active missionary work caring for the poor and sick. Before long, they were also committed to education, teaching first in orphanages and parish schools, then venturing far into the Australian outback, and later to war-devastated Japan. The Good Sams played a vital role in education, sharing the problems of far-flung communities, bringing music and a feminine, cultured presence to struggling townships and serving as role models for generations of young women as they took leadership roles in an era when women were not prominent in the community.-- Front book jacket flap.