Perpetual Monastic Profession of Mother Mary Sebastian OSB

Bishop Anthony Fisher OP with Mother Mary Cyril OSB and Mother Mary Sebastian OSB. Photo: Virginia Knight

By Virginia Knight, Catholic Outlook, June 2012

On 14 May 2012, Mother Mary Sebastian of Christ the King took her Perpetual vows in the Adorers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Montmartre OSB at Tyburn Priory in Riverstone.

Presiding over the Perpetual Monastic Profession ceremony Bishop Anthony Fisher OP thanked the Prioress, Mother Mary Cyril OSB, and the Tyburn community for their hospitality, and congratulated them on this new step in the life of one of their sisters.

Mother Cyril said that the occasion was a blessed and joyful one for the Tyburn community; seeing their young sister place her whole life into the hands of God, and totally consecrating herself to the worship and praise of the Most Blessed Trinity through the Divine Liturgy, the monastic ‘work and prayer’, and Eucharistic Adoration in their Benedictine Congregation.

“Mother Mary Sebastian, our new ‘spiritual mother of souls’ certainly made her profession within the heart of Mother Church, with our Bishop Anthony presiding with a holy elation, humour and gentle understanding love, surrounded by many priests and deacons, Mother’s own family and friends of our Community,” Mother Cyril said.

Adriana (now Mother Mary Sebastian) was born on 29 June 1988. She was educated at St Patrick’s Primary in Parramatta and completed her schooling at Catherine McAuley Westmead.

Upon completion of her Higher School Certificate, she entered the priory at Riverstone beginning her official response to her religious vocation with the support and blessing of her mother, Lina Nicholas, and siblings Laura, Trista, Laila and Thomas.

“One day, in Year 12, I was at home working on the computer, when all of a sudden I knew that God wanted me to become a nun RIGHT NOW!” she said. “It was like I was struck by lightning!

“I let Fr Warren (Edwards) know immediately, and the next day he told me about the Tyburn Nuns in Riverstone. I had never heard of them. I lived with the Tyburn community for a week and loved it so much that I cried when I had to leave. I knew that this was where God wanted me to be! 

“I entered the convent straight after I finished my Year 12 exams. I was not interested in what HSC mark I got – in fact, I forgot all about it, I was just too excited about entering the convent!”

As part of the Tyburn community she will deepen her knowledge of God and her faith; living a life of monastic work and prayer. As Bishop Anthony said in his homily, she had chosen the path Vatican II calls perfectae caritatis, the perfection of charity and of love, that is the goal of religious life.

“She has sought to be spiritually remade in the image of Christ the King by the Tyburn nuns or by Christ through them,” Bishop Anthony said.

“For a long time, I have been eagerly awaiting my Monastic Profession Ceremony so that I could completely and irrevocably belong to God,” Mother Sebastian said. “I have been counting the days and couldn’t believe that this wonderful day had finally arrived.”

In taking her final vows, Bishop Anthony commended Mother Sebastian on her radical gift of herself to Christ, describing this as a beautiful, generous and heroic thing.

“This chapel is full of people who admire you for it and support you prayerfully in it,” Bishop Anthony said. “We all pray today that whatever comes you will always recall this day on which Christ said to you: My joy is in you and My will is that your joy be complete.”

Mother Sebastian rejoiced in the company of the sisters, her family and friends and the presence of Bishop Anthony. “It was lovely to see him looking so joyful while he was praying the blessings, and giving me my new cowl, crucifix and ring,” she said.

“Everything in the ceremony was so special. I made my vows of ‘stability, conversion of life and obedience unto death’; confident in the knowledge that now I am totally belonging to God, for always!

“It was good to sing my Suscipe, which is a prayer from the Psalms asking God for His powerful and upholding help. Everything was so beautiful and the day could not have been more perfect. I am SO happy! Thanks be to God!”

At the close of his homily, Bishop Anthony said we must all pray for many more vocations to the Tyburn community worldwide and in Riverstone.

“Thanks be to God for this powerhouse of prayer in our Diocese and city. Thanks be to God for these faithful daughters of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of St Benedict and St Scholastica! Thanks be to God for Sr M Sebastian of Christ the King!”

To find out more about the Tyburn Nuns, write to the Prioress, Mother Mary Cyril OSB, 325 Garfield Road East, Riverstone, NSW, 2765, tel (02) 9627 5171 or visit the website: www.tyburnconvent.org.uk

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