Villa Maria College, Christchurch
Encyclopedia
Villa Maria College, Christchurch, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 was opened on 18 February 1918 with 14 pupils. It was founded by the Sisters of Mercy
Sisters of Mercy
The Religious Order of the Sisters of Mercy is an order of Catholic women founded by Catherine McAuley in Dublin, Ireland, in 1831. , the order has about 10,000 members worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations....

 and served as a parish school when boys were admitted in 1921. From 1941 the school reverted to being a girl's college. Villa Maria College is a day school but it also had boarders between 1935 and 1979. In 1981, the college was integrated in to the New Zealand state school system under the Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975 but its proprietors remain the Sisters of Mercy (through the Sisters of Mercy Trust Board).

Sister Pauline Margaret O'Regan

In the 2001 Birthday Honours
2001 Birthday Honours
Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in the Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country...

, former principal, Sister Pauline Margaret O'Regan was made a Dame.

Sources

  • Villa Maria College golden jubilee, 1918-1968 Christchurch, 1968.
  • Mary Declan Burke RSM, Mercy through the years : the centennial history of the Sisters of Mercy, Christchurch Diocese, 1878-1978, Sisters of Mercy Trust Board, Christchurch, 1978.
  • Michael O'Meeghan S.M., Held firm by faith : a history of the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch, 1840-1987, Catholic Diocese of Christchurch, Christchurch, 1988.
  • Villa Maria College, seventy-five years, 1918-1993, Villa Maria College, Christchurch, 1993.
  • Michael King, God's farthest outpost : a history of Catholics in New Zealand, Viking, Auckland 1997.
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