Born:7 April 1927
First Profession: 11 February 1956
Deceased: 20/11/2025
Our Constitutions affirm: “We are missionary for the whole of our lives, wherever we are sent by the Congregation” (C.15). These words aptly describe Sr Mary Aidan who lived her missionary vocation with dedication, compassion and good humour all the days of her life, as she “set out and set out again” (C.16).
Sr Mary Aidan, Patricia Mary Colgan, was born in Milton, New Zealand, on 7 April 1927, daughter of Frank and Annie Colgan. Her sister Joan died as an infant. Her sister Nan had three children Frances, Hugh and Randal who kept in close contact with ‘Aunty Pat’ over the years. Educated by the Sisters of Mercy in Christchurch, she worked in an office for a few years, before qualifying as a Registered Nurse then as a Maternity Nurse. She entered the postulancy at Heretaunga early in 1953 and made first profession on 11 February 1956.
Missionary life for Sr M Aidan began with six years nursing in the hospital in the Chatham Islands. There, she renewed her vows three times, and there she made her perpetual profession on 11 February 1962. Sr M Aidan loved the people and the lifestyle of this special place. Over the years she shared many interesting memories of her various times there: some stories were tragic, some humourous, but all were recalled with affection.
SMSM completed their service in the Chatham Islands in 1999. Sixteen years later, in April 2015, Sr M Aidan was delighted and honoured to return there with Mary-Ann Kaye (former smsm) to represent our Congregation at the dedication of a Memory Board to testify to the work of SMSM during their fifty years’ service. She enjoyed this occasion to catch up with old friends and to meet people she had delivered as babies.
After her first posting to the Chathams, Sr M Aidan spent six months at Aurora Terrace, Wellington and study time in Christchurch to qualify as a registered midwife. She had a brief assignment at Wellington Catholic Social Services, before returning to the Chathams as matron and superior for four years.
Following her second novitiate at Heretaunga in 1968, Sr M Aidan was missioned to Fiji, where she nursed leprosy patients for two years at Makogai. In 1970, Archbishop Pearce asked her to go to Ra to help the women of that rural area by setting up the seven bed Navunibitu Catholic Maternity Unit for the Archdiocese. As an experienced nurse and midwife, Sr M Aidan energetically took on this new venture. She witnessed the depth of poverty in the area, where women worked almost up till the moment of giving birth. She succeeded in extending post-natal stays in hospital for mothers so they could recover safely after giving birth. Her experiences in Ra further shaped her deep compassion and her unshakeable belief in human dignity. Two Sisters of Our Lady of Nazareth worked with her in this mission, and one of them succeeded her as Matron. Ra Maternity Hospital, as it is now known, celebrated its 55th anniversary in 2025.
From Ra, Sr M Aidan moved to nurse at St Elizabeth’s Home, Suva, a substation of Makogai, then returned to the Chathams for a year. Then she responded to new calls to mission in numerous roles in leadership and administration, beginning with a term as provincial councillor, and as administrator at St Anne’s Hostel in Auckland. She returned to Fiji in1984 to be the local superior at St Mary’s Suva for four years, with special care and concern for the student sisters, and for the elderly retired sisters, some of whom she had known in Makogai. Appointed Regional of New Zealand, she was based at Aurora Terrace, Wellington, from 1988 to 1992.
During her years in administration, Sr M Aidan was able to participate in several short renewal programmes – the Ignatian Spirituality Course at Pymble in Sydney in 1976, a Spirituality Course in Randwick in 1983, one month of Spirituality for Mission at Marcellin Hall in Auckland in 1992. Then she had the privilege of going on the SMSM Senior Sisters’ Pilgrimage in Rome and France in 2005, an experience she greatly appreciated.
In 1993, SM Aidan generously accepted the task of financial administrator for New Zealand, which she carried out for seventeen years, living in different communities around Auckland, apart from a special one-year assignment to care for the elderly sisters in Moamoa, Samoa. When her term finished, she was assigned to Whangarei, where she enjoyed being part of a vibrant smsm community, very involved in the life of the parish. However, as she aged, and her health and especially her eyesight declined, she realised that she needed to be in care. In Auckland, she joined other smsm at Mary MacKillop Care at Mission Bay, then was transferred to St Catherine’s Rest Home for four years, before going to Elizabeth Knox Hospital in July 2023.
There she entered the last phase of her long missionary life. She settled in peacefully and began to make new friends. Every second week she joined a discussion group of residents who like herself had been midwives. As her blindness developed, she learned to enjoy audio books provided by the NZ Society for the Blind. Her lifelong love of poetry was nurtured by the weekly visits of a young woman who came to read poetry for her. Her keen hearing and her prodigious memory enabled her to get to know each of her caregivers by the sound of their voice so that she could greet each by name. When she became completely bedridden, many of the residents would come to visit her.
Sr M Aidan fell from her bed on the afternoon of 8 November. The following day, she had the joy of a visit from Sr Cristina Giustozzi, after which she was proud to say that in her lifetime she had met every superior general! As her condition slowly deteriorated, Sr Julienne Hayes- Smith stayed with her day and night during the last week of her life, and other smsm visited each day. Sr M Aidan peacefully took her last breath at 3.00am on 20 November 2025
As her body was being slowly carried out of the Knox Home, about forty people, residents and members of staff, gathered to farewell her with the customary hymn and words of thanks, testifying to her missionary outreach even during her final years.
Thank you, Sr Mary Aidan, for sharing your life with us and with so many others as a Missionary Sister of the Society of Mary. May you now rest from your labours, in God’s embrace and in the company of Mary, your Mother and Model.
Sr Judith Moore smsm
