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{{Infobox person
| name = <br>Catherine Cecily O'Brien, OP
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While initially educated at home, Catherine received her senior education at the Dominican Convent in Maitland, where she won a teacher-training scholarship. Catherine entered the same Dominican Convent in July 1914, received the habit in April 1915 and took the religious name of Sister Mary Anselm. She took her perpetual vows in 1917 and taught at the local secondary school in Maitland until 1920.<ref>{{cite web |title='O'Brien, Catherine Cecily (1893-1945)' |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1462439 |website=Trove |publisher=National Library of Australia |accessdate=25 October 2020}}</ref>
Because of her desire to attend university, Sister Mary Anselm left Maitland in 1921 and moved to Santa Sabina Dominican Convent School in Strathfield in 1921. She attended the University of Sydney, graduating in 1924 with a Bachelor of Arts with first-class honours in English and Latin and the University medal for English.<ref>{{cite web |title=O'Brien, Catherine Cecily (1893 - 1945) |url=http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE4251b.htm |website=The Australian Women's Register |accessdate=25 October 2020}}</ref> She continued her eductation, completing a diploma in education in 1925. In 1928 she obtained a Master of Arts in English Literature, with first-class honours, completing a thesis titled Tragedy in English literature.<ref>{{cite book |last1=O'Brien |first1=Mary Anselm |title=Tragedy in English literature |date=1929 |publisher=Thesis (M.A.)--University of Sydney |url=https://sydney.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/61USYD_INST/1c0ug48/alma991027179539705106|accessdate=25 October 2020}}</ref>. From 1925 until 1945, Sister Mary Anselm taught English, Christian doctrine, French and Latin at Santa Sabina.
==Legacy==
Sister Mary Anselm became widely respectedknown for her innovative methods andas well as her many lectures and publications on English literature and Christian doctrine. In 1922 she convened the first meeting of principals of Catholic girls secondary schools to facilitate co-operation in sporting competitions, which became a feature of Catholic schools in the 1930s.<ref>{{cite web |title=O'Brien, Catherine Cecily (1893 - 1945) |url=http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE4251b.htm |website=The Australian Women's Register |accessdate=25 October 2020}}</ref> In 1925 she co-founded with Frank Sheed the school branch of the Catholic Evidence Guild, thus breaking new ground in the teaching of religion. She published a monograph entitled ''The Catholic Evidence Guild in Secondary Schools'' in 1939. ALways an advocate for tertiary education, she built up the school's library at Santa Sabina, and organised regular weekly feature lectures on English and Latin literature for the senior pupils and the Sisters. Many of the lecturers were from published authors - her friends from university days - and she also frequently invited writers to the school.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/obrien-catherine-cecily-7869|title='O'Brien, Catherine Cecily (1893-1945)', Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Leavey|first=Margaret Carmel|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|location=Canberra}}</ref> Sister Mary Anselm O'Brien died in 1945 and the library in the Aquinas Centre at Santa Sabina College is dedicated to her memory.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sister Mary Anselm O`Brien |url=https://www.monumentaustralia.org.au/australian_monument/display/96391 |website=Monument Australia|access-date=25 October 2020}}</ref>
==Selected Works==
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