It's those qualities that have inspired people around the world to pray to Mother Mary, including two Australian cancer sufferers who she is now officially credited with curing.
Following Pope Benedict XVI's decision, which formally acknowledges the two miracles, the Vatican will hold a canonisation ceremony to name Mother Mary a saint, more than 100 years after her death.
Australian Ambassador to the Holy See Tim Fischer said that Sister Maria Casey, who is at the centre of the campaign for Mother Mary's canonisation, said the Pope has "confirmed that the cure of a lady from inoperable lung cancer is a true miracle".
The cause will go to a Solemn Consistory in March, where the Pope will make the final announcement of canonisation and declare a date for a canonisation ceremony in Rome.
Mother Mary founded the Catholic order of the Sisters of St Joseph after setting up a school in Penola, South Australia, in 1866, and spent her life educating and caring for people from all walks of life.
She maintained her faith and dedication to helping people throughout her life, despite a backlash from church leaders and suffering ill health for many years, up until her death in Sydney in 1909.
Since then, there has been a lengthy campaign to make her Australia's first saint.
Mother Mary was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995, which was recognition from the Vatican of one miracle - the healing of an Australian woman of terminal leukaemia in 1961.
To be named a saint, her second miracle of healing a woman with inoperable cancer during the mid-1990s had to be assessed scientifically and theologically and then decreed by the Vatican.
Sister Maria Casey, who headed the push for Mother Mary to be declared a saint, says the canonisation gives Australians someone to aspire to.
"The greatest thing about her was, of course, the fact that she was a holy woman," Sr Maria told AAP from Rome recently.
"She was very dedicated to God, what she believed was the will of God.
"The canonisation will make her a saint for the whole church and for the world.
"For Australians, it means that they have a hero or a model for young people and for people looking for inspiration.
"I think with a new and increasing interest in spirituality rather than established religion, young people are looking for models and she would be a very good model for young people.
"She was only 24 when she started her whole congregation, which was very young." More than a century after her death, many parallels can still be drawn between Mother Mary's life story and modern Australian life.
According to a biography compiled by the Sisters of St Joseph, Mother Mary became the breadwinner for her family as a teenager.
Her parents, who moved from Scotland to Melbourne in the 1830s, separated when she was older.
After working as a governess, she set up the school in a stable and spent her life educating and teaching many, including ex-prostitutes and former female prisoners.
Mother Mary was excommunicated in 1871 for alleged insubordination before she was reinstated four months later.
She then begged her way to Rome to seek the approval and support of Pope Pius IX to continue her work with the sisters.
Mother Mary was an Australian pioneer in the fields of education and social work, Sr Maria said.
"She was the first woman that took education to the outback and that was an extraordinary feat in her days.
"She was a model of goodness." Australians of all creeds can relate to Mother Mary's life, which was marked by both battle and triumph, Sr Maria said.
"She was a great Australian woman, but also a holy woman," she said.
"She strongly and completely believed in the dignity of everybody.
"No one, black or white, Catholic or non-Catholic, at the time would not be welcomed by her.
"Rich or poor, the high and the low, people were people to her and she had extraordinary respect for their dignity." Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who was raised a Catholic but has been a practising Anglican for years, has said the whole nation respected Mother Mary's work.
"All Australians, whether they are Catholic or not, whether they are religious or not, have a high degree of admiration for the achievements of a very strong woman," he said.
Australians should now reflect on how to keep Mother Mary's legacy alive, Sr Maria said.
"Mary left a tremendous legacy, she used to say, 'never see a need without doing something about it'.
"And she certainly looked at all the needs of her day and, with her sisters, tried to do something about it."
