[1][2] Eileen suffered from a severe curvature of the spine and was - at best - 115 cm (3 ft 9 in) tall, although for much of her life she could not stand or walk.

Soon after the family was introduced to Fr Timothy Edward McGrath from the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, priest in charge for Coogee (which was not a parish at the time).

O'Connor even claimed to have had a Marian visitation sometime in her teens in which the Virgin Mary encouraged her to accept her pain for the good of others.

On 15 April 1913 in Coogee, the pair co-founded the Brown Nurses with the aim of that religious congregation being able to serve the sick and poor as well as the destitute in their homes and on the streets.

[2][6] But great difficulties faced the pair going forward after some Sacred Heart Missionaries alleged that there existed an improper relationship between McGrath and herself.

[2] McGrath appealed to Rome and she - with the aid of a nurse - accompanied him there and to London in 1915 to support his case since she too was involved and named in the allegations.

[8] The work of the order was continued and expanded by O'Connor's successor, Theresa (Cissie) McLaughlin, and official recognition of Our Lady's Nurses for the Poor as a religious congregation came in 1953.

Freeman made no move to launch the cause but Cardinal Edward Bede Clancy in 1990 allowed for initial work to be done that could contribute to the cause.