Baptised Belinda Molony to Francis and Catherine Maloney of Tulla, County Clare, she took the name Mary Xavier upon taking her vows as a Presentation Sister at Galway in 1825.
In August 1833 Molony, Mother Mary Bernard Kirwan and two other sisters left Galway for Newfoundland to found a school for orphan girls, at the suggestion of Bishop Michael Anthony Fleming.
[2] According to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography: Within a few weeks of their arrival the sisters had gathered and divided into classes girls of poor families in the settlement.
[2] In 1853, Molony was made the first superior of the convent of Harbour Main, opening on 9 July 1853 and attended by one hundred and eighty children.
However, she became ill within three years and had to return to the mother house in St. John's where she occupied herself by painting pious pictures on satin and making altar ornaments.