Pioneering nun sidelined by decision to copy Pope's name

They then both served God, the southern European preaching around Assisi and aiding the poor, while the Irishwoman became a nun and formed the Sisters of Mercy in Australia.

Argentine cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio took the former's name when he became Pope Francis in 2013, while the latter's surname has graced a Wodonga school since it was flagged in 2004.

Now that educational institution, Frayne College, has decided to discard its title honouring Ursula Frayne.

Instead it is following the Vatican's leader and becoming St Francis of Assisi Primary School.

Wodonga parish priest Dennis Crameri said the decision was based on several reasons, including the school wanting a new start and its focus on the environment.

While they are understandable sentiments, there is a formidable case for the retaining the Frayne name.

Ursula Frayne arrived in Perth in 1846 and struggled to establish the Sisters of Mercy in the thinly populated colony of Western Australia which offered little support for Catholicism.

Such was the hopelessness of her situation, she was offered a return trip to Ireland which she declined.

After moving across the Nullarbor, Mother Ursula led the first teaching nuns in Victoria and established an orphanage and schools for boarders and girls.

Her story is far more bonded to Australia than that of St Francis who lived in the 12th and 13^th centuries and was labelled God's Fool by some because of his preaching to animals.

It is not as though St Francis is rare among Australian school names, there are at least six other primary schools including two in Victoria marking the patron saint of animals.

By comparison Ursula Frayne will only have one eponymous school after Frayne College disappears.

Mother Ursula deserved better.

The decision will also physically wipe out history for past students, as the title of their alma mater vanishes.

They lose the comfort of knowing their school name will live on beyond their student days.