MacKillop to be made a saint on Oct 17

Mary MacKillop, a nun revered for her work with needy children as much as for her
rebellious streak, is to become Australia's first Roman Catholic saint on October
17, Pope Benedict XVI said on Friday.

The pope announced the date at a consistory or meeting of cardinals at the Vatican.
In December, Benedict recognised a miracle in which MacKillop apparently cured a
woman of cancer, paving the way for the canonisation of a nun who is already a
national icon in Australia.
MacKillop, who died in 1909, passed the first stage to sainthood when pope John Paul
II beatified her in 1995 after recognising a first miracle attributed to her, in
which a woman was said to have been cured of terminal leukaemia.
Melbourne-born MacKillop established her first school in a disused stable and
founded an order of nuns at the age of 24.
MacKillop, whose parents came to Australia from Scotland, spent her life educating
the poor, taking learning to the harsh outback.
But the pioneering educator and social reformer was not without controversy -
MacKillop was excommunicated in 1871 for alleged insubordination before being
welcomed back to the Church four months later.
She later sought pope Pius IX's approval to continue her work with her order and by
the time of her death aged 67 in 1909, MacKillop led 750 nuns, ran 117 schools and
had opened orphanages and refuges for the needy.