ID :
107671
Sat, 02/20/2010 - 23:51
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/107671
The shortlink copeid
Bells ring for first Australian saint
She has been described as a wild colonial girl and a servant of God but Mary
MacKillop is now on her way to being declared a true Aussie saint.
Late on Friday a message from Rome confirmed what Australian Catholics had been
praying for since her sainthood was first mooted about 85 years ago.
From the Vatican City, Sister Maria Casey - who has led a campaign to canonise
Mother Mary - sent a text message to nuns in Sydney: "Yes, she's a saint. 17th of
October".
Born in Melbourne in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, after her parents migrated from
Scotland, Mother Mary was the eldest of eight children.
She dedicated her life to serving the poor and needy, and making education
accessible to all.
Mother Mary was excommunicated in 1871 for alleged insubordination before being
reinstated four months later.
It has been a long journey for the orders of the Sisters of St Joseph, founded by
Mother Mary in 1866, who went on to establish schools that teach in her example.
In Melbourne, Sister Josephine Dubiel told reporters Mother Mary's canonisation
would be a career highlight for many nuns in the St Joseph orders.
"Many have worked long and hard for this day and thought (it) was never going to
come," she said on Saturday.
Meanwhile, in the South Australian town of Penola where Mother Mary founded her
first school in a disused stable, Claire Larkin from the Mary MacKillop Penola
Centre rang the church bells on Saturday morning before a thanksgiving mass.
"It's a wonderful atmosphere here," she told AAP.
"Last night we were a bit nervous, there was always that reservation."
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Mother Mary had changed the course of young
Australians' lives as a champion of social justice.
"This is a deeply significant announcement for the five million Australians of
Catholic faith, and for all Australians whether of Catholic faith or not," Mr Rudd
said in a statement.
Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell described Mother Mary as an ordinary
Australian who fought for her faith and for those in need.
"Mother Mary of the Cross was a very normal Australian, she wasn't an exotic miracle
worker, she wasn't an eccentric, she stuck at her task," he told reporters in
Sydney.
Marion Nicholls, a student at Mount Joseph Girls' College in Melbourne, said the
announcement of Mother Mary's canonisation was "an inspiration".
"We pray to her every day in morning pastoral and we have pictures of her in every
room and you can look at her and think if she didn't give up, I'm not going to give
up."
Mother Mary died in a convent in North Sydney in 1909.
She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in Sydney on January 19, 1995 after the
Vatican accepted she was responsible for the cure of a woman with terminal leukaemia
in 1961.
A second miracle, the curing of NSW woman Kathleen Evans, who in 1993 developed
inoperable lung cancer, was also recognised by the Vatican as attributed to Mary
MacKillop.
MacKillop is now on her way to being declared a true Aussie saint.
Late on Friday a message from Rome confirmed what Australian Catholics had been
praying for since her sainthood was first mooted about 85 years ago.
From the Vatican City, Sister Maria Casey - who has led a campaign to canonise
Mother Mary - sent a text message to nuns in Sydney: "Yes, she's a saint. 17th of
October".
Born in Melbourne in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, after her parents migrated from
Scotland, Mother Mary was the eldest of eight children.
She dedicated her life to serving the poor and needy, and making education
accessible to all.
Mother Mary was excommunicated in 1871 for alleged insubordination before being
reinstated four months later.
It has been a long journey for the orders of the Sisters of St Joseph, founded by
Mother Mary in 1866, who went on to establish schools that teach in her example.
In Melbourne, Sister Josephine Dubiel told reporters Mother Mary's canonisation
would be a career highlight for many nuns in the St Joseph orders.
"Many have worked long and hard for this day and thought (it) was never going to
come," she said on Saturday.
Meanwhile, in the South Australian town of Penola where Mother Mary founded her
first school in a disused stable, Claire Larkin from the Mary MacKillop Penola
Centre rang the church bells on Saturday morning before a thanksgiving mass.
"It's a wonderful atmosphere here," she told AAP.
"Last night we were a bit nervous, there was always that reservation."
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Mother Mary had changed the course of young
Australians' lives as a champion of social justice.
"This is a deeply significant announcement for the five million Australians of
Catholic faith, and for all Australians whether of Catholic faith or not," Mr Rudd
said in a statement.
Sydney Archbishop Cardinal George Pell described Mother Mary as an ordinary
Australian who fought for her faith and for those in need.
"Mother Mary of the Cross was a very normal Australian, she wasn't an exotic miracle
worker, she wasn't an eccentric, she stuck at her task," he told reporters in
Sydney.
Marion Nicholls, a student at Mount Joseph Girls' College in Melbourne, said the
announcement of Mother Mary's canonisation was "an inspiration".
"We pray to her every day in morning pastoral and we have pictures of her in every
room and you can look at her and think if she didn't give up, I'm not going to give
up."
Mother Mary died in a convent in North Sydney in 1909.
She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in Sydney on January 19, 1995 after the
Vatican accepted she was responsible for the cure of a woman with terminal leukaemia
in 1961.
A second miracle, the curing of NSW woman Kathleen Evans, who in 1993 developed
inoperable lung cancer, was also recognised by the Vatican as attributed to Mary
MacKillop.
