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Mary Mackillop - Woman Destined to be Australia's First Saint
Mary Mackillop Place: A Miraculous Journey
Back to Panorama of Sydney
On December 30,1999 I had the opportunity of visiting the tomb and museum of Blessed Mary Mackillop, an Australian woman who is destined to become Australia's fist canonised Saint. She was Beatified by Pope John Paul the Second on January 19, 1995. I remember seeing the Beatification on television and being enthralled by it; however, I never gave the story of Mother Mary Mackillop a second glance - until this visit. Apart from some 'liberal' misinformation about the Catholic Church and its teachings presented at Mackillop Place, (which is in keeping with a liberal spirit which continues to pervade the Church in Australia), the Mary Mackillop Place in North Sydney experience is both a very moving and informative journey.
Surprisingly, I felt an instant closeness with Mary MacKillop - maybe it was being at her tomb, or the fact that she was a pioneer in Australian Education or simply because God wanted it that way. I was touched by her struggle with the bishop who followed wrong advice and presumed the worst about Mary. I was touched by her love of the poor and children and her joy and faith. I was particularly touched by the account of the first miracle. In the last section of the museum you hear a taped recording of the story told by the woman who experienced her healing. I wrote this to my friends when I returned form Sydney.
The tomb of Australia's First 'Saint"
Visiting the Mary MacKillop Place was an experience. For those of you who don't know, Mary MacKillop is destined to become Australia's first recognised and canonised saint. For Catholics this means that she is in Heaven and we can ask for her prayers, knowing that the prayers will be heard. At present she bears the title of Blessed. (I won't go into the 'Saint-Making' process here but will just state that more than one miracle - I am not sure how many - have to be authenticated and attributed to the intercession of the saint - before they can be declared a 'Saint'. 1 miracle has officially been attributed to Mary MacKillop's Intercession and accepted as such by science and the church.) Particularly touching was being present at her tomb, and listening to the woman who was healed of her Leukemia as a result of Mary MacKillop's prayers, through whom God chose to grant the woman her healing. (Briefly, the woman began to improve inexplicably after a nun said she would ask Mary MacKillop to pray to God for her. The woman was completely healed and conceived a child, who was born on the date of of Mary MacKillop's death - and thus entrance into heaven. The woman took this as the sign that her healing was indeed as a result of the prayers of Mary MacKillop).