Australia's first saint to be canonised on Sunday.

[Matilda]

Our first saint, Mary MacKillop, will be canonised on Sunday, with a Papal Canonisation Mass beginning at 6.30 pm Sydney time. Far from being something of interest only to Catholics, it's captured the imagination of many non-Catholics as well, perhaps in part because she was rather a feisty woman, in the Irish-Australian tradition, who not only did a great deal of good in the community, but was willing to take on the bishops when they tried to stand in her way. She founded the order of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, with her initial brief being to educate the children of the poor, but her work later expanded to include orphans and the homeless, and the Order today is particularly identified with women and children, and the indigenous people. She will be known as "St Mary of The Cross".

She has a particular link to our parish of North Sydney, because the Sydney convent, where she died in 1909, is just down the road from the church, and there is also a link with the Jesuits, who assisted her with her work.

Our church is getting a live feed from the Vatican after the 6.0 pm Mass, and I have been planning to go to the evening Mass instead of my usual 10.30 Mass. You don't see a canonisation every week! Mr Matilda sings with the St Mary's Mens Choir, and they will be doing a bit of a concert - not sacred songs as you might expect, but Elvis and the Everly Brothers (I love the Everly Brothers!), at the request of the p.p. I'm a bit afraid the church is going to start filling up quite early though, and we might have to be there around 5.0 pm. I shall have to take a book to read, and maybe a cushion for my back, which can only take so much these days from those unforgiving pews.

There will also be a huge screen erected outside St Josephs Convent and also one at the Cathedral for people to watch, plus coverage from television stations. From being a quaint ceremony for Catholics, it's turned out to be a really big event for everyone - the Vatican can take a bow for this one.

[hedgehog]

1. Congratulations, Matilda!

Tell me - will she really be know by her official title, St. Mary of the Cross, or as Saint Mary MacKillop? :) I think a people's saint will have a people's name, myself!


There's a bit of a kerfluffle here about St.Mary. It seems someone read the details about her argument with the bishop, the one that led to her tempura excommunication. Apparently, St. Mary discovered ta t a priest was interfering with some of the young male orphans in her care (to use the old-fashioned phrase for pedophilia). She insisted the priest be removed, but the bishop excommunicated her for daring to attack a member of the clergy! There is a small movement to have her declare the patron saint of those victimized by clerical pedophiles.

http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?entry_id=3351

I hope you don't think this is raining on your parade. There were many saintly women who served the immigrants both in Australia and America, more than we could ever name. Here in America, they took the children of peasants and taught them enough to turn them into doctors, engineers, lawyers, teachers, etc. To know that in addition to everything else she did. St. Mary risked everything to stand up for abused children in that time and place jsut makes her a more fantastic woman, IMO.

[brendan120678]

2. I've read another story regarding her excommunication...

that said she didn't really play a part in the uncovering of the abuse at all.
However, because she was one of the chief administrators of her order, and it was a member of her order that exposed the pedophile priests, she was excommunicated along with a number of other members.

[Matilda]

3. I think we'll be calling her just St Mary MacKillop.

And as another poster has said below, it appears that she personally didn't dob in the paedophile priest, as she wasn't in the state at the time, but the bishop held her responsible, and vowed to bring her down. I think perhaps some people are trying to put a modern slant on her, by linking her to today's scandals.

I think it's enough that she was prepared to take on the education of the poor, particularly girls, at a time when education wasn't a universal right. She also later turned her attention to the plight of the homeless and orphans, and she's generally connected in our minds particularly to women and children, two groups that had no rights at that time.

A P.S: "Dob" means to tell tales on someone - good Aussie slang!

[tjwmason]

4. I'd imagine that it's the same as S. Padre Pio and B. Mother Teresa

In both cases there is the formal name - S. Pio of Pietrelcina, B. Teresa of Calcutta/Kolkata - but on an informal basis they are generally still referred to by the names with which we're all familiar.

In S. Mary MacKillop's case I believe that there are various places/organisations which use the MacKillop name so I can't imagine them changing.

Edited to add - S. Edith Stein is more commonly used than S. Teresia Benedicta of the Cross as well.