Beautification of Mary MacKillop enhances her appeal

Photographs of Mary MacKillop have been altered to make her appear glamorous

IT was a case straight out of the Hollywood television show Extreme Makeover, but the contestant was a saint-in-waiting.

Glamorous, digitised contemporary images of humble 19th-century nun Mary MacKillop, who took a vow of poverty and lived hard years in the outback, bear little relation to the real woman.

Even the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart admit MacKillop has been "airbrushed". But just as in the celebrity magazine industry, enhanced beauty appeals.

Only six original photographs of MacKillop, taken at various stages throughout her life, exist.

The most popular images of the nun who will next year become Australia's first saint have been rendered more "saintly" over the years by the Catholic Church.

Sisters of St Joseph archivist Benedetta Bennett says the nuns of her order prefer more gritty images of their founder.

But the most popular image of MacKillop is an artist's impression that touches up the colours in her cheeks and lips.

"The people who come to the shop are looking for that one," Sister Benedetta said. "It looks very much like one of the very ordinary images except that it has been done in rich colours and make-up and things.

"I think it's the richness of the tones in it that appeal to a lot of people."

Mary MacKillop Place museum curator Edwina Huntley said that several of the popular images of MacKillop in circulation had been "manipulated and worked severely".

"If you were to ask me is it really true to her character or really true to her facial appearance, I think it has been so altered that I wouldn't use it as a historical reference point," Ms Huntley said.

"It has had quite a lot of work done through graphic designers where the eyes and the mouth have been changed. She's been made a lot more youthful than she would have been.

"I think natural signs of life and age have sort of been taken out of the image and it has been airbrushed to more of a perfection look rather than really portraying her."

MacKillop had two strokes late in her life, and was confined to a wheelchair and partially paralysed in the years prior to her death in 1909.

The Sisters of St Joseph are very keen for Australians to learn about all aspects of MacKillop's character and life.

But traditionalist Catholic interpretation of saints is more one-dimensional.

Female saints, in particular, are likely to be associated with images of non-threatening purity, benevolence and even submission.

"I wonder whether the acceptance of more of an iconic version of Mary is to do more with that traditionalist attachment with how saints have been viewed in past centuries," Ms Huntley said.

The Sisters of St Joseph, for their part, will continue to pray to the real MacKillop, with her one drooping eyelid and austere, determined gaze.

"Most of use like some of the other images in preference (to the popular ones)," Sister Benedetta said. "We will be still using some of those non-airbrushed ones ourselves."