Masses celebrate Mary MacKillop, bestower of miracles

TO the believers, she is a bestower of miracles. Even those who scoff at such Catholic benediction will come to embrace Mary MacKillop.

TO the believers, she is a bestower of miracles. But even those who scoff at such Catholic benediction will come to embrace Mary MacKillop as "one of their own".

Cardinal George Pell yesterday hailed the woman who will become the nation's first saint as a heroine for all Australians after the Vatican finally cleared the way for the 19th-century nun's canonisation by confirming her second miracle.

"Every community needs its homegrown heroes," said Cardinal Pell, Australia's most senior Catholic, writing exclusively in The Australian.

"All Australians recognise Mary MacKillop as one of their own, and her qualities and strengths as typically Australian."

After an almost 90-year campaign, the pioneering nun who brought education to the poor and the outcast both in the cities and in remote corners of the nation will be canonised next year in Rome.

The impending canonisation comes after the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints - after a rigorous process which established that a woman's inoperable cancer was healed by praying to Mother Mary - accepted that a second miracle could be attributed to her.

Mother Mary was born in Fitzroy in Melbourne in 1842, founded the Catholic order the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, and devoted her life to social work and educating the poor.

From South Australia's Coonawarra to Sydney's north shore, parishioners wept with joy as the news spread of their beloved Mother Mary's impending sainthood.

Devout Catholic Jemmel Sassine travelled from her usual parish in Strathfield to the overflowing Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel in North Sydney yesterday, where the nun's body lies in a marble tomb. The 43-year-old mother of five could not hold back her tears as she absorbed the news.

"Mary is like a sister or a best friend to me," Ms Sassine said. "I light a candle for her every morning and we speak every day.

"I know she had moments in her life when things didn't work out for her, and that relates to my life as well."

At Penola near Mount Gambier, where Dermot and Ruby Moore attend the first St Joseph's school - founded by Mother Mary in a disused stable - townsfolk flocked to their local church as the bells began ringing in celebration late on Saturday night.

Annabel Heyward, whose parents own one of the town's two pubs, was among the 150 locals who headed to the old schoolhouse where Mother Mary taught in the 1860s, to await the news that Rome had approved her second miracle.

"Everyone was very excited," she said. "People brought eskies, kids - it was a real party."

Penola, a sleepy South Australian town halfway between Adelaide and Melbourne, near the famed Coonawarra vineyards, will become a major destination on the international pilgrim trail after Mother Mary is canonised.

The Heywards' pub, the Royal Oak, was built by Mother Mary's uncle, Alexander Cameron, who she stayed with when she arrived in Penola to work as a governess.

Kessah Moore, who lives across the road from the schoolhouse established by Mother Mary, also strolled over when the bells began ringing.

Mother Mary's impending canonisation means a lot to Ms Moore, as she attended the school and her young children, Dermot, 8, and Ruby, 7, go there now.

"Even if you're not Catholic, it's amazing that this is happening," she said.

The woman whose cure from inoperable lung cancer in the mid-1990s was confirmed as Mother Mary's second miracle said she hoped her canonisation would inspire young Australians to be generous and compassionate.

"This is wonderful news," the woman, who does not yet want to be identified, said in a statement read yesterday outside the Mary MacKillop chapel in Sydney.

"I feel personally humbled and grateful to Mary MacKillop, and the influence she has had on my life. I hope this news today provides others, especially younger Australians, with inspiration and encouragement to live as generously and as compassionately as Mary did."

The Jesuit priest who has been pushing Mother Mary's case since 1983, Father Paul Gardiner, sees a possible revival of faith once the canonisation takes place, pending the Pope's final approval.

"Here is somebody who was an ordinary Australian girl," he said.

"If she were sitting here now, she would be a very pleasant person to have a cup of tea with. She had this tremendous love for people and kindness towards people."

Renowned as a fearless leader and advocate, Mother Mary came into conflict with the church hierarchy over educational practices and was even temporarily excommunicated from the church. But she remained true to her moral principals and never spoke ill of those who sought to malign her.

The Josephite nun who has been pressing Mother Mary's case in Rome, Maria Casey, said the nun would be embraced by the secular community as well as by Catholics.

"The canonisation will make her a saint for the whole church and for the world," Sister Casey said. "For Australians, it means that they have a hero or a model for young people and for people looking for inspiration."

Kevin Rudd said Mother Mary was an iconic Australian.

"All Australians, whether they are Catholic or not, whether they are religious or not, have a high degree of admiration for the achievements of a very strong woman," the Prime Minister said.

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Philip Wilson agreed that Mother Mary had already been embraced by those from all religious persuasions as "the Australian people's saint".

"She was one of us. Mary was an ordinary person who lived a holy life," he said.

"At a time when real heroes are in short supply, Mary MacKillop is a true inspiration."

Additional reporting: Jared Owens, AAP