SYDNEY (AFP) – Australian Catholics were celebrating on Saturday after Pope Benedict XVI confirmed that Melbourne-born nun Mary MacKillop will become a saint -- ending an 85-year campaign to have her canonised.
MacKillop, who founded her own order of nuns and who devoted her life to building schools and helping the poor, has been a revered figure in Australia since shortly after her death in 1909.
"We are delighted that the goodness, the holiness of the life of our Australian Mary MacKillop has been recognised by the Catholic Church throughout the world," said Anne Derwin, head of MacKillop's Sisters of St Joseph.
The Vatican had earlier recognised two miracles by MacKillop -- both involving women who had prayed to the late nun after being diagnosed with terminal illnesses and who subsequently inexplicably recovered from their illnesses.
But the canonisation was not confirmed until Pope Benedict XVI made the announcement at a meeting of cardinals at the Vatican on Friday that MacKillop would be among six people who would become saints on October 17.
Derwin said the sisters had been having a cup of tea and waiting for the news when a text message from one of their nuns in Rome came through confirming that the pope had decided to canonise MacKillop.
"We were sitting around having a cup of tea and thinking about, oh perhaps we should have been down in the chapel praying," she told reporters.
"And it was late, I had my phone, I kept looking because I was waiting for Sister Maria Casey to text me as soon as she could, and she did."
Derwin said MacKillop, who founded her first school in a disused stable in a remote South Australian town in 1866, was a bold and pioneering woman.
"To her all people were equal," she said. "To her all people deserved a fair go. Her values and endeavours symbolise and reflect what it means to be Australian."
Born Mary Helen MacKillop to Scottish parents in Melbourne in 1842, MacKillop was the eldest of eight children and as a teenager began to support the family through her work as a governess, clerk and teacher.
Once she founded her Sisters of St. Joseph order, young woman quickly came to join her work, helping her build schools, women's refuges and an orphanage.
But she had a rebellious streak, and clashed with those within the church who objected to her egalitarian ethos and her refusal to allow local bishops to control her order.
Sydney Archbishop George Pell said MacKillop, who was briefly excommunicated by the church for insubordination, was a "normal Australian".
"She wasn't an exotic miracle worker. She wasn't in any sense an eccentric. She stuck at her task, she had her goal, she knew difficulties, she persevered through them and was remarkably forgiving," he said.
Asked whether there was an irony in the fact that the woman who was once expelled from the church was now being recognised as Saint Mary of the Cross, Pell said MacKillop showed her devotion by staying loyal to the church.
"Part of the reason why she is recognised is she hung on through all these difficulties and maintained her charity and her sanity," he said. "She didn't become embittered and useless."
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said MacKillop's sainthood would be "deeply significant" not just for the country's five million Catholics, but for all Australians.
"Mary MacKillop is an extraordinary figure in Australian history; a pioneering woman who dedicated her life to the poor and to advancing the cause of social justice in Australia," he said.
Plagued by ill health for much of her life, MacKillop died in 1909 aged 67 as the leader of 750 nuns who ran 117 schools, as well homes and refuges for the needy. She was beatified in 1995.
