MIRACULOUS MIRACLES™

Saint — Mary MacKillop, RSJ (Mary of the Cross)

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St. Mary MacKillop, RSJ (Mary of the Cross)
January 15, 1842 AD, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Colony of Victoria — August 8, 1909 AD, North Sydney, New South Wales
first canonized Australian saint; founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart
Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel, North Sydney, Australia — shrine, Australia
Feast
August 8
Canonized
Canonized October 17, 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI — first canonized Australian saint
Life

Mary MacKillop was born on January 15, 1842 at Fitzroy, Melbourne to the Scottish-Australian MacKillop family. In 1866, at the age of 24, Mary and Fr. Julian Tenison Woods founded the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart (Josephite Sisters) at Penola in South Australia — the first Australian religious congregation.

The Josephite Sisters undertook the systematic Catholic girls' education across the Australian outback and cities — becoming the principal Australian Catholic educational congregation.

In 1871, Mary was excommunicated by Bishop Laurence Sheil of Adelaide — the canonical controversy over the Josephite constitutional independence from diocesan authority. In 1872, Sheil lifted the excommunication on his deathbed.

Mary served as Superior General of the Josephite Sisters until 1899 — establishing schools across Australia and New Zealand.

She died at North Sydney on August 8, 1909 at the age of 67. Canonized October 17, 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI as the first canonized Australian saint.

Miracles & Phenomena

  • The first Australian saint

    St. Mary MacKillop's canonization on October 17, 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI as the first canonized Australian saint — established the 19th and 20th-century Australian Catholic identity. The Josephite Sisters extend across Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Brazil, and East Timor to the present day.

Relics
  • Body
    Relics of St. Mary MacKillop
    Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel, North Sydney, Australia — shrine

    Her relics rest at the Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel at North Sydney.

Iconography
  • MacKillop teaching in the Australian outback

    The late-19th-century Australian foundress in brown Josephite habit teaching Australian children at a bush schoolhouse — the iconography of Catholic Australian educational tradition.

Patronages
Australia (first Australian saint)Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart (Josephite Sisters, Congregation founded 1866)Catholic Australian Catholic education tradition
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