Mary MacKillop

Saint Mary MacKillop RSJ
Mother Mary of the Cross (1869)
Virgin
Born	(1842-01-15)15 January 1842 Newtown, Melbourne, New South Wales (now Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia)
Died	8 August 1909(1909-08-08) (aged 67) North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Venerated in	Catholic Church
Beatified	19 January 1995, Sydney, New South Wales by Pope John Paul II
Canonized	17 October 2010, Vatican City by Pope Benedict XVI
Major shrine	Mary MacKillop Place, North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Feast	8 August
Patronage	Australia[1] Archdiocese of Brisbane[2] Knights of the Southern Cross

Mary Helen MacKillop RSJ (in religion Mary of the Cross; 15 January 1842 – 8 August 1909) was an Australian religious sister of Scottish descent. She was born in Melbourne but is best known for her activities in South Australia. Together with Fr Julian Tenison-Woods, she founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart (the Josephites), a congregation of religious sisters that established a number of schools and welfare institutions throughout Australia and New Zealand, with an emphasis on education for the rural poor.

The process to have MacKillop declared a saint began in the 1920s, and she was beatified in January 1995 by Pope John Paul II. Pope Benedict XVI prayed at her tomb during his visit to Sydney for World Youth Day 2008 and in December 2009 approved the Catholic Church's recognition of a second miracle attributed to her intercession.^[3] She was canonised on 17 October 2010, during a public ceremony in St Peter's Square at the Vatican.^[4] She is the first Australian Catholic saint.^[5] Mary MacKillop is the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Brisbane.^[2]