Lochaber man’s daughter to be Australia’s first saint

Mary Mackillop, who died in 1909, was the daughter of Alexander MacKillop of Roy Bridge, north east of Fort William, behind the Nevis range.

He left for Australia in 1838 on the emigrant ship Brilliant, married a Flora MacDonald within a couple of years and having eight children with her, the first of whom was Mary, born in 1842.

Settled in Mebourne, MacKillop became a well known layman in the emerging Roman Catholic community there.

Mary was also active in that faith and was one of the founders of the Sisters of St Joseph, setting up, in 1866 at the age pf 24, the first School of St Joseph in Sydney.

A woman of extraordinary energy and commitment, she founded over 130 schools in some of Australia’s poorest and most remote area – as well as orphanages and woman’s refuges.

she was beatified in 1995 by Pope John Paul II, with one confirmed miracle, but it take two to make a saint.

It is now understood that Pope Benedict XVI has indicated that investigations of a second miracle credited to her are likely to see it confirmed – which would lead to her canonisation.

An investigating team of bishops and cardinals at the Vatican are thought to be on the point of announcing that prayers addressed to her by at least two sick and dying people led to their miraculous recovery.