This modern large beautiful icon of Mary MacKillop is hand-painted on a wood base with a silver-plated cover with incredible ornate gold and silver accents. The entire icon is overlaid with a beautifully executed highly detailed repousse (high relief) gold and silver-plated metallic cover (also known as a riza) with an attached 24-carat gold-plated halo. The riza uses a scrolled floral pattern to accent the subjects and covers the less important areas of the icon. Mary MacKillop is one step away from being Australia's first saint.The Catholic Church needs some more proof of her closeness to God before it decides to maker her one.She will be a figure to whom people will look and think of God and that really is what Sainthood is all about. (Sister Pat White).Mary MacKillop was born in Melbourne in 1842.Her father had spent the family fortune so the MacKillop's were poor. They had to rely on relatives to get by.Mary left home to work when she was fourteen years of age. She gave all the money she earned to her family.By the time she was fifteen Mary had decided she was going to be a nun. She wanted to devote her life to the poor.In 1861 she went to work in Penola a small town in South Australia. Here Mary met a Catholic priest Father Julian Woods. They became close friends.Together they opened Australia's first free Catholic school. At that time only the rich could afford schooling. Pupils were accepted whether their parents could afford to pay or not.Mary was a great teacher and soon became very popular in the community.She still felt a religious calling but Mary couldn't find an order that suited her. So she and Father Woods started their own 'The Sisters of St. Joseph'.She took a vow of poverty which meant Mary and her followers had to beg for money. Catholic church leaders didn't like begging but Mary refused to change her ways.She was certainly a century ahead of her time in her courage in standing for what she believed. (Sister Elizabeth Murphy) In 1867 Mary moved to Adelaide and opened another school. Before long there were 17 schools under her care but her independence annoyed church leaders.What Mary wanted was to have the nuns under her own rule but the Bishop in Adelaide wanted her to abide by his rules. (Mary Cram)She didn't and the Bishop became so angry that he excommunicated Mary...threw her out of the church.This was a terrible blow. Mary was devastated and very poor. She kept her faith though and the next year the Bishop changed his mind. Mary was accepted back.Although she could have become bitter Mary never blamed church leaders for their actions.Nowhere in her writings is there any record or any evidence of any hardness or disobedience or aggression in relation to any of the Bishops. (Sister Elizabeth Murphy) The Bishops eventually came to respect Mary's work for Australia's poor. She visited the Pope. He was impressed by her intelligence and determination.Mary's followers grew and by the time she died in 1909 there were St. Joseph's Schools all over Australia. Josephites have been campaigning for many years for Mary to become a Saint. They say her good deeds and hard work for Australia's poor are proof of her devotion to God. But the Catholic Church only makes people Saints if there is evidence they helped in miracles.In Mary's case her spirit is believed to have saved a woman who was dying of cancer.The Pope visited Australia in 1995 for the formal beatification of Mary - the first step towards her Canonisation. Now her role in a second miracle must be proved for her to become Australia's first Saint.
