Mary MacKillop 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. She was canonised on 17 October 2010, during a public ceremony in St Peter's Square at the Vatican. She is the first Australian to be recognised by the Catholic Church as a saint. Mary Helen MacKillop was born on 15 January 1842
Church of Saint Mary of Jesus Church of Saint Mary of Jesus The church of Saint Mary of Jesus is a catholic church in Alcamo, in province of Trapani, Sicily, southern Italy. According to some sources, the church of Saint Mary of Jesus was founded at about 1450 by the Blessed Arcangelo Placenza from Calatafimi, after the foundation of the adjoining monastery of padri Minori Osservanti (called "Friary of Saint Mary of Jesus") by the same Blessed Arcangelo after the mandate of the Blessed Matteo Guimerà of Agrigento. Other sources postpone the date of the church's foundation at the end of the 15th century. Initially this