Saint Proposal Inquiry question: How did my distant relative become a Saint + what is the general process for

becoming a saint? Primary purpose: To learn what my relatives three miracles were + what qualifies someone to become a saint The main thing I want to know is how my relative became a saint specifically what her three miracles were! I want to know what qualifies someone to become a saint and who makes that decision! Id also like to know if people pray to her for specific reasons like they do to other saints "like for safe travels or to find something that has gone missing#! In a more broader sense Id like to know what the process is for becoming a saint and why there are so many of them "I believe in the range of thousands#! I dont think this information will be difficult to find but it should be interesting since Ive never honestly put any effort into reading about $ary $ac%illop "my relative# or the process of becoming a Saint "since I didnt grow up &atholic#!

Prior beliefs, assumptions, stereotypes: I was not raised &atholic "my moms side of the family is &atholic but she no longer practices# so I dont know too much about &atholicism! In my senior year of high school I took '( )uropean History which focused heavily on &atholicism since it was so important in early )urope and thats where most of my knowledge of &atholicism comes from! Honestly Ive never really respected &atholicism since then*the &hurch does not e+actly have the greatest reputation "I know things change and its not fair to ,udge the most popular religion on its past but Im ,ust being honest here-# (riests also creep me out! 'nd persuading people to pay their way into heaven is pretty bad but I digress! I only became aware of how Im related to a saint around a few years ago! ' great uncle of mine is a professor in ./ "Im pretty sure at Syracuse# and has written multiple books about our familys history! He was the one that discovered that we were distantly related to $ary $ac%illop and that she was becoming a saint! She officially became one in 0121 and we were invited to the ceremony in Italy when the (ope officially declared her a saint "Im sure theres a fancier term! 3ill have to research# but it was ,ust a tad pricey! 4ther than that I have no idea who she is and what she did! ! Working knowledge:

Truthfully I was e+pecting my research on $ary $ac%illop to be difficult but alas it was not! She has her own website "http566www!marymackillop!org!au# which is quite detailed and informative! Some highlights5

7'pparently she was born to &atholic Scottish immigrants "which e+plains the relation to my family# in 'ustralia!

7She grew up e+tremely poor and as the eldest of eight children "thats how you know she was &atholic# was e+pected to help contribute to the familys finances! 8espite this hardship $ary often worried about the lack of education for young &atholics in 'ustralia!

7She decided to make it her lifes work to educate the poor and the young in rural 'ustralia by creating &atholic schools across the country!

7&ontroversy arose when it was alleged that $ac%illop had a drinking problem "definitely sounds like my family#! $ac%illop was also e+7communicated when she acknowledged the fact that one of the priests had been se+ually abusing children!

79ater $ary travelled to :ome to talk with the (ope and receive his approval for her congregation back in 'ustralia! 3hen she returned many aspects of the schools were changed! The schools were unusual in that they did not educate wealthier girls and the nuns did not live in convents!

7To this day she is 'ustralias first saint!

7In more recent news her canoni;ation in 0121 attracted <111 followers from 'ustralia! 'ustralia also created a postage stamp ,ust for her! 7

's of 4ctober = 0121> a church in 'ustralia recently created a stained glass window of $ary!

In regards to the Saint process from (catholiceducation.org 7The official process of becoming a saint is called ?canoni;ation 7when a person dies the person is investigated by either the bishop or the diocese to see if they performed any ?miracles 7the person is then investigated to make sure they were fully committed to the church 7all of the info is then combined into one document and submitted to the &ongregatin for the &auses of the Saints 7after that more investigation5 if the person is considered a martry there is more investigation to see if the person died for their faith 7if investigators determine that the candidate lived their life w6 ?heroic virtue they are declared ?venerable 7ne+t is beatification5 if the person is a martry then they are already beatified@ if not they must have a miracle associated w6 them 7once beatified ne+t big step is for (ope to perform a special prayer 7ne+t step is '.4TH): miracle before the formal definition of sainthood

I!m really interested to learn how she went from a poor, rural girl to a woman responsible for establishing "atholicism in #ustralia. I!m also interested in how and e$actly why she was e$%communicated from the church (and how she came back& .

#lso interested in learning about the Saint process& 'ow it originated (since the "atholic church is so old, I!m sure it!s changed o(er the years .