Vatican City, Oct 17, 2010 / 16:01 pm
After Pope Benedict's Sunday declaration of the six newest saints, some of the loudest cheers in St. Peter's Square came from Australians. They had reason to celebrate: their own Bl. Mary MacKillop had just become their country's first canonized saint.
Pope Benedict officially recognized her and five others as saints on Sunday morning.
Now known as St. Mary of the Cross, MacKillop founded the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart. She focused particularly on the education of poor children.
She began the order’s work with a school in a stable the small town of Penola, Australia in 1866. Before her death many more educational institutions were established in "bush" areas where hardship was common.