Jane Marshall

Jmarsh62@uncc.edu
Professor Barbara Presnell
ENG 1103-032
Dear Reviewers,
This was the essay I had absolutely no interest in writing. When my
professor assigned our class to write an inquiry essay about a topic of our choice,
excitement was not the first emotion that came to mind. I figured I would just
Google English inquiry project ideas, select one that seemed mildly interesting,
and crank out a generic, bland essay, like I had done countless times in my high
school English classes. We had a few days to come up with multiple ideas, and
during that timeframe, I consulted with my family for ideas (for once, the internet
and Google had failed menone of the ideas presented to me seemed interesting
enough to devote an entire paper to). It was my mom who came up with the
solution (thanks Mom!): write about the Catholic saint in the family that I am
distantly related toMary MacKillop. The suggestion was truly perfect, and it
would be an honest inquiry project, because since I am not Catholic, I had no idea
about how one becomes a saint. I also had no idea who Mary was and how or why
she became a saint herself. With my topic decided on, I moved onto the next step:
answering all the questions I had regarding Mary and sainthood (and writing my
paper, of course).

I can say with no hesitation that this is the only essay I have written in
which I actually gathered multiple sources, digested them, annotated them, and
referenced them repeatedly (online databases supported by UNCC were
immensely helpful). At the beginning, I was unsure of how to organize my
essay...there was so much I wanted to say, that if I were to write it all, my essay
would turn into a novel. As I read my sources (split up into ones discussing Mary
MacKillop and ones that discussed sainthood), I decided that was the best way to
arrange my paper: two sections, with one discussing what sainthood is, and the
other explaining how and why Mary became a saint. With this in mind, the next
struggle was how honest I should be in the essay. Since I have a personal
connection to the topic (unlike someone writing about, say, the history of paper), I
decided that it was okay to include some of my snarkiness and views on religion
and Catholicism as a whole. The next dilemma was forcing myself to actually
write the paper for this essay, I abandoned my previous habit of writing the
paper the night before it was due, and instead spaced it out over a few days. This
was easy to do because I decided to include multiple headers throughout my
essay. Because all of my research was all over the place, from discussing different
aspects of Catholicism, the history of sainthood, modern saints, to Mary
MacKillops life, headers saved me. I feel they also broke up my paper into
chunks that make it easier for the reader to understand whats being discussed.

As mentioned earlier, before researching and writing my inquiry paper, I

had absolutely no idea who Mary MacKillop was. I also was unaware of how
someone became a Saint (also did not realize how many there areliterally
thousands, which is incredible). The essay became personal when I read about
Marys life and how many obstacles she had to overcome. Her upbringing is very
similar to how my mother grew up (alcoholic father, little to no income and
opportunities). But Mary overcame all of the odds, and became the first Saint to
be from Australia. In many ways, Mary reminds me of my mom. From what I
read, Mary was a strong-willed woman and was not afraid to push through social
barriers at the time. Though my Mom is not officially a Catholic saint, she is still
a saint in my eyes. Another thing that surprised me while writing this essay was
how it made me think about religion in my life. My entire family is
religiousMethodist, Baptist, and Catholic. I started questioning my own beliefs
in high school, and am still questioning them now, as a freshman in college.
Reading about how Mary accepted people regardless of their upbringing and
lifestyle made me appreciate religion more than I had. It is so easy to assign a
stereotype to someones faith based on what you hear and read about in the news
(particularly regarding disturbing charges brought against Catholic priests). Mary
completely defied all of these stereotypes, and lived her life as a faithful, gentle,
caring woman. I can only hope that I can lead my life in the same way.
 The Life of Mary MacKillop + The Process of Sainthood

According to a statistic from Catholic Online, Catholics pray to and recognize

over 10,000 saints. This begs the question of whether a Saint is truly someone who

lived [a] life of great charity and heroic virtues and who [is] worthy of imitation

(the formal definition from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops). It also leads one

to wonder (or, at least, I wondered) how it is possible to recognize so many Saints. I

thought that there must be some sort of formal guidelines to streamline the process

of declaring a Saint, simply because 10,000 is an enormous number.

These were some of the questions I had when beginning my research on

Mary MacKillop and the process of becoming a Saint. Through my uncle, a former

professor at Syracuse University, I learned a few years ago that I am distantly

related to Mary MacKillop, the first Saint from Australia. This led me to wonder two

things: what exactly she became a Saint for, and how one even goes about becoming

a Saint? Is it a simple process? Or does it take years and years? And who gets to

decide who becomes a Saint? These were just a few of my questions. However, one

of the bigger questions on my mind was if Mary deserved to become a Saint.

Mary MacKillop: An Extremely Brief Overview

Mary is related to me through my moms side of the family. Her ancestors

originally migrated from Scotland; thus, it was not surprising to learn that Mary

herself came from Scottish ancestry as well. What was surprising, however, is that
although she had Scottish roots, she was actually born in Australia (Melbourne, to be

specific). Apparently, her father had a problem with managing his money and

alcoholism and left his native Scotland for Australia in hopes of improving his luck in

the land down under. As a result, Mary and her family (she was the eldest of eight

children) grew up extremely poor. One way that I know Im related to Mary is that

my mom basically grew up the same way: she was the eldest of six kids, and her

father (my grandfather) had a problem with drinking, and as a result, his family

struggled to survive. Because of her familys financial woes, Mary worked as a

governess, a clerk, and as a teacher at a school in Portland to help support her

family. It was while working as a governess that Mary first met Father Julian

Tenison Woods, as noted by the official Sisters of St. Joseph official website. At the

time, Woods desperately needed help in educating the poor children of the

Australian outback. However, Mary was dedicated to assisting her family, and could

not offer Woods any help at the time. However, Mary eventually broke free of her

familys ties and went on to become the first Australian Saint, mainly for her work in

bringing education to children in rural Australia by starting schools that operated

for free. As noted in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Mary also founded a

religious order: The Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, which still exists today

in over seven countries, as reported by the Huffington Post.

Briefing: Whats a Catholic Saint?

In the brief research I did on Marys life, I did agree with the fact that she lived a life

dedicated to serving others. But it didnt completely add up to meif you wanted to
be a Saint, all you had to do was essentially be a good person? And how did you

even go about becoming one? I remember my uncle saying that it took years for

Catholicism as a whole to formally

recognize someone as a Saint.

He also mentioned that multiple

people were involved in the push to

canonize Mary (what does canonize

even mean?)

An official portrait of Mary (marypages.com)

Whats a Saint?

According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, a saint is persons in

heaven (officially canonized or not), who lived lives of great charity and heroic virtues

and who are worthy of imitation. What I got from this is that a Saint is someone

who lived a life that others should aspire to live to; they had many characteristic and

traits that paint the religion in a positive light. Mary apparently fits the bill for this:

the Australian Dictionary of Biography states that the Sisters of St. Joseph were to

live in poverty and dedicate themselves to educating poor children, which is exactly

how Mary lived her life until the end.

History of Saints

In Pocket Guide: Saints, a saint is described as being not merely good, pious

people. Rather, they are heroes for God. The book also explains that the early
Christian Saints qualified for Sainthood differently than more modern saints.

Instead of living a godly life, these Saints were martyrs that were put to death

because, refusing to sacrifice to the pagan gods of the Roman state religion, they

were viewed as politically subversive. This is certainly different than how I

originally envisioned Saints. I always thought they were just people that did good

things for mankind. I never imagined that they could be recognized because they

actually died for their religion. However, it does make sense, considering that

religion is one of the largest, if not the biggest, causes for war around the

worldespecially in ancient times. Nonetheless, many people died for their religion,

and the number of Saints exploded. Kate Pickert, in an article in Time, explains that

Bishops eventually took over the process of recognizing Saintsuntil the Pope grew

angry and declared that only he had the authority to acknowledge Saints. In the 17th

century, the process finally became streamlined, and there was an official set of

rules regulating the process of recognizing Saints. The set of rules can be further

categorized into three stages (as explained by the U.S. Conference of Catholic

Bishops):

Stage I: Examining the Life of a Candidate for Sainthood

Phase I: Diocesan Level:

As expected, this stage is self-explanatory. Essentially, the Bishop under

which the candidate died under, is responsible for beginning the process of

investigating whether or not the person is eligible for Sainthood. However, the

process cant begin during the persons life: the candidate must have been dead for
five years before the process can begin. In Marys case, her formal inquiry didnt

begin until 1959, 50 years after her death in 1909.

During the process, witnesses are called to validate claims that the candidate

lived a godly life, with, as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says, include

theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, and the cardinal virtues of prudence,

justice, temperance, and fortitude.

As expected, one person does not complete the entire investigation: the

bishop in charge of the process consults with other bishops to hear their general

feedback. The general public is also invited to put forth their opinions regarding the

candidate.

Phase II: Congregation for the Causes of Saints

Once again, the title basically explains this stage. The congregation develops

a positio, which is a document that examines all aspects of the candidates life. After

the document is complete, nine theologians vote on whether or not to pass along the

positio to Cardinals and Bishops to examine. If approved, the document moves to

the Pope; if the Pope gives his approval, the congregation then drafts the relative

decree (Dictionary.com defines this as an official order issued by a legal authority).

Stage II: Examining the Life of a Candidate for Sainthood

Beatification, according to the U.S. Conferenced of Catholic Bishops, is the

second stage in the process of proclaiming a person a saint. The process occurs

after the first stage, which is basically the inquiry stage. In this phase, a miracle

attributed to the persons intercession must be proved. For me, this is the stage I

was most familiar with in terms of how saints became saints. I knew that one of the
main requirements was that the person had to have performed some miracle. This is

also where things get a little iffy, so to speak. In Marys case, her miracle was that

she cured someone of cancer. But how do you prove this? Thats the question that

many scientists have asked. At the moment, the Churchs response is that they have

a council that highly investigates the claims that praying to a saint can cure disease.

Nonetheless, once the miracle has been proved, the Holy Father decides on

beatification.[and] with beatification the candidate receives the title of Blessed. In

this case, blessed is basically the stepping zone between being acknowledged as a

saint and officially being a saint.

Stage III: Canonization

Canonization is the most important process for sainthood, because it is the

stage when the person is officially a saint. To be canonized, another miracle must be

attributed to the candidate. And with that (and a fancy ceremony in Rome officiated

by the Pope), the person is officially a saint, as recognized in the Catholic Church.

MacKillops canonization in 2010. (columban.org)

Marys Life: Worthy of Sainthood?

Knowing what I know now, I wondered if Mary deserved to have the title of

saint. From what I researched, a saint doesnt necessarily need to perform huge acts

of kindness and impact thousands of people. Rather, it could be the little things that

add up to big things. When you think about it, dont the little things often mean the

most? With that in mind, I continued to read more about how Mary lived her life and

learned quite a great deal.

For starters, she was dedicated to educating the poor and needy. Due to a

lack of funds, her first school stared in a stable, as stated on the Sisters of St. Joseph

official website. She started her own religious society (Sisters of Saint. Joseph),

which spread throughout Australia and eventually, the world. Along with her

schools, Mary also opened orphanages to care for the homeless, no matter their

age, as well as for ex-prisoners and ex-prostitutes who needed a fresh start, also

stated on the Sisters of St. Joseph website.

One of the most noteworthy aspects of Marys life is that she overcame

severe setbacks. She was actually ex-communicated from her own order. For those

unfamiliar with ex-communication (as I was), it is the harshest penalty the Catholic

Church can bestow on a person. To overcome it and be even more successful is

impressive. America magazine writes that Marys ex-communication arose from the

fact that someone in her order exposed abuse towards a minor by a church Father.

Consequently, officials treated Mary as a scapegoat; her ex-communication lasted

five months, until, on his deathbed, the bishop who had ex-communicated Mary,

changed his mind and reversed the decision.

 To me, the fact that Mary happily came back and returned to her work is

impressive. I can imagine that most people would be resentful towards the

institution that fundamentally threw them out for exposing the truth. Personally, I

view the ex-communication as a major reason why Mary should be considered (and

is) a saint.

Marys life story also reminded me of Joan of Arc, mainly because she did

undergo severe difficulties (however, she didnt actually die for her religion, like

dear old Joan). While she was ex-communicated, Mary was extremely poor and

homeless, since that was the way she had lived her entire life while working as a

nun. The fact that she went through these circumstances is all the more reason why

Mary should be (and is!) considered a heroic and virtuous saint.

Im not Catholic, and am not particularly religious, but I can still relate to the

fact that Catholics admire their saints. Though I think the process for becoming a

saint is a bid tedious and biased (what makes someone qualified to sit on a council

and vote on whether or not to let someone continue the saint process?), its

admirable and honorable that Catholicism chooses to recognize people who have

made a difference in the lives of others.

As I mentioned earlier, I am not a religious person, but the majority of my

extended family on my moms side is. When Mary officially became a Saint, it was a

big celebration in our house. At the time, I didnt really think much of it. But the

more I think about it, the more interesting it becomes that at the time when I started

questioning religion the most (late teens), I found out Im related to a Saint. Go

figure. Maybe its the universes way of telling me that there is something out there,
and that I just need to explore faith and religion as a whole more often than I do at

the moment. Either way, its a reassuring feeling to know that even if Im feeling

apathetic towards all things religion, I cant deny the fact that I am at least tied to

one faith (Catholicism) in at least one way.

 Works Cited

"A Saint for Our Time." America Magazine. America Press, 18 Oct. 2010. Web. 16 Oct.

2013.

"Decree." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, 2013. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.

"Frequently Asked Questions about Saints." Catholic Online. Catholic Online, n.d. Web.

16 Oct. 2013.

Langmuir, Erika. Saints: Pocket Guides. New Haven, CT: National Gallery : Distributed

by Yale UP, 2001. Print.

"Making Saints." U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. U.S. Conference of Catholic

Bishops, n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

"Mary MacKillop's Story." Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart. N.p., 2009. Web. 16

Oct. 2013.

Smith, Tanalee. "Mary MacKillop, Australia's First Saint, Overcame Excommunication."

The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post, 15 Oct. 2010. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

Thorpe, Osmund. "MacKillop, Mary Helen (1842-1909)."Ed. Osmund , Thorpe. 5th.

Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1974. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

Pickert, Kate. "A Brief History of Sainthood." Time. 13 Oct 2008: n. page. Web. 22 Oct.

2013.