Australia's Native Saint Honored With Solemnity

SYDNEY, Australia, APRIL 19, 2011 (Zenit.org).- St. Mary MacKillop, Australia's first native saint, will be celebrated with a solemnity on Aug. 8.

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments approved a request from the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference that the liturgical observance of St. Mary MacKillop be raised from a "feast" to a "solemnity."

Thus, in Australia the Mass of that day will include a first and second reading, the Gloria and the Creed.

Archbishop Philip Wilson, president of the bishops' conference, stated, "As Australia's first saint it is fitting that the liturgy of the Church in Australia on her feast day should reflect that by having the highest liturgical rank."

He noted that many of the Australian prelates and 8,000 faithful went to Rome last October for her canonization, and many more celebrated in locations around the country.

"For all Australians," the prelate affirmed, "whether Catholic or not, Mary MacKillop is seen as a woman of heroic virtue, and this goes a little further toward honoring her great example."