THE Josephite Sisters say a possible miracle that could allow Blessed Mary MacKillop to be declared Australia’s first saint is among a number of cases being investigated.
Mary MacKillop, who co-founded the Josephites, was beatified in 1995 after Pope John Paul II declared a woman’s recovery from leukaemia a miracle resulting from Mary’s intercession.
The sisters are hopeful the second miracle needed for the Vatican to declare Mary a saint is among a number of cases under investigation.
A boy’s recovery from cancer is one of the cases giving the sisters’ hope.
In 1996, doctors gave the boy, then a seven-year-old, no hope of surviving an aggressive tumour on his head and spine.
After nine days of prayer, or a novena, by friends, family and the sisters, he recovered.
Josephite Sister Maria Casey, who is the vice-postulator assisting Jesuit Father Paul Gardiner on the process for Mary’s canonisation, said a period of about 10 years after a person’s recovery was usually required before the case could be declared a miracle.
She said doctors had testified to the inexplicable nature of the boy’s recovery, but are yet to give a final verdict.
Another round of medical advice would be sought before the order could submit the case to Rome.
There it would be examined by a tribunal of medical experts, scientists and priests, and be the subject of two processes – one for scientific scrutiny and the other for theological scrutiny.
