Australian nun may become nation's first saint

The miracle, in which a woman who prayed to nun Mary MacKillop was said to have been healed of inoperable lung cancer in the 1990s, opens the way for the Vatican to canonise a woman already revered in Australia as a national icon.

"Today is a special day not only for the Sisters but also for Australia and the universal Church," said Anne Derwin, a nun with the Sisters of St Joseph order founded by MacKillop.

"It is a day to acknowledge Mary who is not only truly saintly but also one of Australia's true heroes."

MacKillop passed the first stage to sainthood when she was beatified by the previous Pope John Paul II in 1995 after having another miracle, in which a woman was said to have been cured of terminal leukaemia, attributed to her.

Melbourne-born MacKillop, who established her first school in a disused stable and founded her order of nuns at the age of 24, is already known as "the Australian people's saint," said Archbishop Philip Wilson.

"She was one of us," said Wilson, who is president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. "Mary was an ordinary person who lived a holy life."