Cath News report: Up to 8000 Australians are expected to arrive in Rome in coming days so they can say they were there when Mary MacKillop, a 19th-century nun who taught, and cared for, the poor, was declared the nation's first saint.
Australia's Catholic community is determined to make its presence felt at the historic occasion, says a report on the Sunday Herald-Sun.
Two vigil performances on MacKillop's life, at one of Rome's main auditoriums, have sold out. On the day after the canonisation, Sydney's Cardinal George Pell will lead a special Australian thanksgiving mass at St Paul's Outside The Walls.
The Vatican Museum will also open its doors to stage a special Australian Night on Friday. It will feature a display of rare indigenous artefacts taken to Rome by missionary priests during early colonial days.
The main tour provider, Harvest Pilgrimages, has faced a major logistical exercise ensuring Australian pilgrims get value for money. The company will operate non-stop walking tours of Rome from Thursday to Saturday, following in the footsteps of Mary MacKillop when she went to the Holy See in the 1870s to petition the Pope to grant her order independence.
"We will have nuns playing the part of Mary and leading the groups on the walk. We have more than 50 of them lined up to do the job," Harvest Pilgrimages managing director Philip Ryall said.
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