THE canonisation of Mary MacKillop will be beamed live to Melburnians from Rome on what the Catholic Church says will be a momentous day for all Australians. Large screens at the Royal Exhibition Building will broadcast the canonisation ceremony from St Peter's Basilica as part of historic celebrations on October 17.
Pope Benedict XVI will officially declare Mother Mary Australia's first saint in the ceremony, which starts at 7pm Melbourne time.
Yesterday, on the anniversary of her death in 1909, Archbishop Denis Hart announced plans for a Melbourne-based festival to commemorate the event.
He predicted thousands would join in a colourful procession from Mary's first home in Brunswick St, Fitzroy, after a traditional morning Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral.
A festival of music and entertainment and a prayer service will be staged at the Exhibition Building in the lead-up to the canonisation.
Archbishop Hart said it would be a day not just for Catholics to enjoy, but the whole community. "I think it (will be) a day we'll all remember where we were on the day that Australia's first saint was canonised," he said. "This will touch and influence and inspire all Australians."
The Victorian Government will contribute $250,000 toward the celebrations.
Mother Mary was born on January 15, 1842, in Marino Cottage, and died aged 67 in a Sydney convent. She passed the first stage to sainthood when Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1995 after recognising a first miracle attributed to her, in which a woman was said to have been cured of terminal leukemia.
One of Australia's most inspirational women, she dedicated her life to caring for and educating children, particularly the poor.