Church to sell birthplace of Australia’s Saint Mary

THE Catholic Church is selling the birthplace of its most revered Australian figure and only saint, Mary MacKillop.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne will sell the Fitzroy birthplace to St Vincent’s Private Hospital ahead of a $57 million redevelopment.

The hospital’s proposed expansion has angered locals who fear St Mary’s birthplace could be demolished.

But archdiocese spokesman Shane Healy said the development was not a threat.

“St Vincent’s are respectful and aware of the responsibilities that come with ownership of the site,” he said.

“St Vincent’s plans do not propose to build over this sacred site nor the building overhang of the actual birthplace.”

Fitzroy Residents’ Association chairman Martin Brennan said the group was opposed to the development’s impact on the heritage value of buildings involved.

“The birthplace of Mary McKillop is also of value to a number of residents,” he said.

Born in Brunswick St, Fitzroy, in 1842 Mary MacKillop was canonised in 2010, 101 years after her death. She devoted her life to educating the young and helping the poor.

The process to make her a saint began in the 1920s and her first miracle was decreed in 1961 after the recovery of a woman with leukaemia.

Paving the way to sainthood her second miracle was decreed in 2009, for the cure of NSW grandmother Kathleen Evans of lung and brain cancer in 1993.