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Penola: home to Saint Mary MacKillop

Penola is the southern gateway to the Coonawarra, one of Australia’s oldest winemaking regions, famous for its Cabernet Sauvignon. But the town is perhaps better known as the spiritual birthplace of Australia’s only saint, Mary MacKillop. Mary MacKillop was a nun who, with Father Julian Tenison-Woods, founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart in 1866. The Josephites, an order of nuns, are devoted to helping the poor, and, in their early years, established schools for disadvantaged children. After her death in 1909, moves were made to recognise Mary as a saint, a long process that came to fruition with her canonisation in 2010. See the full story in #125 of Australian Geographic.