SAINTHOOD IN SIGHT FOR KIWI HEROINE

New Zealand's first candidate for sainthood, a free-thinking
French-born nun who worked with the poor and promoted the rights of
women and Maori in the 19th century, will this year come one step
closer to being officially recognised by the Catholic Church as a
saint, according to nuns at the Wellington order she founded, the
Sisters of Compassion.

Mother Mary Joseph Aubert, who died in 1926, has been inching her way
towards sainthood since 1997, when the New Zealand Bishops' Conference
agreed to support calls for her beatification, the main step in a long
and complex process leading to canonisation (official recognition as a
saint).

The claim comes as Catholics look forward with increasing excitement
to this year's likely canonisation of the Australian nun Mother Mary
MacKillop, a contemporary of Aubert's who also spent time in New Zealand.

Mother Aubert (born Suzanne Aubert) arrived in Auckland in 1861,
having nursed on the fields of the Crimean War of the 1850s. Over the
coming decades, around the country, she worked for the poor,
establishing food kitchens and caring for foundlings and orphans.

She was also a pioneering healer, developing and selling a range of
herbal remedies, some of which contained cannabis as a
pain-reliever.

In 2004, the Wellington diocese conducted a week-long Diocesan Inquiry
into her life and good works, and sent documents to Vatican officials
in Rome for consideration.

One of the requirements for sainthood is proof that at least one
miracle has occurred in the name of a candidate, such as recovery from
a terminal illness after prayers. The Diocesan Inquiry included
details of a number of claimed Aubert-related miracles - two in the
1940s, one in the 1960s and another in the 1980s.

"I have utterly no doubt that the woman is a saint," said Sister
Patricia Hannan, the Dominican nun who led the Diocesan Inquiry. "It's
just that Rome has yet to get around to recognising that."

Sister Josephine Gorman, one of two nuns assisting with the process
(known as the Cause of Suzanne Aubert), said that in the coming year
Aubert was likely to be declared Venerable by the Vatican, a major
step towards beatification, the last step before canonisation itself.

Gorman, 65, said she hoped to still be alive for the beatification,
but "I don't mind if I die before she's canonised".

Former Wellington Diocese Cardinal Tom Williams said factors that were
in Aubert's favour, included the fact that New Zealand does not yet
have a saint of its own.

Vatican officials told Williams that when there was a well-established
home-grown order, such as the Sisters of Compassion, the Church would
look favourably on any application that meets the criteria.

Rome has appointed a New Zealander - Nelson-based professor in church
history Maurice Carmody - to the role of Postulator, the person who
pushes the Cause along. Normally, this person is based in Rome.

Gorman said Carmody's predecessor didn't speak any English, which made
communications between New Zealand and the Vatican difficult. Carmody
is fluent in Italian.

Carmody was reluctant to give a timeframe for Aubert being deemed
"Venerable", but said the signs "are, so far, very
encouraging.

"What we're looking for next is beatification [and] we would hope
sooner rather than later."

Holding up the process is the appointment in the Vatican of a new
Relatore, to whom Carmody reports. The previous Relatore has retired
and Carmody has yet to hear of a replacement.

SUZANNE AUBERT (1835-1926)

1835: Born June 19, in Loire, France.

1853-56: Nurse in the Crimean War.

1860: Flees France to NZ to escape family opposition to her choice of
a religious life.

1860-69: Novice of the Irish order, Sisters of Mercy in Auckland.
Missionary in Hawke's Bay.

1883: Establishes mission at Jerusalem, begins caring for unwanted
children.

1892: Establishes the Sisters of Compassion's congregation at Island
Bay, Wellington.

1926: Dies in Wellington, aged 91.