Sunday, October 17, 2010

Saint Mary found in penne arrabiata

Bamako, Mali

An Australian woman has claimed to have found an image of Saint Mary MacKillop in the leftover sauce of her penne arrabiata, just after the official canonisation of Australia's first saint.

This afternoon Mary MacKillop was canonised in a special mass at St Peter's Basilica in front of 8000 pilgrims.

Alison Bunting was visiting Mali for a conference and ordered room service, where she chose the penne arrabiata, along with a tropical fruit salad for dessert.

"I just could not believe it", she said. "When I ate the last penne, there was an image of Saint Mary in the tomato sauce. I knew immediately it was her because of the time difference. It's late afternoon in Rome and I knew she was being canonised as I ate my lunch."

The image was not able to be verified by a second person.

"I took a photo with my phone and ran down the hotel corridor hoping to find someone who would attest to the miracle appearing on my plate. But nobody knew who she was or that she was being canonised.

"By the time I came back, the image had gone. Instead it looked like Chris Mainwaring.

"I am certain she visited me in my hotel room because my middle name is Mary and because I am a feminist and she went and told Pope Pius he could go shove it if he thought she was going to be told what to do by him and also because she knows I like tomato-based pasta".

When asked if she enjoyed her penne arrabiata, Ms Bunting said that "it could have been a bit more spicy and the bread served with it was wafer thin".