Special masses and prayers were held on Saturday at the Missionaries of Charity’s Mother House (MoC) to mark the 107th birth anniversary of Saint Teresa of Calcutta, better known as Mother Teresa. Hundreds of nuns took part in the prayers.
On September 4, 2016, Vatican City had witnessed the canonization of Mother Teresa with people across the world applauding Pope Francis for bestowing the title of a saint to her as ‘Blessed Teresa of Calcutta’.
The process of canonization had started long back in 1999 by a Canadian priest Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, the proposer, heading the canonization process. After interviewing 113 witnesses proving Mother Teresa’s virtuosity, Father Kolodiejchuk presented 35,000 pages as evidence to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in August 2001.
Vatican City chose Mother Teresa’s 19th death anniversary as the day for the canonization ceremony, which was attended by a 12-member delegation led by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
Out of the many miraculous deeds, Mother Teresa in her lifetime has been acclaimed to cure stomach tumour of a Monica Besra and multiple brain abscesses of a Marcilio Haddad Andrino.
20 years to her death, her contributions in treating leprosy in India have time and again been praised. In 1957, Mother Teresa requested the Delhi government to provide her with land on which she could build a shelter for the people suffering from the disease. Constructing a small hospital with dormitories, Mother Teresa named the Delhi ashram after Mahatma Gandhi.
Kulsuma Aktergetty images