Her canonisation on Sunday 4 August by Pope Francis at a glorious ceremony at Bernini’s colonnade in Vatican, a complex surrounded by 284 columns, 88 pilasters surmounted by 162 statues each 12 feet high, was something befitting the gods.
Advertisement
Benedictine College unveiled a new statue of the now Saint in front of the Mother Teresa Nursing Center on Friday. The first one, ratified in 2002, was of an Indian woman, Monica Besra, who says she recovered from ovarian cancer a year after Teresa’s death.
In India, a special Mass was celebrated at the Missionaries of Charity, the order she founded in Kolkata (Calcutta). She devoted her entire life towards the “poorest of poor” irrespective of their cast and creed. A year later, some of her former students joined her, and together they took in men, women and children who were dying in the gutters along the streets.
“What was considered literally trash – human beings left to rot and die in the gutters of Calcutta – she would treat with enormous dignity and respect”, said Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of NY. “She made her voice heard before the powers of this world, so that they may recognise their guilt for the crime of poverty they created”.
In his homily, Francis praised her as the merciful saint who defended the lives of the unborn, sick and abandoned, recalling her strong opposition to abortion which often put her at odds with progressives around the world.
“Pope Francis, Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa are the church figures I admire and love most and in some way all three are here today”, O’Brien said. “I definitely feel like I try to mold my life after her”.
In 1946, while travelling by train, Mother Teresa had an experience which she described as a “call within the call”.
Obviously, both will leave a legacy of devotion to the poor. It was an order.
Bill McKinstry told 22News, “I didn’t know anything about it her being here, until her limo driver came in and bought some strawberries”.
That is when she decided she would leave the comforts of Loreto convent [her former congregation] to live with the poor. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. “I think we can all learn a lesson or two, and not turn our backs on those less fortunate”. In 1952, the government granted them a house from which to continue their mission of serving Calcutta’s poor and forgotten. While looking for a home I walked and walked till my arms and legs ached.
Advertisement
As well as children from St Marks, youngsters from other Catholic schools travelled to St Mark’s to meet her and present her with gifts they had collected.
