The lunch was served by some 250 of Mother Teresa’s sisters, as well as 50 Brothers from the male branch of the congregation and some volunteers.
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Cardinal Angelo Amato, the head of the Vatican’s saint-making office, will read a brief biography of Mother Teresa and ask Pope Francis in the name of the church to canonize her.
The canonization Mass will begin with hymns and proceed nearly immediately to the rite of canonization: the declaration that Mother Teresa is now a saint.
For the newly-sainted Teresa, he said, “mercy was the salt which gave flavor to her work, it was the light which shone in the darkness of the many who no longer had tears to shed for their poverty and suffering”.
“Eventually the husband changed his story, but people found out the Catholic Church has been helping the family monetarily”.
Francis officially cleared Mother Teresa for the honor last December, recognizing her “miraculous healing” of a Brazilian man with multiple brain abscesses. “Really the quality of evidence is not what we’d expect to be able to claim a miracle”.
“Let the example of Mother Teresa inspire all of us to dedicate ourselves to the welfare of mankind”, said Indian President Pranab Mukherjee.
Mother Teresa’s Albanian heritage was also celebrated by Houston’s Albanian community, who showed their support for the new saint.
While millions of Catholics rejoice at the canonization of Mother Teresa guess what, some of the more wild eyed conspiracy theory types think she’s a stinker.
Born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, Teresa came to India in 1929 as a sister of the Loreto order.
While Francis is clearly keen to hold Mother Teresa up as a model for her joyful dedication to society’s outcasts, he was also recognizing holiness in a nun who lived most of her adult life in spiritual agony sensing that God had abandoned her. Pope John Paul II granted the special dispensation in 1999, and the procedure began.
Her small figure, often in a white-and-blue sari and sandals, became familiar around the world.
She died in 1997 and was put on a fast-track for sainthood soon thereafter.
Speaking from the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis said St. Teresa spent her life “bowing down before those who were spent, left to die on the side of the road, seeing in them their God-given dignity”. At least 15 priests, several nuns, including the Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by Mother Teresa, took part in the event along with the general public. She was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
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However, Mother Teresa’s legacy has been criticized. Her order has offices in Europe, Africa, the Americas and Australia, as well as Hong Kong and Russian Federation.
