The Missionaries of Charity world- wide observed the 12th death anniversary of its founder Mother Teresa on Saturday and began preparations for her birth centenary next year.
“A week ago, we began the preparation for celebration of Mother Teresa’s birth centenary next year. Today, we commemorate the 12th anniversary of her death. The heroic sanctity of her life assures us that her death on earth meant her birth in heaven,” the order’s superior-general Sr Prema, who is abroad, said in a statement.
The Nobel-laureate nun was fast-tracked to sainthood by Pope John Paul-II after her death in 1997.
She was ‘beatified’ (declared blessed) by the Pope in a ceremony at the Vatican on October 19, 2003, on the basis of claims by a tribal woman in North Bengal that she was cured of a stomach tumour after praying to her.
Tersa’s beatification allows her to be venerated in MoC churches the world over. She will be worshipped in all the Roman Catholic churches if declared a saint, for which proof of another miracle of a medical nature is required.
Sr Prema’s statement, read out by MoC assistant superior- general Sr Carol, did not indicate the progress of Mother’s sainthood formalities, but said, “as much as we miss our Mother, we rejoice that we have her as a friend and intercessor in Heaven, close to God.”
