Archbishop Thomas D’Souza of Calcutta and the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, paid their respects to the missionary nun.
27 August 2024
People pray at the tomb of Saint Mother Teresa in Calcutta. (Photo: missionariesofcharity)
KOLKATA, INDIA: An archbishop in India said the life of Saint Mother Teresa was still relevant as Catholics celebrated the Albanian-born nun’s 114th birthday on August 26.
“Mother Teresa was an embodiment of the love of God as shown by the Lord Jesus through his life of love and joy,” said Archbishop Thomas D’Souza of Calcutta, now Kolkata, the capital of the state of West Bengal, where Mother Teresa founded her Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity (MC) in 1950.
As part of the celebrations, a thanksgiving mass was held at the mother house in Calcutta and the participants laid flowers at her grave.
“The life of Saint Mother Teresa was a gift to the whole world and her example is still relevant and worthy of emulation,” Archbishop D’Souza told UCA News.
She dedicated her entire life to protecting “life from birth to the grave,” the prelate added.
The Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, also paid her respects to the missionary nun.
Banerjee wrote in a message on social media: “My homage to Mother Teresa (the Saint of Calcutta) on her birthday. The Mother was an apostle of peace and brotherhood. I feel blessed to have met and worked with this great soul.”
Saint Teresa was born in 1910 and came to India in 1929 as a novice with the Loreto nuns. In the 1940s, however, she left the congregation and founded the Missionaries of Charity.
She died of cardiac arrest in Calcutta on September 5, 1997 at the age of 87.
Pope Francis canonized her on September 4, 2016. Her congregation has over 5,000 nuns in 139 countries.–ucanews.com
