During a consistory of cardinals held a few months ago, Pope Francis declared Mother Theresa of Calcutta a saint. The ceremony of canonization will be held on 4 September in the Basilica of St Peter, in the Vatican, during the Jubilee of Mercy.

Mother Theresa was born in Skopje, Kosovo (today Macedonia). When she was 18 years old she entered the Congregation of the Missionaries of Our Lady of Loreto. In 1928 she left for Ireland, and a year later went to India where she spent the rest of her life. In 1931 the youthful Inez took her first vows and given the name of Sister Mary Therese of the Child Jesus, for her devotion to the saint of Lisieux. At the age of 20 she started teaching history and geography to rich female students in the college of the Sisters of Loreto in Entally, an eastern area of Calcutta.

Mother Theresa was the founder of the Missionaries of Charity, a religious congregation, which by 2012 had 4,500 sisters working in 133 countries. They established hospices and homes for sick people with HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and leprosy. They also opened kitchens and clinics, and schools along with counselling programmes. The members of this congregation take the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience and they make the fourth vow to dedicate themselves wholly to the “poorest of the poor”.

Mother Theresa’s thin figure, her fragile body bent by tiring work, and wrinkled face became known worldwide. Anyone who met her, even once, will never forget the brightness of her smile reflected by her immense love. When she looked at you, those eyes deep, admirable and clear, you felt that they were looking at you with the same blessed eyes of God.

Although she had been active, Mother Theresa was also contemplative at the same time. She was an idealist, focused, pragmatic and utopian. She liked to define herself as “a small pencil of God”, a small instrument in his simple hands. She was humble and recognized that when the pencil was finished, the Lord would dispose of it and entrust others with her apostolic mission: “Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these” (John 14:12).

Mother Theresa died in Calcutta on 5 September 1997 at the age of 87. In 1999 the process of her beatification was opened, three years before planned, although the people already considered Mother Theresa a saint. On 19 October 2003, Pope St John Paul II beatified her. Her message, which is even more relevant today, is that everyone seeks his Calcutta, which is also found in the frenetic streets of our Western cities. “You can find Calcutta all over the world if you have eyes to see wherever people are not loved, not wanted by anyone, marginalised and forgotten by everyone.”

Father Hermann Duncan O.Carm

Sliema