Nuns from Missionaries of Charity attend a special prayer on the occasion of “Peace Day“ to mark the 25th death anniversary of Mother Teresa at the Mother House in Kolkata on Sept. 5. (Photo: AFP)
The 25th death anniversary of St. Mother Teresa, the founder of Missionaries of Charity (MC), was commemorated with special Eucharistic celebrations and prayers at her tomb and the distribution of food packets among the poor in different parts of India.
“Besides continuing with our regular apostolate our sisters went on the streets of Kolkata and distributed food packets to the poor and the needy on Sept. 5,” said Sister Christy MC.
Mother Teresa died of cardiac arrest on Sept. 5, 1997.
Speaking from the Mother House, the headquarters of the congregation in Kolkata, the capital city of eastern West Bengal state, Sister Christy told UCA News on Sept. 6: “We opened a new daycare center for school dropouts and other children who roam around Park Street in the state capital, as part of our jubilee celebration.”
The center will provide nutritious food, clothes and other basic requirements for the children and also arrange drawing classes and vocational courses depending on their abilities and affinity, she added.
“Other convents and institutions run by the congregation across India commemorated her death anniversary with special Eucharistic celebrations and prayers,” Sister Christy said.
Archbishop Thomas D'Souza of Kolkata, the main celebrant of the special Mass, told UCA News that “though Mother left this world 25 years ago I still feel she is very much alive. Her legacy continues to live on through the work she had started for the poor and the abandoned.”
The prelate said that the missionary works she started continue with the same zeal, fervor and spirit even 25 years after her death.
Recalling his association with the Mother, Archbishop D'Souza said: “Mother was very respectful and caring to priests. She always attended them despite her busy schedule and never kept them waiting.”
The Catholic Association of Bengal organized a public gathering in front of the bust of Mother at Allen Park, which is close to the Mother House, to pay floral tributes to her. Many eminent personalities including political leaders attended the event.
“People from all walks of life kept visiting her tomb and paid homage to her throughout the day,” Sister Christy said.
Mother Teresa was born in Skopje, now the capital of Macedonia. She came to India in 1929 at the age of 19 as a novice with the Loreto Sisters. She left the congregation in the late 1940s and started the Missionaries of Charity in 1950 in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) to serve the poorest of the poor, the homeless sick, the dying and the destitute.
Her canonization process began two years after her passing. Pope John Paul II beatified her in October 2003. Her tomb at the Missionaries of Charity's headquarters has become a pilgrimage site. Pope Francis declared Mother Teresa a saint at a ceremony in the Vatican on Sept. 4, 2016.
The congregation she founded in 1950 now has some 4,500 sisters and has 700 homes in 136 countries around the world.
