September 6, 2016

The Roman Catholic nun Mother Teresa was canonized (formally declared) a saint on Sunday, September 4, one day before the 19^th anniversary of her death in 1997. Tens of thousands of faithful attended the canonization service led by Pope Francis outside St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. Francis praised the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Teresa, saying she embodied the ideal of a “poor church for the poor.” Sometimes referred to as the saint of the gutters, Teresa founded a religious order (community) in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India, called the Missionaries of Charity. The order provides food and services for the needy.

Mother Teresa cradles an armless baby girl at her order’s orphanage in Calcutta, India, in 1978. A champion among the poor, Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 17, 1979. Credit: © AP Photo

Mother Teresa’s original name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. She was born on Aug. 27, 1910, in what is now Skopje, Macedonia. In 1928, she joined a religious order, which sent her to India. She took the name Teresa after joining the order. A few years later, she began teaching in Calcutta. In 1948, the Catholic Church granted her permission to leave her convent and work among the city’s poor people. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950.

Mother Teresa received numerous awards for her work with the needy. These awards include the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize, which she received in 1971; India’s Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding, given to her in 1972; the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize; and honorary U.S. citizenship, given to her in 1996. She died on Sept. 5, 1997. In 2003, Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa. Beatification is an important step toward declaring an individual a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.

A saint is a holy person who exemplifies a virtue or virtues of his or her religion. The word comes from the Latin word sanctus, meaning a holy one. Teresa was the 29^th saint canonized since Francis became pope in 2013. Among these new saints are Franciscan missionary Junípero Serra and John Paul II.

Present Roman Catholic procedures of canonization were officially established between the late 1500′s and the mid-1600′s. A commission appointed by the church strictly examines the subject’s life and works and any miracles associated with the person. If the investigation produces enough evidence, the person is eligible for beatification. That is, he or she may officially be declared “blessed.” If further investigation produces proof of two miracles associated with the person, he or she may be canonized as a saint.