A Special Mass in thanksgiving for the canonization of Mother Teresa will take place on Sunday 23 October in Knock Basilica. The Chief Celebrant will be Archbishop Charles J Brown, Papal Nuncio to Ireland.
Mother Teresa was canonized on Sunday 4 September. Commenting on the canonization Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh said, “With her canonisation, the Church is offering Saint Teresa of Calcutta to all of us, as a model of hope, charity and mercy. Saint Teresa of Calcutta was a champion of the poor and continues to be a source of inspiration to all of us, especially during this Year of Mercy we are celebrating at the invitation of Pope Francis.”
Born in 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia, to Albanian parents, Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu joined the Loreto Order and lived in Ireland until she was sent to India in 1929. There, she worked with the poorest of the poor, a vocation that led her to found her own order, the Missionaries of Charity, in 1950, in Calcutta (now Kolkata). By 2012, that congregation numbered 4,500 sisters, working among the destitute and outcast in 133 countries. She was regarded by many as a saint within her lifetime and Pope (now Saint) John Paul II waived the usual 5-year waiting protocol to begin the process of her canonisation. Mother Teresa was beatified in 2003.
All are welcome to Knock on Saturday for Anointing of the Sick at 2.30pm and Mass beginning at 3.00pm. For more see www.knockshrine.ie.
ENDS
