A number of Masses will be celebrated today to mark the canonisation of Saint Teresa of Calcutta in Rome.
Bishop William Crean will be celebrating the Solemnity of Saint Teresa of Calcutta, Virgin and Foundress, with the community of the Missionaries of Charity in Blarney Parish Church at 10.00am today, Monday 5 September.
Bishop Christopher Jones, Bishop Emeritus of Elphin, will celebrate Mass for Saint Teresa of Calcutta’s Feast Day at 7.00pm in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Sligo. Bishop Jones met Mother Teresa in Sligo in 1996.
Archbishop Eamon Martin, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving at 7.30pm this evening in Saint Malachy’s Church, Armagh.
Commenting on the canonisation Archbishop Eamon 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.
ENDS
