Mother Teresa was canonized, or officially recognized as a saint, on this day in history, September 4, 2016.
She was granted the title of “Saint Teresa of Calcutta.”
“Mother Teresa, in every aspect of her life, was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making herself available to all through the acceptance and defense of human life, both the unborn and the abandoned and discarded,” said Pope Francis during the canonization Mass.
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Mother Teresa “committed herself to defending life,” Pope Francis said, and “she bowed before those who were exhausted, abandoned to die by the side of the road, seeing in them the dignity that God had given them.”
“For Mother Teresa, mercy was the 'salt' that gave flavour to her work, it was the 'light' that shone in the darkness of many who no longer had tears to shed for their poverty and suffering,” he said.
Pope Francis canonized Mother Teresa on September 4, 2016, giving her the new title of Saint Teresa of Calcutta. The Albanian nun died almost exactly 19 years before her canonization. (ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP via Getty Images)
The canonization Mass took place on the eve of the 19th anniversary of his death, on September 5, 1997, at the age of 87.
Born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in what is now known as Skjope, North Macedonia, Mother Teresa was of Albanian descent, according to the Nobel Peace Prize website.
She first felt the call to religious life during her teenage years, leaving home in September 1928 at the age of 18 and moving to Ireland, joining the Sisters of Loreto.
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At the Sisters of Loreto, the teenager Agnes was given the religious name “Sister Maria Teresa,” in honor of St. Therese of Lisieux, according to the Vatican website.
Just over a year after her arrival in Ireland, she was sent to one of the missions of the Sisters of Loreto in India, the country that would become her adopted homeland.
In 1948, Mother Teresa left the Loreto Sisters to begin work on founding a new religious order, the Missionaries of Charity.
She made her first profession of vows in May 1931 and was assigned to the community of the Loreto Sisters in Calcutta, the Vatican website said.
She took her final vows with the Loreto Sisters in 1937 and became known as “Mother Teresa.”
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In 1948, Mother Teresa would leave the Loreto Sisters to begin working on the founding of a new religious order, the Missionaries of Charity.
“On August 17, 1948, she dressed for the first time in a white sari with blue borders and passed through the doors of her beloved convent of Loreto to enter the world of the poor,” the Vatican website said.
Mother Teresa was the founder of the Missionaries of Charity, a religious congregation that today has a worldwide presence. The group's habit consists of a blue and white sari, which is worn by Mother Teresa herself in the image. (Tim Graham/Getty Images)
Just over four months later, Mother Teresa first learned about what would become the rest of her life's work.
“On December 21, he went to the slums for the first time. He visited families, washed the wounds of some children, cared for a sick old man on the street and cured a woman who was dying of hunger and tuberculosis,” the Vatican website said.
In 1950, the Missionaries of Charity were officially approved to operate within the Archdiocese of Calcutta.
“By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As for my vocation, I belong to the world.”
The order now exists throughout the world to care for the dying and the poorest of the poor.
In the decades following the founding of the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa gained international recognition for her work serving the poor and dying.
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She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 “for her work helping suffering humanity.”
“I am Albanian by blood. By nationality, I am Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As for my vocation, I belong to the world. As for my heart, I belong completely to the Heart of Jesus,” she once said.
While “all Christians are called to be saints,” according to the USCCB website, “saints are people in heaven (whether officially canonized or not), who lived heroically virtuous lives, offered their lives for others, or were martyred for the faith, and who are worthy of imitation.”
A large crowd attended the canonization of Mother Teresa on September 4, 2016. (Getty Images)
After a person dies, there is typically a five-year waiting period before the process toward canonization begins, the USCCB says.
In 1999, two years after his death, this five-year period was suspended by the now Holy Pope John Paul II.
Once a person has been approved by the Vatican and declared to have lived a holy life, the person is declared “Venerable,” according to the Vatican website.
After this step, the Vatican must approve a miracle attributed to the intercession of the potential saint.
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Usually, it is a medical cure that cannot be explained otherwise by science.
Alleged miracles can be subject to investigation by the Vatican's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, which is the body that determines the legitimacy of such claims.
Scientists and doctors will vote on whether the alleged miracle can be explained scientifically, the Vatican website says.
Once the miracle is approved, the person is “beatified” and given the title of “Blessed.”
For Mother Teresa's canonization, the two miracles officially attributed to her intercession were the healing of an Indian woman and a Brazilian man.
Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 “for her work in helping suffering humanity.” (Image by Keystone/Getty Images)
The first miracle, the healing of Monica Besra of Bengal, India, occurred in 1998, says the website of the Magis Center, a Catholic organization.
Besra had been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor and was considered terminally ill and too weak to be operated on by doctors.
“One day, Monica went to Mass and saw a ray of light coming from a picture of Mother Teresa. Then, one of the Missionaries of Charity sisters took a medal of the Virgin Mary and tied it around Monica's swollen abdomen,” the website said.
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That day, September 5, 1998, was the first anniversary of Mother Teresa's death.
The sister then prayed: “Mother, today is your day. You love the poor. Do something for Monica.”
The tumor disappeared eight hours later, the Magis Center said.
Of the 11 doctors who examined Besra, only two were Catholic, and none had an explanation for how he had healed so quickly.
In 2002, the Vatican approved this healing as miraculous. Mother Teresa was beatified in October 2003.
A nun from Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity holds a rosary during a prayer vigil in preparation for the canonization of Mother Teresa at the Basilica of St. John Latheran at the Vatican, Friday, Sept. 2, 2016. Her order began in Calcutta and is now present around the world, serving the extremely poor. (The Associated Press)
The second miracle attributed to Mother Teresa's intercession was the healing of Marcilio Andrino in 2008.
Andrino, who lived in Brazil, had a brain infection and hydrocephalus, the Magis Center said.
“Marcilio's wife Fernanda used to place a relic of Mother Teresa on her husband's head. She also prayed a novena to Mother Teresa of Calcutta asking for her healing, but Marcilio's case only worsened,” the website states.
He was taken to the hospital in a last-ditch effort to save his life, but it proved unnecessary.
On December 9, 2008, Andrino fell into a coma in the early hours of the morning, the Magis Center said.
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He was taken to the hospital in a last-ditch effort to save his life, but it proved unnecessary.
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“The doctor who was going to operate on him left the operating room to seek help from another doctor. When he returned, Marcilio was awake and pain-free, even asking the doctor: 'What am I doing here?' This was at 6:10 p.m., only about 14 hours after Marcilio fell into a coma,” the Magis Center said.
Brazilian mechanical engineer Marcilio Andrino (center) and his wife Fernanda Nascimento Rocha are welcomed by Pope Francis during the canonization Mass for Mother Teresa. Andrino's miraculous healing from his brain ailments was attributed to Mother Teresa's intercession. (ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP via Getty Images)
Brain scans performed that day and four days later showed a remarkable and unexplained healing.
“Several surgeons analysed the brain scans, but none could find an explanation for how Marcilio healed so quickly,” the Magis Centre said.
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This miracle was approved by the Vatican in December 2015, and the date of Mother Teresa's canonization was announced in March.
