Prayers, flowers mark Mother Teresa's birthday By Krittivas Mukherjee, Indo-Asian News Service
Kolkata, Aug 26 (IANS) Special prayer meetings, floral tributes and charity to the poor marked the celebrations of the 92nd birth anniversary of Nobel Prize winning missionary Mother Teresa here Monday. People from various sections of the society were seen visiting her tomb at Mother House, the headquarters of Missionaries of Charity (MoC), the order founded by the revered nun in 1949. Visitors placed floral wreaths and lighted incense sticks on the marbled tomb. Scores of schoolchildren filed in to a hall that is the nun's final resting place and placed wreaths. They also said a prayer. "We are observing certain routine rituals on this day," one MoC sister said. The sisters said the whole order was nostalgic and marking the day with a renewed pledge to work harder for the poorest of the poor. Special prayer meetings had been arranged in the memory of Mother Teresa, who is being considered for sainthood by the Vatican. Several city clubs and voluntary groups distributed clothes and food packets to the destitute. Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia, on August 26, 1910. She came to Calcutta, now Kolkata, on January 6, 1929, and began a life dedicated to serving the poor and dying, earning her the sobriquet "saint of the gutters". She founded MoC in 1949, a year after which it received the Vatican's approval. Mother Teresa received the Nobel peace prize in 1979 and died here September 5, 1997. Presidents, heads of states, kings and queens, attended her funeral. Recognising the life of true Christian service that she lived, the papacy ordered the start of the process to declare her a saint. The initial phase of the papal inquiry into her life ended last year and the findings along with details of a miracle she had performed had been sent to the Vatican. If the same is accepted, she will be beatified (declared a blessed soul) and the final stage of canonisation (sainthood) can begin. It is being widely hoped that she would be declared a saint in record time because of the reputation she enjoys. Mother Teresa is the 14th person to be considered for sainthood from India. Earlier, St. Thomas of Tamil Nadu, Francis Xavier of Goa, John D'Britto of Tamil Nadu and Gonzalo Gracia of Mumbai had been anointed saints. Five people have been beatified but await sainthood, while four had passed the first stage of veneration. --Indo-Asian News Service =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-W-E-B---S-I-T-E-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from GoaNet | http://www.goacom.com/goanet =================================================================== For (un)subscribing or for help, Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dont want so many e=mails? Join GoaNet-Digest instead ! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Help support non-commercial projects in Goa by advertizing!! * * * * Your ad here !!
