德蕾莎修女，Mother Teresa of
Calcutta，﹙1910年8月27日－1997年9月5日，又稱做德蘭修女﹚是世界敬重的天主教慈善工作者，主要替印度加爾各答的窮人服務。於1979年得到諾貝爾和平獎。並被教宗保羅二世在2003年10月列入了天主教宣福名單Beatification。目前德蕾莎修女的名稱也變為真福德雷莎修女Blessed
Teresa。
早期的生活
德蕾莎修女的本名是Agnes Gohxha Boiaxhia，她出生於南斯拉夫阿爾巴尼亞的史科培城﹙前南斯拉夫聯邦馬其頓共和國的首都﹚,
父親Nikolla Bojaxhiu是成功的地方雜貨承包商，母親是Dranafila
Bojaxhiu，她是么女，上有哥哥和姐姐﹙姐姐後來也成為修女﹚。家中說阿爾巴尼亞語，是天主教家庭，在她所居住的鎮上多為穆斯林和基督徒，僅有少數的天主教徒。
德蕾莎修女很少提到她的童年生活，但她曾說，在12歲加入一個天主教的兒童慈善會時，她就感覺自己未來的職業是要幫助貧寒，15歲時，她和姐姐決定到印度接受傳教士訓練工作，18歲時，她進了愛爾蘭羅雷托修會，並在都柏林及印度大吉嶺接受傳教士訓練工作，三學期後，德蕾莎修女正式到了印度的加爾各答，在聖瑪莉羅雷托修會中學擔任教職，主要是教地理。1931年，德蕾莎正式成為修女，1937年5月更決定成為終身職的修女，並依法國19世紀最著名的修女「聖女德莉莎
(http://www.hkdavc.com/st-lady/v2-st-lady.html)」(St.
Theresa)的名字和精神，改名為德蕾莎修女。1940年代初期，德蕾莎修女在聖瑪莉羅雷托修會中學擔任校長一職，但當時印度貧富差距非常大，校內一片安寧，但校外卻滿街都是無助的痲瘋患者、乞丐、流浪孩童。1946年9月10日，德蕾莎修女到印度大吉嶺的修院休息了一年，並強烈的感受到自己要為窮人服務的心，返回加爾各答後，她向當地的總主教請求離開學校和修會，但一直得不到許可。
紀錄片與知名度
1960年代，德蕾莎修女的收容所在加爾各答成為知名的地方，在街頭生病、需要幫助的患者都知道這個能夠讓他們安息的地方，收容所開始急速成長，因人手不足，開始招募世界各地的義工，透過義工的口耳相傳，也打開了世界的知名度。1969年，英國記者馬科爾•蒙格瑞奇拍攝了一部以德蕾莎修女為主的紀錄片《Something
Beautiful for
God》，片中拍出收容所和印度街頭驚人的貧窮和無助，以及德蕾莎修女決定終身侍奉最貧窮的人的精神，讓許多人相當感動，也讓德蕾莎修女變成了世界名人。
獲獎
1971年，教宗庇護十二世頒給德蕾莎修女｢Pope John
XXIII｣和平獎；同年的甘乃迪獎也頒發給她，此外還有如1975年Albert
Schweitzer國際獎也頒發給她，1985年美國總統自由勛章；1994年美國國會金牌；1996年11月16日美國名譽公民，和許多大學的名譽學
位；1979年的最重要的諾貝爾和平獎，也頒發給她。當時她拒絕了頒獎宴會和獎金。媒體問及她：｢我們可能做什麼促進世界和平？｣。她回答：｢回家和愛您
的家庭。｣
健康惡化與過世
1983年，德蕾莎修女到羅馬拜訪教皇保羅二世時，心臟病第一次發作。1989年心臟病第二次發作時，她接受了人工心臟的安裝，1991年從墨西哥拜訪回來之後，得到肺炎，健康日趨惡化。於是她向博濟會提出辭職，理由是她已無法像其他修女一樣全天照顧病患，在修會的秘密投票下，其他修女和修士都投票希望德蕾莎修女要留在博濟會領導她們。
1997年4月，德蕾莎修女跌倒並傷到鎖骨。8月時接受了心臟移植手術，但健康並沒有日漸好轉，
1997年3月13日，她退出了博濟會，同年9月，87歲時逝世。德蕾莎修女留下了4,000
個修會的修女，超過10萬以上的義工，還有在123個國家中的610個慈善工作。印度替她舉行了國葬。
附註：諷刺的是，同年8月31日，英國的戴安娜王妃車禍身亡，
台灣媒體花了整整一個月報導戴安娜王妃車禍和後續消息，而德蕾莎修女的過世在台灣報紙新聞及電視新聞報導則變成報端的小角，出殯當天，印度以國葬禮之，全世界各國各媒體都實況轉播，台灣則沒有任何反應，只在晚間新聞做小則消息報導。
「貧民窟的聖人」德蕾莎修女封聖10萬人見證 副總統陳建仁率特使團觀禮
王穎芝 2016年09月04日 16:26
http://www.storm.mg/article/162237
諾貝爾和平獎得主、被稱為「貧民窟的聖人」（Saint of the
Gutters）的德蕾莎修女（Mother Teresa），4日將由教宗方濟各（Pope
Francis）在梵蒂岡正式封為聖人（聖徒），超過10萬名天主教徒湧入梵蒂岡的聖伯多祿廣場（St.
Peter's
Square），希望見證德蕾莎修女封聖一刻。我副總統陳建仁也率領特使團出席觀禮，對教廷及教宗獻上祝福。
「貧民窟的聖人」正式封聖
教宗方濟各4日正式宣布德蕾莎修女封聖，儀式完成後，教宗在布道演說裡稱呼德蕾莎修女為「所有志願服務者的神聖典範」，他表示：「德蕾莎修女慷慨給予所有人崇高的慈心，也捍衛所有人類的生命，無論是未出生的、被人遺棄在路邊等死的，她都彎下身來，看見他們與生俱來的尊嚴。她也讓世界領袖聆聽她的話語，讓他們認清自己造成了多少人民的貧苦困境。」
教宗以拉丁文演說這段布道，稍後也被翻譯成數種語言，包括德蕾莎修女的母語阿爾巴尼亞語、加爾各答主要語言孟加拉語，還特地為了受到迫害的數百萬中國基督教徒播放中文版本。教宗也貼心表示，大眾可能不習慣立刻改口稱呼「聖人德蕾莎」，因此「我們就繼續稱呼她為德蕾莎修女吧」。
出生於阿爾巴尼亞天主教家庭的德蕾莎修女，1931年開始在印度大城加爾各答（Kolkata）服務，她所創立的仁愛傳教修女會（Missionaries
of Charity）和「垂死之家」（Nirmal Hriday）照顧瀕死無依者，慈善事蹟傳遍全球，1979年獲頒諾貝爾和平獎，1997年過世前，德蕾莎修女還在全世界建立許多醫院、修道院與收容之家。
但是，只有慈善事蹟並不足以被教廷封為聖人，天主教冊封聖人的過程頗為繁複，首先，申請流程通常是在候選人去世5年後，由候選人所服務的教區發起，蒐集好候選人的生平奉獻事蹟，交由專責部門「冊封聖人部」（Congregation
for the Causes of Saints）審核。
聖人部會向教宗推薦，建議教宗宣布候選人的「英雄德行」，此時候選人成為「尊者」（The
Venerable），供信徒以尊者之名轉禱，而若轉禱中至少發生2次「奇蹟」（常見事例為不靠醫療手術治癒信眾疾病），經審核委員會長期觀察，確認病患完全痊癒、而且痊癒原因無法以醫學解釋後，才會呈交教宗封聖。
神蹟審核過程引發批評
德蕾莎修女被認證的神蹟，第一起為1998年印度一名患有惡性腫瘤的50歲婦女，將德蕾莎修女照片綁在腹部一夜後腫瘤完全消失。第二起則為一名患有致命腦瘤的巴西男子，在家人向德蕾莎修女代禱後於2008年奇蹟痊癒，這項神蹟去年底才獲確認。審核奇蹟的委員會包含各大樞機主教、神學家和醫生，不過，審核過程常因曠日費時、開銷龐大而招來批評，2015年兩名義大利記者出版《貪婪》（Avarice）及《聖殿裏的商人》（Merchants
in the
Temple）二書，也揭露外界捐獻者以贈禮等手段加速封聖程序，估計每次封聖平均耗費50萬歐元（約合新台幣1800萬元），捐款的用途也未明確規範，公正程度引人疑竇。
除了審核過程，德蕾莎修女封聖一案從1999年遞交申請開始，還遭受諸多批評。第一個神蹟所治癒的印度婦人，其丈夫曾表示妻子是因醫療手術而病癒，受到教會施壓才會謊稱為神蹟。但隨即又改口承認神蹟存在，引發質疑。
另外，許多報導曾指出《垂死之家》衛生環境惡劣、甚至禁用止痛藥，也拒絕進一步為病患治療。仁愛傳教修女會的帳目不透明、曾收受海地殘暴獨裁者杜華利（Jean-Claude
Duvalier）的捐款等爭議，也都令外界質疑德蕾莎修女的聖人資格。
教宗肯定德蕾莎精神 10萬人參與封聖儀式
但是，儘管德蕾莎修女有諸多爭議，她跨越國家、種族、性別與宗教的善行，仍是無可否認的偉大事蹟。《紐約時報》（The
New York
Times）分析，德蕾莎修女的精神呼應了教宗方濟各不斷強調的宗旨，即教會應該照顧、包容世上最貧苦的邊緣族群。方濟各也於2015年宣佈自2015年12月8日至2016年11月8日為「非經常性聖年」（Holy
Year of
Mercy），象徵教廷為全球信徒提供獲得救恩的特殊途徑。《紐時》認為，方濟各以德蕾莎修女封聖儀式作為聖年結束前最大規模的活動，也凸顯了他對於德蕾莎修女的讚譽有加。
德蕾莎修女封聖儀式規模宏大，預計將湧入10萬名朝聖的教徒觀禮。而各國除派出駐教廷大使外，共有12國還特派使團出席，包括我國與美國、印度、荷蘭、義大利、科索沃、巴拿馬等。雖然近日頻頻傳出梵蒂岡有意與中國推進關係，但此次並未邀請中國參加典禮。
本身即為虔誠天主教徒的副總統陳建仁，也率領特使團前往觀禮，特地選贈台灣出版有關方濟各的書籍，藉以對教宗獻上祝福。我國藝文團體「台北愛樂室內合唱團」也受邀在德蕾莎修女封聖典禮演出，陳建仁應邀擔任典禮演出的榮譽團長。
德蕾莎修女今「封聖」
2神蹟獲認證
2016-09-04 06:59
http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/1815344
〔即時新聞／綜合報導〕教宗方濟各今天將為有「貧民聖人」之稱的已故諾貝爾和平獎得主德蕾莎修女（Mother
Teresa of
Calcutta）封聖，依傳統「封聖」需要確認2項神蹟，而德蕾莎不僅具備，且與重病患者神奇痊癒有關。
綜合外電報導，罹患胃癌的印度女子，在德蕾莎修女離世1週年時，醫院住院治療期間，在腹部纏上一個德蘭修女紀念章，其後體內腫瘤消失，這項神蹟2002年獲確認。
第2項神蹟則於去年底獲確認，患有致命腦瘤的巴西男子，在家人向德蘭修女祈求代禱後，2008年奇蹟痊癒令醫生無法解釋。
本報報導，德蕾莎修女於1946年她走入印度加爾各答貧民窟開始為「最窮的窮人」服務，1979年獲諾貝爾和平獎，1997年逝世，今天是她逝世19週年紀念日，被「封聖」，德蕾莎留有「加爾各答的天使」、「貧民聖人」、「20世紀基督教精神化身」等美譽。
貧民窟聖人
德雷莎修女辭世19年封聖
http://p.udn.com.tw/upf/newmedia/2016_data/20160902_motherteresa_/index_.html
4日，天主教教宗方濟各將為德雷莎修女舉行封聖儀式，數十萬人預計將親赴梵蒂岡聖伯多祿廣場參加儀式。她畢生在印度加爾各答最窮困的貧民窟，為全球最低下的平民服務，被譽為「貧民窟聖人」，在死後19年封聖，收容之家發言人向《BBC》表示，「我們沒有任何慶祝計畫，在這裡，我們已經非常快樂。」
副總統陳建仁昨日(9/2)也為此出訪梵蒂岡，進行「固邦之旅」
，擔任蔡英文總統特使代表出席封聖儀式。
19年的快速封聖路
德雷莎修女死後兩年就進入快速封聖程序，會說快速是因通常封聖程序約在當事人過世5年後才會開始。2003年10月德雷莎修女第一個奇蹟就被認可：讓確診胃癌末期的印度女子康復。第二個奇蹟則在去年12月被認可：讓巴西腦瘤男子安椎諾痊癒。
早期教會將殉教烈士的遺骸自墓地遷移到教堂，就等於封聖。但1983年時任教宗若望保祿二世後規定，必須向教宗提出封聖申請，申請封聖者必須在宣福禮後，又有兩件神蹟被發掘且經證實，才能正式封聖。
Step1：
尊者（Venerable）
首先由教區主教調查「候選者」的生活事蹟、著作及言行，再由梵蒂岡神學家進行評估。經由評估小組及教廷封聖委員會的樞機主教團認可後，將在世時有英勇德行的信徒追贈為「尊者」。
1999年，前教宗若望保祿二世授意，由加爾各答教區主教委員會調查相關事蹟及文獻。
Step2：
宣福（Beatification）
封聖第一階段，候選者除在世時有英勇德行外，還要加上一個已經證實的信徒向其祈求而獲應驗的神蹟，然後由教宗主持「宣福禮」成為「真福品」（Blessed）。天主教徒相信真福在天堂中可以代為向天主祈福，因此真福具有幫信徒代禱的能力。
2003年10月，前教宗若望保祿二世，認可德雷莎修女第一個奇蹟，曾被診斷胃癌末期的印度女子莫妮卡•貝斯拉痊癒。並將德雷莎修女列入了天主教宣福名單。目前德雷莎修女的名稱也變為「真福德雷莎修女」(Blessed
Teresa)。
Step3：
封聖（Canonization）
需要出現第二個奇蹟，才能由教宗正式宣布該已故信徒有資格受公眾崇敬，並將其姓名正式登錄在聖人名冊上。
2015年12月，教宗方濟各認可德雷莎修女第二個奇蹟，巴西腦瘤男子安椎諾痊癒，他與妻子也將出席封聖儀式。
2016年9月4日，梵蒂岡舉行封聖儀式，副總統陳建仁代表出席。
曾獲諾貝爾和平獎的德雷莎修女是天主教會2千年來最有影響力的女性之一，她畢生在印度加爾各答最窮困的貧民窟，為全球最低下的平民服務。德雷莎修女1910年生於鄂圖曼土耳其帝國的馬其頓，16歲成為修女，並在1929年前往印度。
推動德雷莎修女封聖的仁愛傳教修女會（MoC）克洛迪舒克神父說：「即使在流行文化中，德雷莎修女也是善良、仁慈與博愛的象徵。」
不穿修女服 改披白粗布沙麗
1948年起，已經在印度服務近20年的德雷莎修女，決意離開傳統修女會，救助流落街頭的窮人。她捨棄傳統修女服飾，改穿印度種姓社會最低階「吠舍」所穿著的白粗布沙麗。
1952年更創立為貧困流浪者照護的收容之家，無條件為窮困者服務，包括藥癮、娼妓、受虐婦女。在收容之家的號召下，超過4500名修女在全世界各地服務，印度目前共有19間為女性、孤兒及老人服務的收容院所。
聖人非完人
德雷莎修女封聖的消息也引發不小爭議，因為她在貧民窟的作為受到不少人質疑，像是很少為末期病患減緩疼痛，或根除造成貧困的原因。英國醫學期刊「刺胳針」（The
Lancet）1991年造訪德雷莎修女在加爾各答經營的慈善垂死之家，發現許多未經訓練的照護者無法辨別病患無法救治的關鍵時刻。
亦有人指出她和某些受爭議權勢人物有不明的關係，像是她曾與海地獨裁者杜瓦希利(Jean-Claude
Duvalier)往來。
克洛迪舒克神父反駁批評者的說法，表示德雷莎修女的任務是提供人們在生命的最後有個舒適的環境，而非成立醫院。他說：「我們不想證明聖人是完美的，因為沒有人是完美的。」
1985年曾訪台
德雷莎修女1985年訪台，時任總統蔣經國在總統府接見表示，德雷莎代表慈愛祥和，一生服務貧苦大眾，為促進人類和平所表現的犧牲奉獻精神，正是人類博愛行為的典範，值得世人學習。
當時的內政部長吳伯雄也以內政一等獎章，頒贈給德雷莎修女，對她終身奉獻，照顧窮人的偉大襟懷，表示崇高的敬意。德雷莎修女也被譽為「貧病者之母」。
「台灣缺乏愛」是德雷莎修女訪台時留下的評語，她說，「物質的貧窮容易解決，而心靈上的貧乏、寂寞，卻是今日多數人的問題。台灣可能沒有缺乏麵包的飢餓，但一定有愛的飢餓，缺少天主愛的話語的飢餓。」
聖人語錄
「 如果你很謙卑，那麼無論是誇讚還是羞辱，沒有任何事能夠擊垮你，因為你清楚自己是誰。」
「有時我們以為貧窮只是挨餓，衣不蔽體，無家可歸。但真正的貧窮是感覺不被需要，不被愛，不被關心。」
「快樂無須探尋：只要以愛待人，就能得到快樂。」
「 寧可因好意而犯錯，也不要以刻薄創造奇蹟。」
Religion
Mother Teresa:
‘Saint of the gutters’ canonized at Vatican
By Nicole Winfield | AP
September 4 at 11:43 AM
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/mother-teresa-honored-as-saint-and-model-of-mercy/2016/09/04/7591be12-725f-11e6-9781-49e591781754_story.html?tid=hybrid_collaborative_1_na
VATICAN CITY — Elevating the “saint of the
gutters” to one of the Catholic Church’s highest
honors, Pope Francis on Sunday praised Mother
Teresa for her radical dedication to society’s
outcasts and her courage in shaming world
leaders for the “crimes of poverty they
themselves created.”
An estimated 120,000 people filled St. Peter’s
Square for the canonization ceremony, less than
half the number who turned out for her 2003
beatification. It was nevertheless the highlight
of Francis’ Holy Year of Mercy and quite
possibly one of the defining moments of his
mercy-focused papacy.
Francis has been dedicated to ministering to
society’s most marginal, from prostitutes to
prisoners, refugees to the homeless. In that
way, while the canonization of “St. Teresa of
Kolkata” was a celebration of her life and work,
it was also something of an affirmation of
Francis’ own papal priorities, which have earned
him praise and criticism alike.
“Let us carry her smile in our hearts and give
it to those whom we meet along our journey,
especially those who suffer,” Francis said in
his homily.
Born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu on Aug. 26, 1910,
Teresa came to India in 1929 as a sister of the
Loreto order. In 1946, she received what she
described as a “call within a call” to found a
new order dedicated to caring for the most
unloved and unwanted, the “poorest of the poor”
in the slums of her adopted city, Kolkata.
The Missionaries of Charity order went on to
become one of the most well-known in the world,
with more than 4,000 sisters in their trademark
blue-trimmed white saris doing as Teresa
instructed: “small things with great love.”
At the order’s Mother House in Kolkata, hundreds
of people watched the Mass on TV and clapped
with joy when Francis declared her a saint.
They gathered around Teresa’s tomb which was
decorated with flowers, a single candle and a
photo of the wrinkled saint.
“I am so proud to be from Kolkata,” said Sanjay
Sarkar, a high school student on hand for the
celebration. “Mother Teresa belonged to Kolkata,
and she has been declared a saint.”
For Francis, Teresa put into action his ideal of
the church as a “field hospital” for those
suffering both material and spiritual poverty,
living on the physical and existential
peripheries of society.
In his homily, Francis praised her as the
merciful saint who defended the lives of the
unborn, sick and abandoned, recalling her strong
opposition to abortion which often put her at
odds with progressives around the world.
“She bowed down before those who were spent,
left to die on the side of the road, seeing in
them their God-given dignity,” he said.
Teresa’s most famous critic, Christopher
Hitchens, has accused her of taking donations
from dictators — charges church authorities
deny. Francis chose to emphasize her other
dealings with the powerful.
“She made her voice heard before the powers of
the world, so that they might recognize their
guilt for the crimes of poverty they themselves
created,” he said, repeating for emphasis “the
crimes of poverty.”
Hundreds of Missionaries of Charity sisters had
front-row seats at the Mass, alongside 1,500
homeless people and 13 heads of state or
government and even royalty: Queen Sofia of
Spain. For the homeless, Francis offered a
luncheon afterward in the Vatican auditorium,
catered by a Neapolitan pizza maker who brought
his own ovens for the event.
“Her heart, she gave it to the world,” said
Charlotte Samba, a 52-year-old mother of three
who traveled with a church group from Gabon for
the Mass. “Mercy, forgiveness, good works: It is
the heart of a mother for the poor.”
While big, the crowd attending the canonization
wasn’t even half of the 300,000 who turned out
for Mother Teresa’s 2003 beatification
celebrated by an ailing St. John Paul II. The
low turnout suggested that financial
belt-tightening and security fears in the wake
of Islamic extremist attacks in Europe may have
kept pilgrims away.
Those fears prompted a huge, 3,000-strong law
enforcement presence to secure the area around
the Vatican and close the airspace above. Many
of those security measures have been in place
for the duration of the Jubilee year, which
officially ends in November.
While Francis is clearly keen to hold Teresa up
as a model for her joyful dedication to the
poor, he was also recognizing holiness in a nun
who lived most of her adult life in spiritual
agony, sensing that God had abandoned her.
According to correspondence that came to light
after she died in 1997, Teresa experienced what
the church calls a “dark night of the soul” — a
period of spiritual doubt, despair and
loneliness that many of the great mystics
experienced. In Teresa’s case, it lasted for
nearly 50 years — an almost unheard of trial.
For the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, the Canadian
priest who spearheaded Teresa’s saint-making
campaign, the revelations were further
confirmation of Mother Teresa’s heroic
saintliness. He said that by canonizing her,
Francis is recognizing that she not only shared
the material poverty of the poor but the
spiritual poverty of those who feel “unloved,
unwanted, uncared for.”
“If I’m going to be a saint, I’m going to be a
saint of darkness, and I’ll be asking from
heaven to be the light of those who are in
darkness on Earth,” she once wrote.
Francis has never publicly mentioned this
“darkness,” but he has in many ways modeled his
papacy on Teresa and her simple lifestyle and
selfless service to the poor: He eschewed the
Apostolic Palace for a hotel room, made
welcoming migrants and the poor a hallmark and
has fiercely denounced today’s “throwaway”
culture that discards the unborn, the sick and
the elderly with ease.
Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity went on to
become a global order of nuns, priests, brothers
and lay co-workers. She was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1979 and died in 1997. Soon
thereafter, John Paul placed her on the
fast-track for sainthood.
Francis has confessed that he was somewhat
intimidated by Teresa, knowing well she was as
tough as she was tender. He quipped during a
2014 visit to Albania that he would never have
wanted her as his superior because she was so
firm with her sisters.
But on Sunday, he admitted that even he would
find it hard to call her “St. Teresa,” since her
tenderness was so maternal.
sep 4, 11:40 AM EDT
MOTHER TERESA:
'SAINT OF THE GUTTERS' CANONIZED AT VATICAN
BY NICOLE WINFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS
https://www.apnews.com/045802cbf4894c868cf82a37cd5680a0/Mother-Teresa:-'Saint-of--the-gutters'-canonized-at-Vatican
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Elevating the "saint of
the gutters" to one of the Catholic Church's
highest honors, Pope Francis on Sunday praised
Mother Teresa for her radical dedication to
society's outcasts and her courage in shaming
world leaders for the "crimes of poverty they
themselves created."
An estimated 120,000 people filled St.
Peter's Square for the canonization ceremony,
less than half the number who turned out for her
2003 beatification. It was nevertheless the
highlight of Francis' Holy Year of Mercy and
quite possibly one of the defining moments of
his mercy-focused papacy.
Francis has been dedicated to ministering to
society's most marginal, from prostitutes to
prisoners, refugees to the homeless. In that
way, while the canonization of "St. Teresa of
Kolkata" was a celebration of her life and work,
it was also something of an affirmation of
Francis' own papal priorities, which have earned
him praise and criticism alike.
"Let us carry her smile in our hearts and
give it to those whom we meet along our journey,
especially those who suffer," Francis said in
his homily.
Born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu on Aug. 26, 1910,
Teresa came to India in 1929 as a sister of the
Loreto order. In 1946, she received what she
described as a "call within a call" to found a
new order dedicated to caring for the most
unloved and unwanted, the "poorest of the poor"
in the slums of her adopted city, Kolkata.
The Missionaries of Charity order went on to
become one of the most well-known in the world,
with more than 4,000 sisters in their trademark
blue-trimmed white saris doing as Teresa
instructed: "small things with great love."
At the order's Mother House in Kolkata,
hundreds of people watched the Mass on TV and
clapped with joy when Francis declared her a
saint.
They gathered around Teresa's tomb which was
decorated with flowers, a single candle and a
photo of the wrinkled saint.
"I am so proud to be from Kolkata," said
Sanjay Sarkar, a high school student on hand for
the celebration. "Mother Teresa belonged to
Kolkata, and she has been declared a saint."
For Francis, Teresa put into action his ideal
of the church as a "field hospital" for those
suffering both material and spiritual poverty,
living on the physical and existential
peripheries of society.
In his homily, Francis praised her as the
merciful saint who defended the lives of the
unborn, sick and abandoned, recalling her strong
opposition to abortion which often put her at
odds with progressives around the world.
"She bowed down before those who were spent,
left to die on the side of the road, seeing in
them their God-given dignity," he said.
Teresa's most famous critic, Christopher
Hitchens, has accused her of taking donations
from dictators - charges church authorities
deny. Francis chose to emphasize her other
dealings with the powerful.
"She made her voice heard before the powers
of the world, so that they might recognize their
guilt for the crimes of poverty they themselves
created," he said, repeating for emphasis "the
crimes of poverty."
Hundreds of Missionaries of Charity sisters
had front-row seats at the Mass, alongside 1,500
homeless people and 13 heads of state or
government and even royalty: Queen Sofia of
Spain. For the homeless, Francis offered a
luncheon afterward in the Vatican auditorium,
catered by a Neapolitan pizza maker who brought
his own ovens for the event.
"Her heart, she gave it to the world," said
Charlotte Samba, a 52-year-old mother of three
who traveled with a church group from Gabon for
the Mass. "Mercy, forgiveness, good works: It is
the heart of a mother for the poor."
While big, the crowd attending the
canonization wasn't even half of the 300,000 who
turned out for Mother Teresa's 2003
beatification celebrated by an ailing St. John
Paul II. The low turnout suggested that
financial belt-tightening and security fears in
the wake of Islamic extremist attacks in Europe
may have kept pilgrims away.
Those fears prompted a huge, 3,000-strong law
enforcement presence to secure the area around
the Vatican and close the airspace above. Many
of those security measures have been in place
for the duration of the Jubilee year, which
officially ends in November.
While Francis is clearly keen to hold Teresa
up as a model for her joyful dedication to the
poor, he was also recognizing holiness in a nun
who lived most of her adult life in spiritual
agony, sensing that God had abandoned her.
According to correspondence that came to
light after she died in 1997, Teresa experienced
what the church calls a "dark night of the soul"
- a period of spiritual doubt, despair and
loneliness that many of the great mystics
experienced. In Teresa's case, it lasted for
nearly 50 years - an almost unheard of trial.
For the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, the Canadian
priest who spearheaded Teresa's saint-making
campaign, the revelations were further
confirmation of Mother Teresa's heroic
saintliness. He said that by canonizing her,
Francis is recognizing that she not only shared
the material poverty of the poor but the
spiritual poverty of those who feel "unloved,
unwanted, uncared for."
"If I'm going to be a saint, I'm going to be
a saint of darkness, and I'll be asking from
heaven to be the light of those who are in
darkness on Earth," she once wrote.
Francis has never publicly mentioned this
"darkness," but he has in many ways modeled his
papacy on Teresa and her simple lifestyle and
selfless service to the poor: He eschewed the
Apostolic Palace for a hotel room, made
welcoming migrants and the poor a hallmark and
has fiercely denounced today's "throwaway"
culture that discards the unborn, the sick and
the elderly with ease.
Teresa's Missionaries of Charity went on to
become a global order of nuns, priests, brothers
and lay co-workers. She was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1979 and died in 1997. Soon
thereafter, John Paul placed her on the
fast-track for sainthood.
Francis has confessed that he was somewhat
intimidated by Teresa, knowing well she was as
tough as she was tender. He quipped during a
2014 visit to Albania that he would never have
wanted her as his superior because she was so
firm with her sisters.
But on Sunday, he admitted that even he would
find it hard to call her "St. Teresa," since her
tenderness was so maternal.
"Spontaneously, we will continue to say
'Mother Teresa,'" he said to applause.
---
Associated Press writer Bernat Armangue in
Kolkata, India, contributed to this report.
---
Follow Nicole Winfield at
www.twitter.com/nwinfield
---
A previous version of this story has been
corrected to say Queen Sofia of Spain is not a
head of state or government.
Noticias
Hitos en la vida
de la Madre Teresa
https://apnews.com/7c4bedad775748c79e091e6971cd5d28
l papa Francisco canonizó el domingo a la
Madre Teresa, que se ocupaba de los "más pobres
entre los pobres", como símbolo máximo de su Año
de la Misericordia. A continuación, algunos
hitos en la vida del santo más reciente de la
Iglesia católica.
1910: Agnes Gonxe Bojaxhiu nace el 26 de
agosto en Skopje, en la actual Macedonia, la
menor de tres hijos de un constructor albanés.
1928: Ingresa como novicia en Irlanda en la
orden de Loreto, que regenta escuelas misionales
en la India, y toma el nombre de sor Teresa.
1929: Llega a Kolkata para enseñar en la
escuela secundaria St. Mary.
1937: Hace sus votos definitivos y toma el
nombre de Madre Teresa.
1946: El 10 de septiembre, viajando en tren a
Darjeeling, recibe un "llamado dentro del
llamado" de Jesús para "servirle entre los más
pobres entre los pobres".
1948: Se le permite abandonar la orden para
instalarse en los barrios más pobres de Kolkata,
donde funda su primera escuela.
1950: El 7 de octubre funda oficialmente las
Misioneras de la Caridad como congregación
religiosa.
1952: Funda Nirmal Hriday ("Corazón Puro"),
un hogar para moribundos, seguido el año
siguiente por su primer hogar para huérfanos.
1962: Obtiene su primer galardón por su obra
humanitaria: el premio Padma Shri a los "servicios
destacados". A lo largo de los años, utiliza el
dinero de esos premios para fundar decenas de
hogares.
1979: Gana el Premio Nobel de la Paz.
1982: Convence a israelíes y palestinos que
suspendan hostilidades el tiempo necesario para
rescatar a 37 niños atrapados en un hospital en
Beirut.
1983: Sufre un ataque cardíaco durante una
visita al papa Juan Pablo segundo en Roma.
1985: Recibe la Medalla de la Libertad, la
mayor condecoración civil de Estados Unidos.
1989: Sufre un segundo ataque cardíaco, casi
fatal. Se le implanta un marcapasos.
1990: Anuncia su intención de renunciar y
convoca a un cónclave de hermanas para elegir a
la sucesora. En votación secreta, resulta
reelegida con un solo voto en contra, el suyo, y
retira su renuncia.
1991: Sufre neumonía en Tijuana, México, lo
que le produce insuficiencia cardíaca congestiva,
y es hospitalizada en La Jolla, California.
1996: 16 de noviembre, recibe la ciudadanía
honoraria de Estados Unidos..
1997: Muere el 5 de septiembre en Kolkata y
recibe un funeral de estado.
2003: Juan Pablo II la beatifica frente a
300.000 personas en la Plaza de San Pedro.
2015: Se allana el camino a la canonización
cuando el papa Francisco declara que la curación
de un hombre brasileño que padecía abscesos en
el cerebro fue milagrosa.
2016: Es canonizada el 4 de septiembre.
Religion
AP EXPLAINS:
Saints, miracles and Mother Teresa
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_REL_AP_EXPLAINS_SAINTHOOD?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
VATICAN CITY (AP) — For many of the poor and
destitute whom Mother Teresa served, the tiny
nun was a living saint. Many at the Vatican
would agree, but the Catholic Church
nevertheless has a grueling process to make it
official, involving volumes of historical
research, the hunt for miracles and teams of
experts to weigh the evidence. In Mother
Teresa's case, the process will come to a formal
end Sunday when Pope Francis declares the
church's newest saint. Here's a look at the
process:
HOW SAINTS ARE MADE
The process to find a new saint usually
begins in the diocese where he or she lived or
died; in Mother Teresa's case, Kolkata. A
postulator — essentially the cheerleader
spearheading the project — gathers testimony and
documentation and presents the case to the
Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
If the congregation's experts agree the
candidate lived a virtuous life, the case is
forwarded to the pope, who signs a decree
attesting to the candidate's "heroic virtues."
If the postulator finds someone was healed
after praying for the candidate's intercession,
and if the cure cannot be medically explained,
the case is presented to the congregation as the
possible miracle needed for beatification, the
first major hurdle in the saint-making process.
Panels of doctors, theologians, bishops and
cardinals must certify that the cure was
instantaneous, complete and lasting — and was
due to the intercession of the saintly
candidate. If convinced, the congregation sends
the case to the pope, who signs a decree saying
the candidate can be beatified. A second miracle
is needed for the person to be declared a saint.
___
AFTER SCANDAL, REFORMING THE PROCESS
The saint-making process has long been
criticized as being expensive, secretive, ripe
for abuses and subject to political, financial
or theological winds that can push one candidate
to sainthood in record time and leave another
languishing for centuries. Pope Francis has
raised eyebrows with some rule-breaking
beatifications and canonizations, waiving the
need for miracles and canonizing more people in
a single clip — more than 800 15th-century
martyrs — than John Paul did in his 26-year
pontificate (482).
Francis has also imposed new financial
accountability standards on the
multimillion-dollar machine after uncovering
gross abuses that were subsequently revealed in
two books. The books estimated the average cost
for each beatification at around 500,000 euros
($550,000), with much of the proceeds going to a
few lucky people with contracts to do the
time-consuming investigations into the
candidates' lives. For the record, the
postulator of Mother Teresa's cause says her
case, which stretched over 20 years, cost less
than 100,000 euros.
___
FROM MOTHER TO SAINT TERESA
Why is Mother Teresa a saint? And why is she
the icon for Pope Francis' Holy Year of Mercy?
For her admirers, it's obvious.
"Mother is known throughout the whole world
for her works of mercy, recognized by Christians
and non-Christians alike," said Sister Mary
Prema Pierick, the current superior general of
Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity order.
"Reflecting about Mother and the life of our
mother, we see all the works of mercy — corporal
and spiritual — put into action."
Her biographer, the Rev. Lush Gjergji, said
she founded her life on two pillars: "For God
and for the human being."
"She crossed all barriers like castes, races,
gender, ethnic, religious, cultural and turned
into and remained the mother of the whole
civilization," he said. "In the history of
sainthood and that of Christianity, she is the
first saint of Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims,
non-religious and of course for Christians."
She was not beloved by all, however. She was
criticized for the quality of care in her
clinics and accused of taking donations from
Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier and
disgraced American financier Charles Keating.
___
FRANCIS' SAINT
Mother Teresa is most often associated with
St. John Paul II, who was pope during the heyday
of her work. But Pope Francis seems more a pope
in her likeness, eschewing the Apostolic Palace
for a simple hotel room, focusing his ministry
on the most marginal of society and traveling to
the peripheries to find lost souls — just as
Mother Teresa did. In one of his first public
audiences after being elected pope in 2013,
Francis said he longed for a "church that is
poor and for the poor." That Francis is crowning
his Jubilee Year of Mercy with Teresa's
canonization is evidence that he sees her as the
model of the merciful church he envisions.
___
SECURING THE CEREMONY
With more than 100,000 people expected to jam
St. Peter's Square on Sunday, including at least
13 heads of state or government, security is an
obvious concern given that the Islamic State
group has said Rome is their ultimate target as
the seat of Christianity. For months now, police
have closed to traffic the main boulevard
leading to the Vatican. In anticipation of the
throngs expected Sunday, Rome police have added
an extra 1,000 officers, many of them
anti-terrorism teams, to a law enforcement force
that has already been beefed up by 2,000 for the
Jubilee year. The security plan calls for the
area around St. Peter's to be divided into three
areas with reinforced controls starting Saturday
night and lasting through Sunday. The airspace
over the Vatican and surrounding areas will be
closed.
EUROPE
Mother Teresa Is
Made a Saint by Pope Francis
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDOSEPT. 3, 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/05/world/europe/mother-teresa-named-saint-by-pope-francis.html?hpw&rref=world&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0
VATICAN CITY — She was known throughout the
world as Mother Teresa, considered a saint by
many for her charitable work among the poorest
of the world’s poor. On Sunday morning, Pope
Francis officially bestowed that title at her
canonization ceremony in St. Peter’s Square.
“I think, perhaps, we may have some
difficulty in calling her St. Teresa: Her
holiness is so near to us, so tender and so
fruitful, that we continue to spontaneously call
her Mother Teresa,” the pope said in
off-the-cuff remarks during his homily.
It was a festive atmosphere at the Vatican,
under a broiling summer sun, and several flags
fluttered in the light breeze: from Albania,
representing the Roman Catholic nun’s ethnic
origins; from Macedonia, to note her birthplace,
Skopje; from India, where she spent most of her
life, working in the slums of Kolkata; and from
the many other countries where her humility and
selflessness touched countless lives.
When Francis proclaimed her St. Teresa at the
end of the formal ceremony, in Latin, the crowd
erupted in sustained applause.
“We are proud of her, all of India is proud,”
said Marina Borneo Sam, who traveled from
Kolkata with her mother to be at the ceremony.
“She may no longer be there, but we still feel
her spirit around us.”
For some, Mother Teresa’s saintliness was so
evident from the start that her canonization was
just a formality.
“For me, nothing has changed,” said Giovanna
Tommasi, a lay member of the Missionaries of
Charity, the religious order founded by Mother
Teresa in 1950. “When you were fortunate enough
to know her, as I did, then today’s celebration
doesn’t change much.”
The canonization was a highlight of the
Jubilee year, which the pope had proclaimed to
celebrate the theme of mercy, and on Sunday he
called Mother Teresa a “tireless worker of
mercy.”
His homily was primarily addressed to
volunteer workers celebrating the Jubilee.
“Today, I pass on this emblematic figure of
womanhood and of consecrated life to the whole
world of volunteers: May she be your model of
holiness,” Francis said.
He also praised her “defense of human life,
those unborn and those abandoned and discarded,”
emphasizing her relentless petitioning against
abortion.
Mother Teresa earned fame and accolades over
a lifetime spent working with the poor and the
sick, and with orphans, lepers and AIDS
patients.
She made the cover of Time magazine in
December 1975 for an article that acknowledged
her as one of the world’s “living saints.” When
told that she had won the Nobel Peace Prize in
1979, she said, “I am unworthy.”
A portrait of Mother Teresa, described by
Pope John Paul II as an “icon of the good
Samaritan,” was displayed on the facade of St.
Peter’s Basilica and showing her in her
distinctive blue-trimmed white sari. The
portrait was commissioned by the Knights of
Columbus and painted by Chas Fagan, an American
artist.
Because of her celebrity, she stepped where
many religious figures do not. “She made her
voice heard before the powers of this world, so
that they might recognize their guilt for the
crime of poverty they created,” the pope said on
Sunday.
Mother Teresa’s supporters praise her
selflessness and humility, noting that though
she associated with royalty, government leaders
and popes, she continued to live simply until
her death, at age 87, in 1997.
“She was one with us,” Sister Mary Prema
Pierick, the superior general of the
Missionaries of Charity, said at a Vatican news
conference on Friday. “She never wanted or
accepted anything not common with all the
sisters.”
The order that Mother Teresa started with 12
nuns now numbers more than 5,800 people in 139
countries, including two orders of brothers and
one of priests. The congregation continues her
work of ministering to the world’s least
privileged, those she called “the poorest of the
poor.”
Mother Teresa was “both mother and teacher,”
Sister Prema said. “She lived the religious life
with so much joy and enthusiasm that we all
wanted to be close with her.”
Her gift, she added, was “to make everybody
aware of their own responsibility,” and inspire
people with the knowledge that “each one of us
can make a difference.”
Mother Teresa was canonized 19 years after
her death, remarkably fast for modern times.
John Paul II, who is now also a saint, went
against protocol when he allowed the
canonization process to begin two years after
her death, not the customary five. He beatified
her in 2003 after a miracle, the healing of a
tumor-stricken woman, was attributed to her
intercession.
A second miracle, recognized by Francis last
year, opened the way to sanctity.
“I am very grateful for this miracle,” said
Marcilio Haddad Andrino, a Brazilian who
recovered from a life-threatening brain
infection in 2008 after his family prayed to
Mother Teresa. Mr. Andrino came to Rome for the
ceremony and was present at the Vatican news
conference.
“The merciful Lord looks at us all without
any distinction,” Mr. Andrino said. “Maybe it
was me this time, but maybe tomorrow it will be
someone else.”
Mother Teresa, for all her acclaim, was not
without critics. Some have questioned the
hygiene and medical standards adopted by the
sisters in some of the shelters and clinics run
by the Missionaries of Charity. Others, like Dr.
Aroup Chatterjee, have criticized what they call
a “cult of suffering” that was prevalent in some
of the homes run by the order.
In a book, and in the documentary “Hell’s
Angel,” the author and essayist Christopher
Hitchens accused Mother Teresa of being an “ally
of the status quo,” also calling her a “zealot”
and a “fanatic.” Mr. Hitchens charged that
instead of empowering the poor to seek a better
future, she instilled the idea that their
condition was permanent.
Her campaigns against birth control and
abortion, which she once called “the greatest
destroyer of peace today,” angered feminists and
raised concerns with aid organizations.
Some doctors and officials in India have also
challenged the narrative of Monica Besra, the
woman said to have benefited from Mother
Teresa’s first miraculous intervention, saying
Ms. Besra had been suffering from a cyst, not a
tumor.
Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu
in 1910 to Albanian parents in Skopje, then part
of the Ottoman Empire and now the capital of
Macedonia. Today, she is regarded as the city’s
most important native, and celebrations for her
canonization will be held there for a week.
“Skopje and the citizens of Skopje will use
this opportunity to thank the saint Mother
Teresa and to continue on the path that she
unselfishly showed us — the path toward
understanding, compassion and love,” said Koce
Trajanovski, the mayor of Skopje, where streets
and clinics are named for her. A memorial in her
honor has attracted more than 700,000 visitors
over the last five years.
The canonization was broadcast live on the
Vatican’s television station and streamed online
through a Vatican website. It was presented on
Vatican Radio in seven languages, including
Albanian.
Tens of thousands of people gathered at St.
Peter’s Square on Sunday, along with 15 official
government delegations, including
representatives of India and the United States.
The chief Vatican spokesman, Greg Burke, said
all 100,000 tickets that the Holy See had made
available had been distributed.
Mr. Burke recalled a visit to the Vatican
press room that Mother Teresa made “many years
ago.” “She’s not the only saint to have passed
through here,” he said, “but there haven’t been
many, I think.”
She is the perfect saint for the year of
mercy, the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, the superior
general of the Missionary Fathers of Charity,
one of the religious institutes founded by
Mother Teresa, said on Friday.
Mother Teresa was “so aware of her need for
mercy before God. She was very much at home with
her own poverty,” added Father Kolodiejchuk, the
chief promoter of her case for sainthood. “This
Year of Mercy is first of all a reminder to all
of us that before God we all stand in need of
mercy; so in this we are all poor.”
Pope Francis
approves sainthood for Mother Teresa for
September 4
The pontiff's announcement
will mean she is elevated to an official icon
for the Catholic faith later this year
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/12194601/Pope-Francis-approves-sainthood-for-Mother-Teresa-for-September-4.html
By Andrea Vogt, Bologna and agencies
12:27PM GMT 15 Mar 2016
Pope Francis on Tuesday approved sainthood
for Mother Teresa, the missionary nun who became
a global if controversial symbol of compassion
for her care of the sick and destitute.
The pontiff set September 4 as the date for
her canonisation, elevating her to an official
icon for the Catholic faith.
The move comes 19 years after the death of
the Albanian nun who dedicated most of her adult
life to working with the poor of Kolkata, India.
The final step paving the way to sainthood
comes 12 years after she was beatified by Pope
John Paul II in a ceremony that drew 300,000
pilgrims to Rome.
Details of the canonisation ceremony have not
been released, but Vatican observers expect it
to be held in Rome as part of the Church’s Holy
Year festivities.
Teresa, who was 87 when she died in 1997, was
revered by Catholics and many others around the
world. She won the 1979 Nobel peace prize for
her work with the poor.
But she was also a controversial and divisive
figure with critics branding her a religious
imperialist whose fervent opposition to birth
control and abortion ran contrary to the
interests of the communities she claimed to
serve.
Despite posthumously published letters
revealing that she suffered crises of faith
throughout her life, Teresa has been
fast-tracked to canonisation in unusually quick
time, underlining her status as a modern-day
icon of Catholicism.
Teresa took the first step to sainthood in
2003 when she was beatified by Pope John Paul II
following the recognition of a claim she had
posthumously inspired the 1998 healing of a
critically-ill Bengali tribal woman.
Last year she was credited by Vatican experts
with inspiring the 2008 recovery of a Brazilian
man suffering from multiple brain tumours, thus
meeting the Church's standard requirement for
sainthood of having been involved in two
certifiable miracles.
Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu to
Albanian parents in 1910 in Skopje, now the
capital of Macedonia.
She started her life as a nun as a teenager
with a missionary order in Ireland and arrived
in India in 1929.
After more than two decades of missionary and
charity work, she founded her own Missionaries
of Charity order in 1950. She was granted Indian
citizenship a year later.
The Pope, who regards Teresa as the
incarnation of the kind of Church he wants to
lead, met the by-then internationally famous nun
three years before her death, when he was still
a bishop in Argentina.
He later joked that she had seemed so
formidable he "would have been scared if she had
been my mother superior".
Others were much harsher in their judgment,
with the likes of Australian-born feminist
writer Germaine Greer and British polemicist
Christopher Hitchens accusing her of
contributing to the misery of the poor with what
they saw as her dogmatic views.
Critics have also called her evangelism
overzealous and say her fervent opposition to
birth control and abortion belied the health
needs of the destitute populations she served.
In her Nobel acceptance speech Teresa
described terminations of pregnancies as "direct
murder by the mother herself".
Critics also raised questions about the
Missionaries of Charity's finances and
conditions in the order's hospices.
The late Italian film director and writer
Pier Paolo Pasolini was among those who fell
under her spell, in his case when he met her
during a trip to India in the early 1960s.
"She has an almost virile jaw and a gentle
eye that in its gaze 'sees', he wrote,
describing Teresa as a combination of "goodness
without sentimentality, someone with no
expectations who is both calm and calming,
powerfully practical."
India granted her a state funeral after her
death and her grave in the order's headquarters
has
since become a pilgrimage site.
ABOUT
Mother Theresa
Born inSkopje in 1910 to Albanian parentsHer
real name isAgnes Gonxha BojaxhiuBegan
missionary work in1948 with the poor of Kolkata
and the teeming eastern metropolis, then known
as Calcutta
Who is she?
Mother Teresa was a Nobel peace prize winner
and known as the "Angel of Mercy" or the "Saint
of the Gutters" for her tireless work in India's
Kolkata slums. She was mourned around the world
when she died in 1997.
Why is she in the news?
The nun, often pictured smiling while holding
a child and dressed in her white and blue habit,
is expected to be elevated to sainthood after
her second miracle was recognised.
Pope Francis recognised her inexplicable
healing of a man suffering from multiple brain
tumours on December 18, 2015.
Mother Teresa was not without her critics
Renowned British writer Christopher Hitchens
accused her of being a political opportunist who
struck up friendships with dictators and corrupt
financiers in exchange for donations to her
order.
Questions have also been raised over the
Missionaries of Charity's finances, as well as
conditions in the order's hospices where there
has been resistance to introducing modern
hygiene methods.
Hindu nationalist
denounces Mother Teresa for 'ulterior motives'
Mohan Bhagwat stokes religious
tensions by saying Mother Teresa's charitable
works were aimed at converting Hindus to
Christianity
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/11432266/Hindu-nationalist-denounces-Mother-Teresa-for-ulterior-motives.html
Mother Teresa with mothers and children at
her mission in Calcutta, India, 1980
Mother Teresa with mothers and children at her
mission in Calcutta, India, 1980 Photo: Rex
Features
By Dean Nelson, New Delhi 3:40PM GMT 24
Feb 2015
One of India's most senior Hindu nationalist
leaders was accused of stoking religious
tensions after he denounced Mother Teresa and
claimed her charitable works for the poor were
aimed at converting them to Christianity.
Mohan Bhagwat, leader of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Hindu nationalist
group which nurtured India's prime minister
Narendra Modi as a young man, said Mother
Teresa's service for the poor "would have been
good" but was done with an ulterior motive.
"It used to have one objective, to convert
the person who was being served into a Christian
… if this is done in the name of service, then
that service gets devalued", he said.
His comments were made amid growing concern
over attacks on churches in India and a
continuing campaign by Hindu nationalists to
pressurise those who have converted to
Christianity, Buddhism and Islam to "come home"
to their previous Hindu faith. Many of those who
have converted are poor "untouchables" who are
persecuted in Hinduism's caste system.
Narendra Modi tried to calm the tensions
earlier this month when he condemned religious
violence and emphasised India's traditional
tolerance.
My Brush With
A Saint - Mother Theresa
Andy J. Semotiuk , CONTRIBUTOR
I write about global immigration issues and
investor immigration.
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are
their own.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andyjsemotiuk/2015/12/23/my-brush-with-a-saint-mother-theresa/#42e48b974d87
In the summer of 1976 I attended Habitat: The
United Nations Conference on Human Settlements
in Vancouver, Canada. While walking with a
friend across the campus of the University of
British Columbia where the conference was taking
place we saw an older woman of diminutive
stature with a lined, weathered face in a blue
and white nun’s habit. “That’s Mother Theresa,”
my friend said. “Who’s Mother Theresa,” I asked.
“Why she’s the closest thing to a living saint
you will ever meet,” he answered. “A living
saint?” I thought. “I’ve never heard of her.”
Little did I know then that she would make such
a lasting impression on me.
Intrigued, I watched as Mother Theresa made
her way towards our forum followed by a small
group of people. As a U.N. correspondent
stationed in New York I had traveled to
Vancouver to write about the growing trend of
emigration of political prisoners out of the
former Soviet Union and the mistreatment they
faced while in that country. Nonetheless, I
found myself intently watching Mother Theresa
most of that afternoon. I had never seen anyone
who was almost a saint before. Apart from the
sense of purpose I noted in the way she walked,
however, there was nothing special about her
that I could see. It was only later that I would
realize what tremendous power she possessed.
She once described herself this way: “By
blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian.
By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling,
I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong
entirely to the Heart of Jesus.” A later Nobel
Prize winner for her work with the poor of
India, the Nobel Committee summarized her life
as follows:
“From 1931 to 1948 Mother Teresa taught at
St. Mary’s High School in Calcutta, but the
suffering and poverty she glimpsed outside the
convent walls made such a deep impression on her
that in 1948 she received permission from her
superiors to leave the convent school and devote
herself to working among the poorest of the poor
in the slums of Calcutta…”
In Vancouver that afternoon we participated
in the U.N. forum. Important issues were raised
– urbanization, sustainable development,
affordable housing, and the fact that millions
of people lacked decent housing, food and clean
water. There were also the perennial problems
that always arose: the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, the Cold War between the U.S.S.R. and
the United States and the disregard for human
rights by various nations – back then Argentina
was a growing source of concern. Mother Theresa
was allowed to speak several times during the
session raising the problems of the poor, the
hungry, the naked and the homeless. The
moderator of our session exhibited great
deference to her, allowing her to speak several
times. I have to admit I was a bit miffed that
Mother Theresa’s interventions were taking up a
lot of the time and thus made it less possible
for others to get their problems expressed. As
important as she was, I thought that these
problems also deserved attention. I was not yet
fully aware of her greatness.
In reading about her later in my life I
learned that her greatest contribution was to be
present with the poor of Calcutta while they lay
on their death bed. Many spiritual leaders
including, for example, Ram Das, an American who
has had to deal with death in the course of his
work, have said that the death of a person is a
moment of great reverence. Indeed, for me
witnessing the titanic struggle between life and
death in the final moments of a loved one’s life
has been one of the highest honors bestowed on
me. This was Mother Theresa’s calling.
As the session drew to a close I watched as
she left the building with some people walking
back across the mall. Just then I saw a women
come up to Mother Theresa with her child. Mother
Theresa gently caressed the woman’s face and
then picked up the child. In that moment, I
finally saw that Mother Theresa’s greatness lay
in the tremendous power of her touch. I watched
in awe as Mother Theresa cuddled that child as
it lay comforted in her heavenly arms. No doubt
that same touch, at the bedside of those who
were dying, comforted them and helped them
transition from this world to the other.
教宗正式批准
德雷莎修女9/4封聖
新頭殼newtalk | 林序家 綜合報導
發布 2016.03.15 | 11:24 PM
http://newtalk.tw/news/view/2016-03-15/71160
享譽世界的天主教慈善家德雷莎修女，雖已逝世19年，為貧病奉獻一生的大愛仍廣為流傳。教宗方濟各（Pope
Francis）15日正式批准德雷莎修女（Mother Teresa）封聖，封聖日訂於9月4日。
在教會的聖年曆中，9月4日已訂為德雷莎紀念日，她的封聖儀式因而特地選在當天舉行。至於封聖典禮地點，梵蒂岡尚未提到，一般預料會在羅馬舉行，感恩典禮稍後將於德雷莎修女安葬的加爾各答舉行。
前教宗若望保祿二世（John Paul
II）在2003年為德雷莎修女舉行宣福儀式。宣福需要一次奇蹟，並且是封聖前的最後一步；2015年12月教宗方濟各認證二次醫療奇蹟，當時外界就已預測，德雷莎修女將會封聖。
阿爾巴尼亞裔的德雷莎修女，大半人生奉獻給印度加爾各答的窮人、病人和垂死之人，有「加爾各答的天使」美譽，深受眾多天主教徒尊敬。1979年榮獲諾貝爾和平獎，1997年與世長辭，享年87歲。
教宗認可二次神蹟
德雷莎明年將封聖
新頭殼newtalk | 林序家 綜合報導
http://newtalk.tw/news/view/2015-12-18/68151
發布 2015.12.18 | 10:32 PM
享譽世界的天主教慈善家德雷莎修女，雖已逝世18年，為貧病奉獻一生的大愛仍廣為流傳。教廷表示，教宗方濟各已認證二次醫療奇蹟，為德雷莎修女明年封聖鋪路。
據路透社報導，前教宗若望保祿二世（John Paul
II）在2003年為德雷莎修女舉行宣福儀式。宣福需要一次奇蹟，並且是封聖前的最後一步。
加爾各答大主教德索薩（Thomas
D'Souza）表示，德雷莎修女在2008年治癒罹患腦瘤的巴西男子，已獲教廷認證。他說：「教廷通知我，教宗方濟各已認證德雷莎修女的第2次奇蹟。」
梵蒂岡在聲明中說：「有關歸功真福德雷莎修女代禱的奇蹟，教宗已授權冊封聖人部宣讀教令。」在教會的聖年曆中，9月4日已訂為德雷莎紀念日，專家認為，她的封聖儀式可能會在當天舉行。
綽號「貧民窟聖徒」德雷莎修女（Mother
Teresa）是阿爾巴尼亞人，但出生於今馬其頓首都史可比亞（Skopje），一生無私奉獻加爾各答貧民窟的窮人、病人和垂死之人，有「加爾各答的天使」美譽。
德雷莎在1979年贏得諾貝爾和平獎，1997年與世長辭，享年87歲。天主教會將為德雷莎修女封聖，以配合教宗方濟各所宣布的慈悲聖年(Jubilee
Year of Mercy)。
教宗方濟各確認德蕾莎修女第二項神蹟 明年9月封聖
岳士瑋 2015年12月19日 19:07
http://www.storm.mg/article/76333
梵蒂岡18日表示，教宗方濟各（Pope
Francis）已正式授權冊封聖人部（Congregation for the Causes
of Saints）宣布，認證已故諾貝爾和平獎得主德蕾莎修女（Mother
Teresa）的第二項醫療神蹟。雖然梵蒂岡尚未正式宣佈封聖，但外界預計明年9月將在羅馬封德蕾莎修女為聖人。
德蕾莎修女的兩次神蹟
一位30歲的加爾各答婦女曾表示，在祈禱詞中以德蕾莎修女之名代禱使她腹部的腫瘤治癒，在經過梵蒂岡的確認後成為第一項神蹟。根據義大利天主教教宗組織的官方報紙《前途報》（Avvenire）表示，第二項神蹟發生在2008年，一位巴西男子在他的神父及親屬於祈禱詞中，也以德蕾莎修女之名禱告，腦瘤隨後得到痊癒。
在第二項神蹟獲得認證後，由德蕾莎修女所成立的仁愛傳教會（Missionaries of
Charity）的發言人庫瑪爾（Sunita
Kumar）表示，他們為此感到興奮，也認為德蕾莎修女的一生本就是一個神蹟，因為她將其一生奉獻給貧民，並且以服務人群為一生的目標，而封聖是對她善行的認證。
什麼是封聖？
在天主教的傳統裡，宣福禮（又稱宣福、列福、列福式）是天主教會追封已過世但出現過一次神蹟的信徒的儀式。經過宣福禮的人以「真福者」的稱號存在，位階僅次於聖人，而且天主教徒相信以真福者的名號代禱會有更好的成效。在2003年，德蕾莎修女1997年去世的6年後即由已故教宗若望保祿二世（Pope
John Paul II）為其舉行宣福禮。
封聖（又稱列聖、宣聖）則宣福禮之後的進階儀式。經過宣福禮的「真福者」，在出現過兩次神蹟並且經過教會確認資格後，就可以舉行封聖儀式，宣佈其成為聖人。聖人可以受到一般信徒敬拜，並且聖堂中也可以出現其名字祝聖。
雖然部分人士認為，德蕾莎修女的行徑是為了使她所幫助的那些赤貧的人改信天主教，但是同是由德蕾莎修女所創立的加爾各答垂死之家表示，有許多在此服務及接受照顧的人都不是教徒。即使有些人因此改信天主教，也非德蕾莎修女原本的用意，而是長期下來個人的改變。
加爾各答的天使
德蕾莎修女是阿爾巴尼亞人，1910年出生在鄂圖曼帝國科索沃省的史高比耶（前南斯拉夫馬其頓共和國的首都），18歲才正式成為修女。於1940年代到印度加爾各答（Kolkata）看到無數貧民及痲瘋患者，決心奉獻其一生。
德蕾莎修女在1950年時創立了仁愛傳教會，全心為窮人服務。1952年，更創立了加爾各答垂死之家，收留並照料瀕臨死亡的窮人，讓
他們在生命的最後階段有尊嚴地死去。一生都為窮人奉獻的德蕾莎修女在1979年獲得諾貝爾和平獎的殊榮。雖然有部分人士對他的行徑有不滿之處，但是他曾獲諾貝爾和平獎及他無私的作為使他受到大部分人的敬重及推崇。如今將獲得封聖的資格，對德蕾莎修女更是一大肯定。
德蕾莎修女第2項神蹟獲確認 明年可望封聖
法新社
http://www.appledaily.com.tw/realtimenews/article/new/20151219/756466/
2015年12月19日04:50
梵蒂岡周五（18日）表示，教宗方濟各（Pope
Francis）已簽署法令，確認已故諾貝爾和平獎得主、德蕾莎修女（Mother
Teresa）的第2項醫療神蹟。雖然梵蒂岡未宣布會於何時為她進行封聖，但義大利媒體估計，儀式會於明年9月4日進行。
梵蒂岡一個負責冊封聖人的部門，3天前召開會議，確認「一名患有多重腦瘤的巴西男子，向德蘭修女祈福後，2008年腫瘤奇蹟般消失」，教廷認定此事為神蹟。
依教廷傳統，需要至少施行2項神蹟才能獲得封聖，德蕾莎修女的第1項神蹟已於2003年10月19日，獲已故教宗若望保祿二世（John
Paul
II）認證，指她於逝世後的1998年，在1名罹患腹部腫瘤的女子貝絲拉身上展現神蹟，使其不藥而癒。當時的認證讓德蕾莎修女得以接受宣福禮，取得「真福」品位，向封聖邁進一步。
德蕾莎修女出生於鄂圖曼土耳其帝國的史高比耶（Skopje，現為馬其頓首都），成為修女後移居印度，在加爾各答（Calcutta）照顧貧苦眾生長達半世紀，善行獲全球讚揚，而有「貧民聖人」之稱。她於1979年獲頒諾貝爾和平獎，1997年逝世，享壽87歲。（國際中心／綜合外電報導）
神迹治腦癌漢 教廷或追封德雷莎修女為聖徒
11月19日(四) 21:20
http://tw.on.cc/int/bkn/cnt/news/20151119/bknint-20151119212017285-1119_17011_001.html
【on.cc東網專訊】
有「白衣天使」美譽的已故諾貝爾和平獎得主德雷莎修女，早於03年獲宣福。義大利傳媒報道，巴西聖保羅一名腦癌病人近日稱，向德雷莎修女祈福後，腫瘤兩日內即神奇消失。若驗證神迹屬實，德雷莎修女將於明年忌日前夕的9月4日，獲教廷封聖。
報道指，巴西一間教堂今年較早前滙報，一名病重信徒的妻子向德雷莎修女祈禱，兩日後丈夫的腫瘤竟不藥而愈，可步出深切治療病房，連醫生也大吃一驚，不能以科學方法解釋。梵蒂岡早前派員往當地調查，若神迹獲肯定，德雷莎修女將獲教宗方濟各追封為聖人。但梵蒂岡周三澄清，神迹暫未經確認，未有確定封聖日期。
致力為印度加爾各答貧民服務的德雷莎修女，於1997年與世長辭，加爾各答其後成立一個委員會，為她申請封聖。她於2003年因第一個治病神迹，獲已故教宗若望保祿二世列入真福名單。
教宗認可德雷莎修女二次奇蹟
封聖近了
時間：2015-12-18 17:57
http://news.rti.org.tw/news/detail/?recordId=241132
梵蒂岡今天(18日)宣布聲明，天主教教宗方濟各(Pope
Francis)已經認可一項可歸於德雷莎修女(Mother
Teresa)的奇蹟，並且是教廷第二次認可透過德雷莎修女代禱所顯現的奇蹟。這項認可同時也顯示，教廷明年將為德雷莎修女封聖。
梵蒂岡在聲明中表示：「教宗已經授權冊封聖人部(Congregation for the
Causes of Saints)，宣讀有關可歸於真福德雷莎修女代禱的奇蹟。」
加爾各答的德雷莎修女，曾榮獲諾貝爾和平獎，奉獻一生救濟窮苦眾生，她於1997年逝世，享壽87歲，在前教宗若望保祿二世(Pope
Saint John Paul
II)在位時，德雷莎修女獲得宣福(Beatification)，宣福需要一次奇蹟，並且是封聖前的階段。
德雷莎修女的第一次死後奇蹟，發生在1998年9月，仁愛傳教修女會2名修女為印度貧民貝絲拉治療陳年胃部惡性腫瘤，當時正值德蕾莎修女去世1週年，2位修女持1個鑲有德蕾莎照片的橢圓形飾牌貼在貝絲拉的胃部，並為她祈禱，接著她便陷入沈睡，醒後發現腫瘤「不見了」，因而被歌頌為神蹟，貝絲拉也因而成為天主教信徒。
另外，天主教「未來報」(Avvenire)今天引述教廷專家法拉斯卡(Stefania
Falasca)的話報導，教廷明年9月4日將於羅馬正式將德雷莎修女列入聖品，以配合教宗方濟各所宣布的慈悲聖年(Jubilee
Year of Mercy)。
未來報報導，巴西1名腦瘤患者宣稱向德雷莎修女祈福後，腫瘤隨即神奇消失、不藥而癒後，教廷冊封聖人部3天前召集專家，驗證神跡屬實，天主教會於是決定追封德雷莎修女為聖徒。
教宗認可二次神跡
德雷莎明年將封聖
http://www.msn.com/zh-hk/news/world/教宗認可二次神跡-德雷莎明年將封聖/ar-BBnHEM3
（法新社梵蒂岡18日電）
教廷說，教宗方濟各已認證歸於德雷莎修女的二次醫療奇蹟，為德雷莎修女明年封聖鋪路。
德雷莎修女（Mother
Teresa）奉獻一生，救濟印度加爾各答窮苦眾生，天主教會將為德雷莎修女封聖，以配合教宗方濟各所宣布的慈悲聖年(Jubilee
Year ofMercy)。
梵蒂岡在聲明中說：「有關歸功真福德雷莎修女代禱的奇蹟，教宗已授權冊封聖人部宣讀教令。」
專家說，在教會的聖年曆中，9月4日已訂為德雷莎紀念日，而她的封聖儀式可能會在當天舉行。
加爾各答大主教德索薩（Thomas
D'Souza）說，教廷已認證德雷莎修女顯神跡，在2008年治癒罹患腦瘤的巴西男子。
德索薩向記者透露：「教廷通知我，教宗方濟各已認證德雷莎修女的第2次奇蹟。」
德雷莎是阿爾巴尼亞人，但出生於今馬其頓首都史可比亞（Skopje），一生都在幫助無家可歸的窮人，成為享譽世界的天主教慈善工作家。德雷莎1997年與世長辭，享年87歲。
綽號「貧民窟聖徒」的德雷莎一生無私奉獻加爾各答貧民窟的窮人、病人和垂死之人，她在1979年贏得諾貝爾和平獎。
據路透社報導，前教宗若望保祿二世（John Paul
II）在2003年為德雷莎修女舉行宣福儀式。宣福需要一次奇蹟，並且是封聖前的最後一步。
德雷莎修女將封聖
西孟加拉歡欣
2015-12-18 22:12 中央社 新德里18日專電
http://udn.com/news/story/5/1387237-德雷莎修女將封聖-西孟加拉歡欣
梵諦岡今天宣布，天主教會將為德雷莎修女封聖，讓西孟加拉省教徒非常高興。
西孟加拉（West Bengal）省省長班納吉（Mamata
Banerjee）在推特上說，剛剛聽到德雷莎修女將被封聖，趁此歡樂時機向德雷莎修女創辦的仁愛傳教修女會（Missionaries
of Charity）獻上所有最好的祝願。
華爾街日報印度網報導，加爾各答大主教迪蘇沙（Thomas
D'Souza）表示，「對我們來說，德雷莎修女早在獲得冊封前，就已經是聖徒了。我們非常、非常地開心，這就像是給我們的聖誕節禮物一樣。」
大主教說，德雷莎修女將是加爾各答的首位受封聖徒，這是印度第3位女性被封聖。
據外電報導，梵諦岡18日表示，德雷莎修女的聖蹟已經被確認，可望封為聖徒，但沒有提供進一步細節。但消息說，梵諦岡將在德雷莎修女逝世紀念日的前一天，也就是明年9月4日冊封她為聖徒。
來自馬其頓的德雷莎修女，長期在印度東部城市幫助貧民窟的窮人，後來成為印度公民，並創辦仁愛傳教修女會，她也是諾貝爾和平獎得主，逝世於1997年9月5日。
仁愛傳教修女會目前在超過130個國家行善，關懷窮人與罹患愛滋病、痲瘋病等的病患，向窮人施粥，設立愛滋病收容所、痲瘋病中心和婦女與孤兒收容所。