MC nuns celebrate Mother Teresa’s birth anniversary

Special prayers were held at the congregation’s global headquarters Mother House in Kolkata.

Kolkata:  The nuns of the Missionaries of Charity celebrated the 103rd birth anniversary of Mother Teresa, who formed the Catholic order to serve the needy and the ailing.

Special prayers were held at the congregation’s global headquarters Mother House in Kolkata yesterday.

Her three-foot-high cement grave on the ground floor was covered with flowers, as people from all walks of life trooped in to pay their respects.

Expressing her gratitude to all those who had come, the order's Superior General Sister Prema said blessed Teresa would be remembered for her love for the ailing, the poor and the dying.

At the West Bengal state secretariat, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee garlanded a portrait of the Mother.

Sister Prema, nuns and small inmates of several homes of the MoC were present on the occasion.

"Mother was the apostle of peace, brotherhood and service to humanity, particularly the uncared for and the poorest of the poor. Her life and her works epitomize selfless service to the suffering millions.

"In today's world, when we see so much of sufferings still around, we must resolve to rededicate ourselves to the ideals of the Mother to wipe out tears and embrace the suffering souls with love and warmth," Banerjee said in a Facebook post.

Mother Teresa was born as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje (Macedonia) on Aug 26, 1910 to an ethnic Albanian family. She made Kolkata her home and workplace for 68 years since 1929. She formed the congregation in 1950.

She was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and died here Sept 5, 1997.

Source: DNA