St. Teresa's first feast day celebrated in Kolkata

The special day Sept. 5 falls just a day after Pope Francis declared Mother Teresa a saint.

Kolkata:  Hundreds of people gathered in eastern Kolkata city to celebrate the first feast day of St. Teresa of Calcutta on Sept. 5, her 19th death anniversary.

The feast day is when the Catholic Church officially allocates to commemorate Mother Teresa and which falls just a day after Pope Francis declared her a saint.

The day was celebrated with an early morning Mass led by Indian nuncio Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio at the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity congregation that Mother Teresa in 1950 founded in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) to serve the "poorest of the poor" in the eastern Indian city.

Mother Teresa died of cardiac arrest at the motherhouse on Sept. 5, 1997. Her canonization process began two years afterward. Pope John Paul II beatified her in October 2003.

"We are gathered at the historic place where Mother lived, prayed, started work of mercy, died and was buried to seek her intercession to lead a holy life," said Archbishop Pennacchio during Mass.

Jheelam Parmanik, a student, said she likes to come to Mother Teresa's tomb and sit there for a while in silence. "If you ask anything from the Mother, she would surely grant you favors," Parmanik said, adding that she herself has experienced this.

Source: UCAN