CALCUTTA MARKS 91ST ANNIVERSARY OF MOTHER
TERESA´S BIRTH
"Brother´s Day" on Sept. 5 Aims to Keep Alive Her Legacy
CALCUTTA, India, AUG. 26, 2001 (Zenit.org).- Hundreds of people gathered at
Mother Teresa of Calcutta´s tomb today, to commemorate the 91st anniversary of her
birth.
Dozens of religious of the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa 52 years ago
in Calcutta, sang hymns before the white mausoleum. The nun died in 1997.
On Aug. 15, in a solemn celebration in the Archdiocese of Calcutta, the diocesan phase of
the cause of beatification of Mother Teresa of Calcutta was concluded. The process now
goes to the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which must complete the
investigation on the sanctity of Mother Teresa´s life.
Born Aug. 26, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia, she was baptized Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu.
On Sept. 5, the fourth anniversary of her death, "Brother´s Day" will be held
for the third consecutive year, in an endeavor to make her legacy lasting.
The idea was launched in 1999 by Father Miguel Elías Alderete Garrido.
Sister Nirmala, Mother Teresa´s successor as head of the Missionaries of Charity,
supported the initiative in a letter dated Aug. 7, 1999, so "long as the observance
of the Day is to invite people to prayer and to putting love into action, without any kind
of fund raising or collection of goods involved."
Father Alderete Garrido said the day should be marked with works of mercy: "Open the
doors of your home to the neediest; share your table with the hungry; clothe the naked;
give drink to the thirsty; visit the sick; welcome the pilgrim."
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