Today is Mother Teresa Beatification Day: Here is how she became a saint

Today is Mother Teresa Beatification Day. October 19 is the date on which Mother Teresa was beatified, that is, took her second of three steps towards becoming Saint Teresa. It is also the date when she started her work among the “poorest of the poor” in Kolkata (then Calcutta) by establishing the Missionaries of Charity, 53 years before her beatification.

Few might have imagined that when Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu left her home in Skopje, North Macedonia, to join the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland. She never saw her family again. After working there for some time, she was transferred to the Sisters of Loreto convent in Kolkata. And that was to become her home until her dying day—the city that made her Mother Teresa.

It was on the streets of Kolkata that she felt the call to serve the dying and impoverished. To live among and serve “the poorest of the poor,” she founded her own order, the Missionaries of Charity, on October 19, 1950. It was meant to feed the hungry, care for the sick, and provide help to anyone who needed it.

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Fifty-three years later, on the same date in 2003, Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa, which is one of the first steps towards sainthood. However, Mother Teresa’s sainthood was not without its share of controversies. That is because living and caring for the poor and ailing is not enough to become a saint. To be declared a saint in the Catholic order, a person must have two proven miracles.

Mother Teresa’s detractors

Mother Teresa faced (and still faces) criticisms from some quarters because of the extreme ways of poverty at her Missionaries of Charity homes. Some felt she was careless with donations. Upon her beatification, the voices that claimed Mother was no saint became louder.

Two of her main critics were a doctor, Aroup Chatterjee, and film host, Christopher Hitchens. Not many know that both men were asked to provide evidence against Mother Teresa before her canonization.

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Hitchens co-wrote and hosted a documentary titled “Hell’s Angel,” in which he highlighted the lack of sanitary conditions in Mother Teresa’s home for the dying. Chatterjee wrote a book titled “Mother Teresa: The Untold Story,” in which he, too, emphasized the uncleanliness of Mother Teresa’s homes and the “cult of suffering” she promoted.

However, the Vatican concluded that these allegations did not undermine Mother Teresa’s lifelong work among the poor. Father Peter Gumpel, an official at the Congregation for the Cause of Saints, stated, “What many do not understand is the desperate conditions Mother Teresa constantly faced, and that her special charism was not to found or run hospitals—the Church has many who do that—but to rescue those who were given no chance of surviving, and otherwise would have died on the street.”

The two miracles

Passing the first stage, Mother Teresa needed two proven and thoroughly investigated miracles before she would be canonized. The miraculous healings of Monica Besra and Marcilio Andrino became Mother’s two proven miracles.

Besra, who was from West Bengal, had a tumour in her abdomen. Since she had tuberculosis before the tumour, she was considered too weak to be operated upon. And then, the “miracle” happened.

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Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, the postulator of Mother Teresa’s case for canonization, told The New York Times: “On September 5, the first anniversary of Mother Teresa’s death, the Sister Superior took a medal of Mary that had been touched directly to the body of Mother Teresa at the time of the funeral, placed it on Monica’s stomach and made a very simple prayer: ‘Mother, today’s your day. You love the poor. Do something for Monica.’”

About eight hours later, Monica’s tumour apparently disappeared. Eleven doctors examined Besra and concluded that there was no medical explanation for the tumour disappearing so quickly. The Vatican approved Besra’s healing as Mother Teresa’s first miracle. Besra’s healing happened in 2002, and in October 2003, Mother Teresa was beatified.

And, Mother became Saint Teresa

Mother Teresa’s second miracle was the healing of Marcilio Andrino in 2008. Andrino, who lived in Brazil, had multiple brain abscesses because of an infection.

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His wife, Fernanda, would often place a relic of Mother Teresa on his head and pray to her for healing. On December 9, 2008, Andrino slipped into a coma. He was rushed to hospital but miraculously healed right before surgery, in the operating room itself. This was within about 14 hours of his slipping into a coma.

Two brain scans and multiple examinations later, there was no explanation for Andrino’s healing. In December 2015, the Vatican approved this case as Mother Teresa’s second miracle. With two proven miracles, Pope Francis canonized Mother Teresa a saint on September 4, 2016, only a day before her 19th death anniversary.