Celebrations mark 100th anniversary of Mother Teresa's birth

August 26, 2010

Celebrations of the 100th birthday of Mother Teresa began early in the morning of August 26 in Calcutta, with a solemn Mass at the chapel of the Missionaries of Charity, and Cardinal Telesphore Toppo lighting a candle at the tomb of the revered nun.

While pilgrims—Christians and non-Christians—filed past Mother Teresa’s tomb, across town Cardinal Toppo and Archbishop Lucas Sirkar of Calcutta presided at the opening of a film festival dedicated to Mother Teresa’s memory. Sister Prema, the superior of the Missionaries of Charity, formally opened the event. Later in the day federal government ministers launched the “Mother Express,” a train carrying a mobile exhibition on the life of Mother Teresa, which will tour around India. In a message to the centenary celebrations, Pope Benedict XVI said that Mother Teresa was an “inestimable gift for the Church and the world.” He said that the celebrations in her honor were “an occasion of joyful gratitude to God for the inestimable gift that Mother Teresa was in her lifetime.”

 

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Further information:

• World Celebrates Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (Vatican Radio)