VATICAN CITY (CNS): Pope John Paul II and top Vatican officials have formally recognised the miracle needed for the beatification of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Mother Teresa’s successor as superior of the Missionaries of Charity, Sr Nirmala Joshi, and postulator of the sainthood cause, Fr Brian Kolodiejchuk, said the beatification ceremony would take place at the Vatican on October 19, Mission Sunday, “the closest Sunday to the 25th anniversary of the Holy Father’s pontificate and the end of the Year of the Rosary”.
The miracle attributed to the intercession of the Macedonian-born founder of the Missionaries of Charity was recognised formally on December 20.
The process leading up to Mother Teresa’s beatification was the shortest in modern history.
In fact, the usual formal first step in the process, a “decree of heroic virtues”, which recognises a person lived the Christian virtues in a heroic way, was issued only minutes before the decree recognising the miracle.
The sari-clad nun, known for her care of the sick and dying, died in September 1997. In early 1999, Pope John Paul waived the normal five-year waiting period and allowed the immediate opening of her canonisation cause.
A 34 year-old mother of five, suffering from a tumour in her abdomen, was found to have been miraculously cured after nuns in India placed a Marian medallion that had been touched to the body of Mother Teresa, on the woman’s stomach.
