Mother Teresa: a biography

THE MAKING OF A SAINT
Six years after her death, Mother Teresa was back in the news. In 2003,
it was announced that John Paul II, to help commemorate his 25th an-
niversary of his election to the papacy, would beatify Mother Teresa on
October 19. The event marks the final step before canonization, or official
sainthood. It was a remarkable process in that no one has ever been beat-
ified in so short a time as Mother Teresa. Yet, Vatican officials worked rig-
orously to treat her case as they would any other.
Even before her death, some officials in the Vatican thought she ought
to be canonized without the usual investigation. Pope John Paul II even
waived the usual five-year waiting period to see whether a candidate’s
reputation for holiness is justified. For Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, the
task ahead was even more daunting; he was charged with coordinating
the team that eventually put together 67 volumes arguing that Mother
Teresa met all the requirements for sainthood. In addition, the church
lawyers held 14 tribunals all over the world to hear testimony from peo-
ple who knew Mother Teresa well. Nearly all were friendly witnesses who
had to answer 263 questions that were used as evidence that Mother
Teresa had manifested the virtues required of a Roman Catholic saint:
faith, hope, and charity, as well as humility, prudence, justice, fortitude,
and temperance to an extraordinary degree. Mother Teresa also had her
critics: three non-Catholics testified against her, among them Christo-
pher Hitchens.
In the end, Father Kolodiejchuk’s team concluded that Mother Teresa’s
willingness to work with those who were morally and financially corrupt
was in keeping with her own philosophy: using ill-gotten money to do
good for the poor and also provide spiritual benefits for the donors. As to
her failure to take a more aggressive stance against institutionalized injus-
tice, the team sided with Mother Teresa. They argued that her mission
“ T H E M O S T O B E D I E N T W O M A N I N T H E C H U R C H ” 1 3 7

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was to help individuals and bear witness to the Divine presence in the
world, not fight for social change.
As with all candidates for sainthood, the church required a divine sign
in the form of a posthumous miracle. Many claims were submitted; the
one chosen concerned a Hindu mother, Monika Besra, who came to the
sisters suffering from a life-threatening stomach tumor. The sisters prayed
to Mother Teresa for a cure and pressed a religious medal that she had
touched to Besra’s abdomen. Five hours later, the tumor had completely
disappeared.
The beatification ceremonies in Rome were only the beginning of a
media and merchandising frenzy surrounding Mother Teresa’s eventual
canonization. In Calcutta, Mother Teresa’s legacy was to be honored with
an international festival of films. The event was a first; no saint in the his-
tory of the Catholic Church has had an international festival of films held
in their honor. Among the films scheduled to be shown were Malcolm
Muggeridge’s 
Something Beautiful for God, 
two-time Emmy Award winner
Anne Petrie’s 
Mother Teresa—Her Legacy, 
Japanese director Shigeki
Chiba’s 
Mother Teresa and Her World, 
Anna & Folco Terzani’s 
Mother
Teresa’s First Love, 
and Dominique LaPierre’s 
In the Name of God’s Poor.
The controversial 1994 
Hell’s Angel: Mother Teresa of Calcutta 
was also to
be shown, but in the end was pulled.
In addition to the film festival, the Vatican issued special commemora-
tive stamps of Mother Teresa. Factories churned out additional merchan-
dise, including Mother Teresa rosaries, crucifixes, and key chains.
According to one vendor, his factory is working full time to make 10,000
Mother Teresa rosaries, key chains, and other trinkets. A stage musical
and an animated cartoon based on her life and works were to be presented
as well. In one of the more bizarre, but also more historically familiar, ways
of honoring a holy person, a display of Mother Teresa’s blood was planned.
Today, Mother Teresa’s thoughts can still be found in the more than 20
books she coauthored to offer spiritual advice and guidance to people. Her
order continues to be active and hard at work. Both the sisters and the
brothers continue to thrive, though not experiencing the rapid growth of
homes and foundations that marked the last 25 years of Mother Teresa’s
life. More than 3,000 volunteers come to Calcutta every year, hoping to
make a difference at least for a little while.
At the same time, the Missionaries of Charity have shown themselves
to be a little more worldly, as they successfully copyrighted the name of
Mother Teresa in 2003. The nuns said they sought the rights to Mother
Teresa’s name, the name of their order, and its rosary-encircled globe logo
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M O T H E R T E R E S A

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to prevent them from being exploited by commercial interests. It is diffi-
cult to say what the future holds for the order; like many other religious
orders, the changing climate of the times often forces changes if a reli-
gious group hopes to survive. There may be changes in the way the com-
munity lives or is administered. There may even be a subtle shift in how
best to help the poor, but, as Sister Nirmala comes from a contemplative
background—as opposed to a medical or social work emphasis—the di-
rection of the Missionaries of Charity is carried out as Mother Teresa had
originally envisioned it.