Mother Teresa to be made saint on September 4

Mother Teresa, the nun who dedicated her life to helping the poor of Calcutta (now Kolkata), will be made a saint of the Roman Catholic Church at a ceremony on September 4.

Pope Francis on Tuesday made the announcement at a meeting of Cardinals to give final approval to several sainthood causes.

The announcement was expected after the Pope, in December, approved a second miracle attributed to Mother Teresa’s intercession the final hurdle to make her a saint. The actual date falls on the eve of the 19th anniversary of her death.

Mother Teresa died in 1997. She was beatified in 2003 by the Late Pope John Paul after a miracle of curing a woman of tumor in her stomach was approved by the Vatican.

According to reports, the second miracle attributed to the intercession of Mother Teresa, which was required for her canonisation relates to healing of a man suffering from brain disease.

Mother Teresa was born of Albanian parents in Macedonia in 1910 and came to India in 1929. She set up Missionaries of Charity in 1950 and dedicated her entire life to the service of the poor, destitute and ailing living in the slums and streets of Kolkata.

Mother Teresa was awarded with the Nobel Prize in 1979.