July 28, 1999. Copyright, 1999, Graphic News. All rights reserved

MOTHER TERESA SET FOR SAINTHOOD
By Margot Nesdale

LONDON, July 28, Graphic News: AS ONE of christianityÕs superstars she shunned the limelight, describing herself as a merely a pencil in GodÕs hand.
Now, less than two years after her death, Mother Teresa looks set to be propelled even higher to the realms of a saint.
Pope John Paul II has fast-tracked moves to declare the Nobel Peace Prize winner a saint by waiving a customary five-year waiting period after death for the beatification process to begin.
The Archbishop of Calcutta took the first step this week by opening an inquiry into the Òlife, virtues and reputation of sanctityÓ of Mother Teresa, which is expected to take about a year.
However, the path towards sainthood for the tireless worker will not be easy and could involve years of protracted inquries by the Vatican, theologians and other experts.
Ironically, she was already hailed the ÒSaint of the GuttersÓ during her decades in the slums of India, where she dedicated herself to the sick and dying. 
Acquiring official sainthood, through the process of beatification (permission to venerate), involves proof of heroic virtues (cardinal and theological) and confirmation of miracles.
Archbishop Henry DÕSouza said a patient in Raiganj, West Bengal, claimed a tumour disappeared after he received blessings from Mother Teresa.
The Archbishop said the case had been authenticated by a doctor.
Like many icons of the Christian faith, Mother Teresa, who died in September 1997, aged 87, had a life full of contradictions.
She detested fame, yet could not escape it. Her tiny frame and self-effacing manner masked an iron will and powerful personality that made her a relentless crusader for the poor.
Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu to Albanian parents in Skopje, Macedonia, on August 26, 1910, she joined a religious order at age 18 and took the name ÒTeresaÓ after St. Teresa of Lisieux, patroness of the Missionaries.
She was sent to India and began a teaching career before the Catholic church granted her leave from the convent in 1948 so she could work among the poor and dying in Calcutta.
She founded an order of nuns called the Missionaries of Charity in 1950 which runs hospitals, schools, orphanages, youth centres and shelters. Today there are more than 3,000 sisters in 517 missions throughout 100 countries. 
In 1952 she founded the Nirmal Hriday Home for the Dying in a former temple in Calcutta. The name means Òthe place of the pure heartÓ.
Mother TeresaÕs infuence spread far beyond the few who met her, the hundreds of clinics she founded and the thousands of young women who followed in her footsteps. 
The Nobel Peace Prize she won and the headlines she still attracts in daily newsapers are testimony to her extraordinary power.
Yet, when asked in an interview with Time magazine in 1989 whether she felt she had any special qualities, she replied:
ÒI donÕt think so. I donÕt claim anything of the work. ItÕs His (GodÕs) work. IÕm like a little pencil in His hand. ThatÕs all.Ó
/ENDS.

Sources: Catholic Encyclopedia, Catholic Information Centre