The ‘living saint’ becomes a saint

FOR most of her life, Mother Teresa was known as the “living saint”. Tomorrow, to mark the 19th anniversary of her death, her sanctity will be officially sealed with a canonisation Mass led by Pope Francis.

Hundreds of thousands of devoted followers of the dimuninitive nun are expected to gather for the Mass at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican.

Born in Albania, her rise to worldwide fame was extraordinary. She went to Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham, Dublin, for six weeks to learn English before going to India to be a missionary. She worked for almost 20 years as a teacher in Calcutta (now Kolkata), before setting up the Missionaries of Charity in 1950, an order that has since grown to more than 3,000 nuns worldwide.