------- Forwarded message -------
From: Eustaquio Santimano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Goanet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: News: Patna room still houses Mother's memories
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 11:00:12 +0200
Patna room still houses Mother's memories
Anand Mohan Sahay in Patna | October 20, 2003 08:36 IST
Many may not be aware of the special association that a small room in
Patna has with Mother Teresa, who was beatified by Pope John Paul II on
October 19, 2003.
After joining the Loreto Sisters of Dublin, she came to India in 1929
and took the name Sister Teresa. She spent 17 years teaching and as
principal of St Mary's High School in Kolkata before deciding to work
among the 'poorest of the poor'.
Around 1948, she decided to form a congregation. But she lacked medical
training to serve the sick. Hence, she headed for the Holy Family
Hospital in Patna to learn about first aid.
Patna archbishop Benedict J Osta told rediff.com that the three months
she spent there were very precious for Mother Teresa. It was a period of
uncertainty. She was frightened and unsure of the future. It was her
training at the Holy Family Hospital that gave her the confidence to go
ahead with the task she had in mind.
The room where Mother Teresa stayed is now a part of the Missionaries of
Charity's house. Outside the room there is a board that read: 'Mother
Teresa, who started her mission of love after undertaking training at
Padri ki Haveli, stayed in this room, 1948.'
It has been left untouched, as it was when she inhabited it. The small
room still has everything she used: an iron cot, a large desk, a small
table on which she kept her Bible, a chair, a wall-mounted cupboard, a
kneeler bearing the symbol of Jesus Christ and a wooden clothes hanger.
The room leads to another, which has a picture of Mother Teresa with the
first governor of Bihar and Bishop Wilder Muth, taken on the occasion of
the inauguration of the MC House in Patna in 1963. There are other
pictures too, including one taken in her birthplace in Albania in 1928.
"She was Patna's saint in the sense that she began her work from this
place. It had played an important role in shaping her career," said
Osta. People associated with different churches in the city celebrated
her beatification in a big way with special masses and prayer services.
The MC House will organise a mass on October 26 and an all-religion
prayer meeting on November 1. The bishop of Patna will also hold an
all-religion meet on November 9 and a mobile exhibition depicting Mother
Teresa's life is in the planning stages.
A senior member of the church said that usually it takes hundreds of
years after the death of a person before he/she can be considered for
beatification, but in Mother Teresa's case the process was speeded up as
she was worshipped as a saint even before she died in 1997.
PS: Mother Teresa is 5th beatified candidate from India
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