Kolkata: The 93rd birth anniversary of Mother Teresa was celebrated in Kolkata on August 26. Nuns of the Missionaries of Charity, an Order she founded 52 years ago in Kolkata, joined Superior Sister of the Charity, Sister Nirmala, in a special mass service organised in her memory.

Sister Nirmala expressed happiness at the decision of the Vatican to bestow a beatification on Mother Teresa.

"The real meaning of beatification is that Mother (Mother Teresa) is being declared blessed. That she will be our friend in heaven praying for us and she will be someone who can inspire us in living our life of love," she said.

The Pope has chosen October 19 – the 25th anniversary of his pontificate – as the date for the beatification of Mother Teresa.

Mother Teresa qualified for beatification after Vatican officials acknowledged that she was responsible for a miracle, in which an Indian woman was cured of stomach cancer through her intervention.

According to Roman Catholic Church law, the beatification process cannot begin until at least five years after a candidate has died. But Pope John Paul personally intervened to waive the waiting period for the beatification of Mother Teresa.

Mother Teresa, who died on September 5, 1997, at the age of 87, was popularly known as the "Saint of the Gutter" for her extraordinary love and dedication to poor, homeless and diseased people.

She came to India in 1929 at the age of 18 and took up teaching and became an Indian citizen in 1948. She started working in slums and later set up her Missionaries of Charity, which was approved by the Vatican in 1950.

The charity now runs more than 500 homes in over 100 countries. Mother received several national and international awards for her social service during her lifetime.

They include the Magsaysay Award in 1962, the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize in 1971, the John F Kennedy International Award in 1971 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

ANI