Pope: Teresa will become saint Sept. 4

Date will fall on eve of 19th anniversary of nun’s death.

VATICAN CITY — Mother Teresa will be made a saint on Sept. 4.

Pope Francis set the canonization date Tues- day, paving the way for the nun who cared for the poorest of the poor to become the centerpiece of his yearlong focus on the Catholic Church’s merciful side.

The announcement was expected after Fran- cis 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.

In Kolkata, the eastern Indian city where Mother Teresa spent decades caring for the sick and homeless, there were celebrations at a school and or- phanage she founded in 1949. “The news of Mother’s sainthood is a matter for joy. But Mother Teresa is already like God to us,” said Jyotsna Patra, one of the early students of the school.

Archbishop Thomas D’Souza conducted a special Mass on Tuesday, while the nuns of her order, the Missionaries of Charity, held prayers at her tomb.

“Mother Teresa’s canonization means that the Mother’s message will become better known,” said Sister Christi, a senior nun at the Kolkata headquarters of the order.

The Vatican ceremony will draw tens of thousands to honor the nun who was fast-tracked for sainthood just a year after she died in 1997. St. John Paul II, who was Mother Teresa’s greatest champion, beatified her before a crowd of 300,000 in St. Peter’s Square in 2003.

Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on Aug. 26, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia, Mother Teresa joined the Loreto order of nuns in 1928. In 1946, she was inspired to found the Missionaries of Charity order.

Mother Teresa