Saint Teresa of Calcutta’s feast day inscribed in Roman Calendar

The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has released the decree inscribing Saint Teresa of Calcutta in the General Roman Calendar, along with the liturgical texts to accompany her feast day on 5 September.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta was “a beacon of hope, small in stature but great in love, a witness to the dignity and privilege of humble service in the defence of all human life and of all those who have been abandoned, discarded and despised even in the hiddenness of the womb”. Cardinal Arthur Roche, Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, offered that praise of Saint Teresa on Tuesday, 11 February. The Cardinal Prefect released a comment to accompany the decree inscribing Saint Teresa of Calcutta into the General Roman Calendar. The decree was accompanied by the liturgical texts (in Latin) to guide the faithful in praying the Liturgy of the Hours and the celebration of Mass. Her feast day will be celebrated as an optional liturgical memorial annually on 5 September, the date of her death in 1997.

Mother Teresa was born in Skopje on 26 August 1910 as Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu. She professed solemn vows as a Sister of Loreto in Calcutta, India, in 1937. In 1950, she left the Sisters of Loreto to found the Missionaries of Charity, which now numbers over 6,000 sisters active in 130 countries who serve those most in need. Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, and Pope Saint John Paul ii beatified her on 19 October 2003. Pope Francis canonized her on 4 September 2016 during the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy.

In his comment, Cardinal Roche said Pope Francis requested her insertion in the Roman Calendar in response to requests from bishops, religious and the lay faithful. He noted that her holiness and spirituality reveal to the faithful an “outstanding witness to hope for those who had been discarded in life”.