2016-09-19 Mon

Mother Teresa earned the honours of being named St. Teresa of Calcutta (Kolkata) on 4th September, at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City and a crowd of almost 1,20,00 people graced this significant occasion.

On 2nd September, the Vatican City issued a stamp to celebrate the canonization. The 0.95 Vatican City stamp features two images of Mother Teresa with a church in the background. Some experts believe that the church is St. Paul’s, the Anglican cathedral in Calcutta, not the city’s Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Most Holy Rosary.

The souvenir sheet from India, issued on 4th September, is made of a 50-rupee stamp featuring Mother Teresa’s photo. The selvage bears a different photograph of her along with a crowd in St. Peter’s Square.

Albania also issued a stamp and a souvenir sheet on the same day. Albania’s 120-lek stamp depicts Mother Teresa’s attire - the white sari with three blue stripes. Her followers believe that white colour represents truth and purity, and the three blue stripes denote poverty, obedience, and chastity and service to the poorest of the poor. These stamps were issued in panes of nine and in a souvenir sheet of one with a picture frame in the selvage.

Mother Teresa was born on 26th August 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia, to parents of Albanian heritage. She spent most of her life in India and founded the congregation of the Missionaries of Charity in 1950 in Calcutta to serve the poorest of the poor.