Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta will be canonized the newest Saint of the Catholic Church on Sunday, September 4, 2016 at a special Mass celebrated by Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
Archbishop William E. Lori will celebrate a Mass for area Catholics on the day of Mother Teresa’s canonization, Sunday, September 4, at 10:45 a.m. at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mother Teresa prayed at the Basilica during her 1996 visit to Baltimore. A bronze bust of Mother Teresa is permanently on display inside the Basilica to commemorate her visit. In addition, the chapel in the Basilica’s undercroft features the pew on which Mother Teresa sat and prayed during her visit.
On Saturday, September 10 at 11 a.m., Archbishop Lori will also celebrate Mass for the Missionaries of Charity in Baltimore at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church.
Mother Teresa visited Baltimore in 1992 for the dedication of her Missionaries of Charity “Gift of Hope” hospice for AIDS patients, located in the former convent at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in East Baltimore. She had a more extensive stay in Baltimore on May 30, 1996, which included a visit to Catholic Relief Services, whose worldwide headquarters are in the city, and a Mass at the Basilica, where 35 of her Missionaries of Charity renewed their vows in her presence. The Mass was celebrated by Cardinal William H. Keeler, who was the Archbishop of Baltimore from 1989-2007.
BALTIMORE CONNECTIONS
Archbishop Lori, who served as the priest-secretary to James Cardinal Hickey, Archbishop of Washington, early in his priestly ministry, came to know Mother Teresa as she sought to grow the presence of her Missionaries of Charity in the United States.
Catholic Relief Services is the Catholic Church’s international humanitarian relief agency and began working in India in 1946 to help the local Catholic Church provide food to people recovering from World War II. CRS has released a collection of photographs and videos of staff who served with Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s. The collection can be found at www.crs.org in the Media Center section of the website.
MEDIA NOTE
The Catholic Review has two stories in its September edition, which can be found online:
Mother Teresa’s legacy visible at Baltimore’s Gift of Hope
https://bit.ly/cr-teresa1
CRS staffer recalls Mother Teresa’s joy, humility and can-do spirit
https://bit.ly/cr-teresa2