For many in India's Kolkata city, Mother Teresa had already acquired sainthood during her lifetime. For them, the forthcoming declaration of her sainthood by Pope Francis on Sunday is merely a matter of formality.
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When he was a young journalist, Jamil Saagar took his motorcycle to a repair shop one Sunday morning. Back then, he had been covering the life and activities of Mother Teresa for a long time and always had a desire to meet her in person. This morning in 1995, his wish came true: the Roman Catholic nun was standing outside, right beside the motorcycle shop, in the middle of a group of women dressed in blue and white saris.
"In that moment, I just wanted to be blessed by her," the journalist recalls. He threw away his cigarette, approached her and touched her feet in respect. "I was very nervous when she touched my forehead with her hand. Even today, I can feel her warmth," Saagar told DW.
Many people in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata who had met Mother Teresa talk about her "special presence." Some call her the "conscience of Kolkata."
In her adopted hometown in West Bengal, Mother Teresa worked for the poorest, gave them food and nursed the severely sick for many decades. In 1950, she founded the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity. Today, the Roman Catholic nuns are running 19 facilities for women, orphans and the people in need across Kolkata.
Icon of the modern church
In 1929, the 19-year-old Albanian nun Anjezë Gonxha Bojaxhiu came to India. She had been working as a teacher in Kolkata when she finally followed her real vocation. In 1979, Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Price for her commitment to the poor people living in India's slums.
"When she was awarded the Nobel prize, she wasn't considered a foreigner in India anymore," Sagaar said.
Even after her death, she continues to be an important figure for the Catholic Church in India, according to Father Savarimuthu Sankar in New Delhi. "When you talk about the Catholic Church in India, you have to mention Mother Teresa. They are inseparable."
Father Sankar said that Mother Teresa had highlighted that the church was more than just a religious institution.
Accusations
But Mother Teresa's life was not without controversies. She was accused of converting the poor people to Christianity or to accept donations from anywhere to support her institution. A few weeks ago, an Indian politician said that Mother Teresa was part of a conspiracy to spread Christianity in India.
Mother Teresa always defended the Roman Catholic Church. But Ajitha Menon, a journalist who had interviewed Mother Teresa many times, said that she had never tried to convert people to Christianity.
"She was a very honest person, willing to accept any financial help for the welfare of the poor. It was not her job to check where the money was coming from," Menon told DW.
Mother Teresa passed away in 1997 aged 87. In 2003, she was beatified by Pope John Paul II.
Kolkata celebrates
India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj plans to attend Mother Teresa's sainthood celebrations at the Vatican. In Kolkata, weeks of celebrations have been scheduled. To honor her, there will be a film festival and a big Thanksgiving Mass among other events.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said last week that every Indian citizen should be proud of Mother Teresa.
And India is indeed proud: "In Kolkata, we will always call her 'Mother,'" said Sagaar.
St. Corona: Petitioning the patron saint
Infectious diseases are not her specialty, but there is a Catholic saint named St. Corona, whose feast day is May 14. Here's a selection of heavenly advocates.
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St. Corona
People hoping for help from the heavens above in difficult times — in particular when they had money problems — would pray to Saint Corona. Treasure hunters and gamblers are said to invoke her name. She is said to have lived in the 2nd century A.D. and was killed for comforting a martyr, becoming one herself, tied between two palm trees bent to the ground that were released to tear her apart.
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Rita of Cascia
Here's a patron saint for "impossible cases," including abused wives, parents, lonely hearts and widows: Rita of Cascia. The 15th-century Italian woman — who later joined an Augustinian convent — pledged to forgive her abusive husband's killers and convinced her sons to do so, too. She was called the "peacemaker of Cascia."
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Martha of Bethany
By the end of the 1st century A.D., Christians had begun to honor other Christians who had died, praying for their help. Described in the gospels of Luke and John — and a witness to Jesus' resurrection of her brother Lazarus — Martha is the patron saint of housewives and domestic workers. Why? She is said to have shown Jesus hospitality at her home in Bethany near Jerusalem.
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St. Ambrose
Ambrose, Bishop of Milan in the 4th century, is the patron saint of beekeepers. Legend has it that when he was a baby, a swarm of bees settled on his face and fed him honey while he lay in his cradle — regarded as a sign that he would one day be a great orator. He is often depicted with symbols of wisdom: bees or a beehive.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Held
St. Christopher
A martyr killed in the 3rd century, Christopher's most famous legend has it that he carried a child across a river — and the child later revealed himself as Christ. He is the patron saint of travelers: cab, bus and truck drivers often enough evoke his protection with visor clips, decals and small adhesive figurines.
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Joseph of Cupertino
Astronauts and pilots have their own patron saint as well: Joseph of Cupertino, a 17th-century Italian Franciscan priest prone to ecstatic visions and — legend has it — levitations. Flying was widely believed to be based on witchcraft, so the Inquisition took an interest in Joseph, who was later exonerated.
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St. Thomas More
Sir Thomas More was a 16th-century English philosopher and statesman. He was also counselor to King Henry VIII, but opposed the King's separation from the Roman Catholic Church and was thus convicted of treason and beheaded. In the year 2000, Pope John Paul declared him the "heavenly patron of statesmen and politicians."
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St. Cecilia
Born in the 2nd or 3rd century, Cecilia is thought to have been the daughter of a wealthy Roman family forced to marry the pagan Valerian. The martyr — condemned to suffocate, almost decapitated — is regarded as the patroness of music and singers because she heard heavenly music in her heart when she was married.
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Francis of Assisi
The Italian, born in the late 12th century to a prosperous merchant family, instead embraced a life of poverty. Legend has it had a great love and a knack for communicating with animals. He is the founder of the Franciscan order and the patron saint of ecologists, animals and veterinarians.
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St. Augustine
Along with Gambrinus, Florian, Bonifacius, Arnulf and Nicholas of Myra, Augustine of Hippo is only one of many patron saints of beer brewers. Augustine lived in the 4th century, and after initially living a wild and loose life, became a bishop. To this very day, many breweries and beers — people's standard drink centuries ago — are named after a saint.
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St. Florian
The patron saint of firefighters and chimney sweeps was a Roman officer in 3rd-century Austria, responsible for organizing firefighting brigades. Legend has it he was to be burned at the stake for refusing to pray to the Roman Gods but was drowned instead, a millstone around his neck, after threatening to climb to heaven on the flames.