Mother Teresa, born Agnes Gonxha Bjaxhiu in 1910, is world famous for her amazing work through her 60 years spent in the slums of Calcutta, India serving the poor and needy. Now, Pope Francis has announced plans to canonize her as a saint on Sept. 4 of 2016 -- the day before the anniversary of her death on Sept. 5, 1997 at the age of 87.
In most cases, two miracles are required for a previously beatified person to be declared a saint.
Saint John Paul the Great, previously Pope John Paul II, first recognized Mother Teresa’s alleged posthumous miracle in 2003 when a woman in Calcutta said she was cured of a stomach tumor after praying to Mother Teresa. A Vatican committee could find no scientific explanation for the woman’s healing and declared it a miracle.
Then, in December, Pope Francis recognized a second miracle when a Brazilian man was healed of multiple brain tumors after his loved ones prayed to Mother Teresa.
Mother Teresa is also famous for founding the Missionaries of Charity, a sisterhood that now has 4,500 nuns worldwide. The order was founded in 1950 and has run over 600 houses of charity worldwide that have tirelessly provided care for what she called the “poorest of the poor.”
"We were very delighted to get the news (of Mother Teresa’s canonization) this morning," said Sunita Kumar, spokeswoman for Missionaries of Charity. “I was very emotional, of course. I have seen so many miracles every now and then, but I couldn't be happier today.”