Mother Teresa: early sainthood in doubt

By IOL South Asia Correspondent

NEW DELHI , October 11 (IslamOnline) - It may take the “Saint of the Gutters,” Mother Teresa of the Sisters of Charity, longer to attain sainthood than was hoped till this week.

The Vatican had recently beatified the Albanian nun who served the sick and dying in the slums of Kolkata with extraordinary devotion. Born Gonxha Bojaxhin in Skopje in 1910, Mother Teresa had made India her home and taken Indian nationality.

Respected worldwide as an epitome of Jesus Christ’s teachings, she was adored by millions of Indians. Mother Teresa was beatified on papal authority earlier this month when a team of doctors told the Vatican 's Congregation for the Causes of Saints that there was no medical explanation for the healing of a 30-year- old Indian, Monica Besra.

Besra, who had been suffering from stomach tumor, had claimed her tumor disappeared when she put Mother Teresa’s photograph on her stomach. This “miracle” led to Mother Teresa’s beatification. She needs another such miracle to be a saint. Mother Teresa died in 1997.

However, no sooner than the Vatican announced the decision to beatify her, a great controversy raged about the reality of the miracle claim. Doctors who treated Besra for tumor said she was cured because of a long course of medication rather than as the result of a miracle.

Besra is a tribal woman from the eastern state of West Bengal bordering Bangladesh . West Bengal Health Minister Surya Kanta Mishra said Besra was treated for her tumor at a government hospital. “Besra received medication at the Balurghat hospital and recovered after treatment. This was no miracle,” he asserted.

Nuns of the Sisters of Charity, the order Mother Teresa founded, have come under a cloud for making a false claim, although this does not reflect on the formidable reputation of the “Mother” herself.

A prominent rationalist of India , who has been discrediting Hindu "divines" on a regular basis, exposing their “miracles” as sleight of hand, said the miracle claimed for Mother Teresa was false. The rationalist, Prabir Ghosh, said, however, that she still remained a saint for the selfless service she did to the poor, the sick and dying for decades.

“Many doctors have reported to the West Bengal government that Besra continued to receive treatment long after Mother Teresa died,” he said.

Ghosh, who said the great woman was a “saint” in any case, stressed “it would be an insult to her good work done among the poorest of the poor in Kolkata if sainthood is bestowed on her on false claims of miracles.”

Ghosh’s organization, Indian Rationalist and Scientific Thinking Association, would press the West Bengal state government to take legal action against Sisters of Charity for misleading people.

Given the penchant for miracles in the Third World , it is very likely that some people – instead of resorting to proper medication – would stop taking drugs and invoke Mother Teresa to heal them. Already some people have expressed such fears.

Government officials have of late visited Besra to interview her on the truth of the claims. The Sisters of Charity are keeping quiet.

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