Page 60 - Phonebox Magazine October 2016

The Miraculous Saint Teresa
Now, at this timely moment, Olney resident John van Weenen shares his thoughts on the life and his working relationship with a truly amazing human being.
Known for years simply as ‘The Saint of the Gutters’, Mother
OTeresa has finally been given her rightful place.
n 4th September 2016 at the Vatican, the canonisation of Mother Teresa took place and Pope Francis declared “Blessed Teresa of Kolkata (Calcutta) a Saint.” In order to be declared a Saint, the congregation needs to agree
to the candidate having lived a virtuous life and having performed at least two miracles through the intercession of God after her death. In the case of Mother Teresa, her proposer was a 46 year-old Canadian priest, Father Brian Kolodiejchuk. Since 1999, he interviewed 113 witnesses and his efforts resulted in evidence amounting to 35,000 pages which were then presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in August 2001. Once the details of her life had been qualified as worthy of Sainthood, the requirements of the two miracles had to be met.
Monica Besra’s fight against stomach tumour
In 1997, Monica Besra a tribal woman in West Bengal was suffering acute pain due to a tumour that had been diagnosed in her abdomen. After having visited a number of hospitals and doctors, she had not been cured. In May 1998 she was admitted to the home run by the Missionaries of Charity order in the town of Patiram. The tumour had caused her stomach to swell up by now. Doctors considered her condition to be fragile and surgery was put off for another three months.
On 5th September 1998, as the Missionaries of Charity order was witnessing the first death anniversary of Mother Teresa with prayers in the chapel, Monica Besra felt a beam of light emanating from the photograph of Mother Teresa. In the evening, two sisters of the order tied a medallion with Mother Teresa’s picture around Besra’s waist and prayed for her. That night she slept peacefully after months of painful sleeplessness. When she woke in the morning, her tumour had gone. This case helped expedite the beatification of Mother Teresa.
The recovery of Marcilio Haddad Andrino
In December 2008, a Brazilian man, Marcilio Haddad Andrino recovered from multiple abscesses in his brain. When he was diagnosed with the abscesses, he and his wife placed a relic of Mother Teresa near his head and prayed to her regularly.
When in December 2008 he was rushed to hospital with a severe headache. Andrino claimed to have experienced a miracle, his abscesses receded which led to his eventual cure. Pope Francis recognised this as the second miracle attributed to Mother Teresa— she was at last now a Saint.
Back in 1991, my own life had taken a major turn with dramatic pictures being shown on BBC television of mentally handicapped children in Albania, locked away in dungeons and dying of malnutrition. Those pictures were the catalyst for the largest convoy of aid to leave Britain since WW2 and by 1992, twenty missions had been undertaken to relieve the hardship in Europe’s poorest country. President Berisha informed us that because of our British contribution, thousands of lives had been saved. It was just too big a statement for us ordinary guys to take in. The Albanian Government were desperate to thank
Mother Teresa, “I am but a tiny pencil in the hands of the Lord.”
Missionaries of Charity Sisters in Albania
Listening to Mother Teresa’s concerns over travel
Relief and happiness for Mother Teresa as John tells her some great news regarding her future travel
us. A month later I was summoned to the Albanian Parliament and given the country’s highest civilian honour—‘The Order of Mother Teresa’ I was embarrassed. It was then I discovered she was in fact an Albanian citizen.
In June 1993, I went to Calcutta, not only to receive the award but also to get involved in her work. As I sat in Motherhouse waiting for her to come, a group of children came into the room. Their skin was glistening and I knew they all had some form of leprosy. They saw me and headed in my direction—I was scared—I didn’t know what to do. Wasn’t leprosy contagious? Just at that moment, a door opened and in walked Mother Teresa. They saw her, turned and ran to her open arms. She looked across at me, read my thoughts, as I wiped the perspiration from my face. Phew!
After a brief presentation ceremony, I spent time with her and her sisters on the streets. They were amazing. Every morning, the sisters would disperse onto Calcutta’s streets and slums, helping anyone who
60 Phonebox Magazine | October 2016