Calcutta (Fides Service) – Many devotees of Mother Teresa beatified by Pope John Paul on October 19, hope that her room may soon be open to the public. Her Sisters, the Missionaries of Charity, have been thinking for a long time of opening for public viewing the small room in the general House in Calcutta where Mother used to withdraw for a few precious moments of private life. Also to show the poverty of her humble cell, the few personal objects and the place where she spent the last moments of her life on earth.
The rooms are similar to those of many saintly men and women in the history of the Church: small, creme coloured walls, two small windows made of wood. It is furnished with a chest containing Mother Teresa’s letters and other writings, a small table with a clock, a telephone, a copy of the Order’s Constitutions and a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and a few spiritual books. On the wall a map of the world and a photograph of Pope John Paul II holding Mother’s head affectionately between his hands. A small iron bed over which hangs a crucifix and a rosary beads.
Since the death of Mother Teresa on 5 September 1997, the Sisters have not touched the room. Now they may open it to visitors from all over the world, followers of many religions, pilgrims who come to pray at her burial place and draw inspiration from her message.
(PA) (Fides Service 31/10/2003 lines 24 words 252)