Mother Teresa to become saint in September

VATICAN CITY — Mother Teresa, a nun who dedicated her life to helping the poor in India, will become a saint on September 4, Pope Francis announced Tuesday. The date on which Mother Teresa will be proclaimed a saint falls on the eve of the anniversary of her death, which occurred on September 5, 1997.

NEW DELHI, INDIA – APRIL 12: In this file picture taken, 12 April 1995, Mother Teresa smiles as she poses for photographers in Calcutta. Mother Teresa will be beatified, 19 October 2003, in a ceremony in St Peter’s Square, Vatican. The beatification ceremony is the penultimate step to being canonised a saint and has been the shortest in modern history. Following the beatification, a second miracle has to be verified by the Vatican before Mother Teresa can be proclaimed a saint. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

In December, Francis recognized a second miracle attributed to Mother Teresa: the healing of a Brazilian man with multiple brain tumors after loved ones prayed to her to heal him, the Italian Catholic bishops’ association’s official newspaper Avvenire reported.

CALCUTTA, INDIA – FEBRUARY 3: Photo dated 03 February 1986 shows Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II waving to well-wishers in Calcutta. Mother Teresa died of cardiac arrest 06 September in Calcutta at age 87. (B/W ONLY) AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read MICHEL SCOTTO/AFP/Getty Images)

That miracle, which occurred after her death in 1997, paved her way to sainthood. The nun renowned for caring for impoverished people in the slums of Kolkata, India, was beatified in October 2003 by now deceased Pope John Paul II.

He approved a first posthumous miracle.