Mother Teresa of Calcutta, missionary to "the poorest of the poor" and founder of the Missionaries of Charity religious order, died on September 5, 1997 in Calcutta, India, at the age of 87.

She was famous for caring for the world's outcasts: the dying, the impoverished, the new-born and the un-born, lepers, the lonely, those stricken with AIDS.

"I realize that when I touch the odorous and oozing members of a leper, I am touching the body of Christ, just as I take His body in the Sacrament of the Eucharist," she once said.

As soon as the news of her death was received in Rome, Father Ciro Benedettini, vice director of the Holy See Press Office, made the following statement to journalists: "The Holy Father was informed immediately of Mother Teresa's death. This death has deeply touched his heart. He was in fact very close to this sister who bent down to all human suffering and who is a shining example of how love of God is transformed in love for one's neighbor, especially for those who are most abandoned. Mother Teresa is a woman who has marked the history of this century. The Holy Father still remembers with emotion his visit to Calcutta on February 3, 1986 to the 'house of the pure heart' (Nirmal Hriday Ashram) where Mother Teresa took in the dying."

The Holy Father immediately sent a telegram to Sister Nirmala, superior general of the Missionaries of Charity. Here is the text:

"Deeply moved by the news of the death of Mother Teresa, I join you and the entire family of the Missionaries of Charity in commending the soul of your Foundress to our Heavenly Father's eternal love. I give fervent thanks to God who gave this woman of unshakeable faith as a gift to the Church and to the world in order to remind us all of the supremacy of evangelical love, especially when it is expressed in humble service of the least of our brothers and sisters. I am confident that the memory of Mother Teresa's extraordinary spiritual vision, her attentive and self-sacrificing love of Jesus in each individual, her absolute respect for the value of every human life and her courage in facing so many challenges will inspire her spiritual daughters and sons to carry on her mission through their religious consecration and in cheerful, wholehearted care of the poorest of the poor. As a pledge of strength and comfort I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing to all who mourn in the hope of the resurrection."

"She bore witness..."

The following day, during a speech to the assembly of the "Volunteers of Suffering" Association, in Marino, near Rome, John Paul remembered Mother Teresa, saying that she was an "extraordinary example of the silent mission of charity that is born of constant contemplation of Jesus on the Cross."

The Pope continued: "This morning, with deep emotion, I celebrated Mass for her, an unforgettable witness of a love made concrete and unceasing service to the poorest and most marginalized of our brethren. In the face of those in misery she recognized Jesus' face, imploring from the Cross: 'I am thirsty.' And, with generous surrender of the self, she listened to that cry from the lips and hearts of the dying, of abandoned little ones, of men and women crushed by the weight of suffering and loneliness."

...to the Gospel of charity"

"Tirelessly travelling the paths of the entire world," the Pope continued, "Mother Teresa has marked the history of our century: she defended life bravely; she served all human beings, always promoting their dignity and respect; she made the 'losers of life' feel the tenderness of God, loving Father of all his creatures. She bore witness to the Gospel of charity, which is nourished by the free giving of the self until death. This is how we remember her, invoking for her the prize that awaits all the faithful servants of the Kingdom of God. May her shining example of charity serve as a consolation and stimulus for her spiritual family, for the Church and for all of humanity."

"Her minute figure..."

Before praying the Sunday Angelus with the faithful gathered in Castelgandolfo on September 7, the Pope again spoke about Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and affirmed that her works "manifest to the men of our times that high significance of life that, regrettably, seems often to be lost."

John Paul II referred to the occasions on which he met with Mother Teresa, and remembered "her minute figure, bent by a life lived in service to the poorest of the poor, but always full of inexhaustible inner energy: the energy of the love of Christ."

Jesus' cry from the Cross - "I am thirsty" - which she heard resonating in the silence of contemplation, John Paul continued, pushed the Missionary of Charity "toward the streets of Calcutta and all the slums of the world, in search of Jesus in each of the poor, the abandoned, the dying."

"...bent by a life lived in service"

The Pope affirmed that Mother Teresa served the poor to serve life, since "she knew from experience that life acquires all its value, even in the midst of difficulties and contradictions, when it finds love."

Lastly, the pontiff repeated some words of Mother Teresa's regarding the importance of praying as a family: "The fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, and the fruit of service is peace." Thus, John Paul said, the mother of the poor "leaves an eloquent example for all, believers and non-believers. She leaves us the witness of God's love that, embraced by her, transformed her life into a total gift to her brothers and sisters."