US Bishops Vote Overwhelmingly in Favor of Including St. Mother Teresa into the US Liturgical Calendar



The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, at their Plenary Fall Assembly in Baltimore, Maryland voted on November 17th overwhelmingly in favor of Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta (Kolkata). They approved the Saint's insertion to the Liturgical Calendar of the United States. Her include her feast day, of September 5th, will soon be an optional memorial that can be celebrated in the Mass. A glance at the vote shows 213-0, with one abstention. However, their decision still needs the approval of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments for it to be completely realized.

CNS Excerpt: Committee policy, established in 1992, requires four conditions for the inscription of saints and blesseds on the U.S. calendar: They should have been inscribed on diocesan proper calendars for at least five years; the “cultus” of the candidate “should exist in a significant number of dioceses, broader than the area or region of the country”; the candidate should have served in the United States; and a new inscription would ordinarily have the rank of an optional memorial.

Archbishop Blair noted how the Missionaries of Charity serve in about 30 U.S. dioceses currently, and St. Teresa’s feast is ranked as a solemnity in the sisters’ chapels. St. Teresa has also been inscribed on the Archdiocese of New York’s proper calendar for “a number of years,” he said.

Liturgical texts have already been written in anticipation of the feast being declared. Archbishop Blair told the bishops Nov. 17 the Missionaries of Charity are working to finalize a new text for the Office of Readings for such a feast, and the texts for the U.S. edition of the Liturgy of the Hours would likely be presented sometime in 2023 for a future vote by the bishops.

Learn more about St. Mother Teresa by Watching this video or Reading More here:

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