Mother Teresa made into a Saint

[Ozymandias]

Without starting a whole "there is a God/there isn't a God" debate (hopefully), Mother Teresa being made into a saint I found really interesting. Ignoring all the debate about here real virtue - which is a topic in itself - the process by which a person becomes a saint is really interesting.

There is a need to demonstrate a holy life - and its hard to argue by churhc standards Teresa managed that in spades. The other is to have two verified miracles, and its this requirement that I find the most fascinating. Below is an extract from the India Times outlining the miracles. From my perspective, it's incredible that the church accepts that there has been a miraculous cure. The questions it raises - why arent more people who pray healed miraculously, for example - are legion. It also defines, in a very credulous world, a potentially dangerous path for vulnerable people who need a cure for illness.

I don't believe in miracles, but do believe in the laws of large numbers. If something is a billion to one chance, in a world of 7.4 billion people doing billions and billions of activities, the "something" is going to happen. That's statistics, not divinity.

I'm interested in what those of faith think of this. Do you accept it as being the truth because its been accepted - and presumably researched - by the church? Do you take it with a pinch of salt, and if so does that cause issues with the infallibility of the papacy?

Not wanting a fight, just interested because it so outside what I think.

On September 5, 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 over her. That night she slept peacefully after months of painful sleeplessness. When she woke up in the morning, her tumour was gone.In 1997, Monica Besra a tribal woman in West Bengal was under 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.

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.Nuns and sisters during prayer, Good Friday observed at Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata (Express Photo by Partha Paul) Monica Besra’s case has been countered by several doctors who believe that she was cured due to medication. Even her husband claimed that it was medicines that led to her recovery and not a miracle. However, medical practitioners have also not been able to explain the healing of the tumour within a matter of eight hours.
The medical committee of the Congregation for the Causes for the Saints, made up of five doctors, claimed that the case of Monica Besra was most convincing. In an interview to the Telegraph, one of the medical practitioners in the committee, Professor Raffaele Cortesini said that Besra’s case fulfilled all criteria to be called a miracle which includes suddenness, completeness and long term stability. The overnight recovery of Monica Besra was confirmed to be the first miracle performed by Mother Teresa. This case helped expedite the beatification of Mother Teresa, making it one of the fastest in the history of the Catholic Church. Beatification of a candidate is the first step that eventually leads to his or canonisation on the performance of a second miracle. As per canon law, a minimum of five years is supposed to pass between a candidate’s death and the beginning of beatification. However, in case of Mother Teresa the process began just two years post her death.
The recovery of Marcilio Haddad Andrino

When in December 2008 he was rushed to the hospital on account of a severe headache he had, Andrino claimed to have experienced a miracle which led to his eventual cure. He reported to have felt a sense of peace and the headache suddenly disappeared. When the doctors examined him the following day his abscesses were seen as receding and he was declared to be cured.

The recovery of Andrino was recognised by Pope Francis as the second miracle attributed to Mother Teresa which finally made way for her canonisation on Sunday.

[SuperAllyMcleod]

I'm not convinced a fitba forum is the forum for you?

[steakbake]

I have an opinion on most things. But this and Tesco mean nothing. I just don't know what to think.

[Holmesdale Hibs]

I also favour maths over religion and agree that given the amount of (correctly diagnosed?) terminally ill people she's met, the law of averages say that a small %age of them will make a full recovery. Advances in medical science will make proving miracles almost impossible these days IMO, but then I'm not religious and spent more years studying maths than I care to remember.

If the church want to make her a saint then fair enough I guess. She's clearly a great role model and if the publicity can inspire religious (or otherwise) folk to do good things then it's a positive move.

[Ozymandias]

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I'm not convinced a fitba forum is the forum for you?

Strange comment as this isn't the football part of the forum.

[easty]

While I couldn't tell you any of the miracles that led to other saints being sainted, I'm pretty sure that Mother Theresa's "miracles" we're equally as miraculous.

[Kato]

The Venerable Margaret Sinclair (ex-Hibs season ticket holder) was way ahead in the queue for being made a saint.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sinclair_(nun)

Still not done yet.

[GreenLake]

I would canonize Saint David Gray for his miraculous bullet header in the 92nd minute.

[(((Fergus)))]

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I would canonize Saint David Gray for his miraculous bullet header in the 92nd minute.

That really was divine intervention.

[Andy74]

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Without starting a whole "there is a God/there isn't a God" debate (hopefully), Mother Teresa being made into a saint I found really interesting. Ignoring all the debate about here real virtue - which is a topic in itself - the process by which a person becomes a saint is really interesting.

There is a need to demonstrate a holy life - and its hard to argue by churhc standards Teresa managed that in spades. The other is to have two verified miracles, and its this requirement that I find the most fascinating. Below is an extract from the India Times outlining the miracles. From my perspective, it's incredible that the church accepts that there has been a miraculous cure. The questions it raises - why arent more people who pray healed miraculously, for example - are legion. It also defines, in a very credulous world, a potentially dangerous path for vulnerable people who need a cure for illness.

I don't believe in miracles, but do believe in the laws of large numbers. If something is a billion to one chance, in a world of 7.4 billion people doing billions and billions of activities, the "something" is going to happen. That's statistics, not divinity.

I'm interested in what those of faith think of this. Do you accept it as being the truth because its been accepted - and presumably researched - by the church? Do you take it with a pinch of salt, and if so does that cause issues with the infallibility of the papacy?

Not wanting a fight, just interested because it so outside what I think.

When you begin with an imaginary friend in the sky it's tricky to attach any logic to the rest of it.

[Hibs Class]

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When you begin with an imaginary friend in the sky it's tricky to attach any logic to the rest of it.

Then don't begin with an imaginary friend?

[Scouse Hibee]

Mother Teresa made a saint.......can't be long before Liverpool put in a bid for her.

[Scouse Hibee]

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When you begin with an imaginary friend in the sky it's tricky to attach any logic to the rest of it.

Yes Santa is hard to fathom but I still love to talk about him.

[Ozymandias]

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When you begin with an imaginary friend in the sky it's tricky to attach any logic to the rest of it.

Kind of hence my original post. Millions of people are catholic, but I dont think all of them believe in miracles. I was wondering how people square this away.

[PeeJay]

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When you begin with an imaginary friend in the sky it's tricky to attach any logic to the rest of it.

Won't the logic of believing in "an imaginary friend in the sky" mean that the "rest of it" (making someone a "Saint") simply all falls into place - nothing tricky about it, perhaps (for those of a particular logic that is)?

[snooky]

Okay, so she's signed for the Buddies, what position does she play?