July 7, 2010 Cathnews: Catholic groups across India are planning a series of programs to mark the birth centenary of Blessed Mother Teresa on Aug 26.

Various dioceses in the country have planned their own programs which include prayer services, public meetings and social work, said Father Babu Joseph spokesperson of Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI).

A national-level symposium on the ‘Life and Message of Mother Teresa’ will be held in the capital on Aug 27. President Pratibha Patil will preside over a commemorative meeting in New Delhi on Aug 28, he said.

A commemorative coin will also be released by the government on the occasion, Father Joseph added.

A week-long photo exhibition on the work of Mother Teresa will be held in New Delhi from Aug 23 to 30. Noted photographer Raghu Rai will be the curator of the exhibition.

In Kolkata, a week-long film festival on Mother Teresa will be the highlight of the celebrations.

Some groups have reportedly written to the Vatican seeking speedy canonization of the saintly nun, who was beatified in 2003.

Mother Teresa was born in 1910, in Skopje in Macedonia, to Albanian parents. She was baptized as Gonxha Agnes. She came to India in 1929 to work as a nun of the Loretto Convent in Kolkata.

She started the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, which has spread its work in several countries, providing shelter to leprosy patients, the homeless, destitutes and orphaned children.

Mother Teresa was honoured with the Nobel prize for Peace in 1979 and the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour, in 1980. She died on Sep 5, 1997. (by Christopher)