A Catholic Church in the Berkshire County village of Housatonic will be renamed this weekend, when Mother Teresa of Calcutta becomes a saint.
In Western Massachusetts, two local parishes that merged seven years ago will mark the event unlike others in the Springfield Diocese. Bishop Mitchell Rozanski explained the name change from Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
“Their patron is now fully made a saint, and they can now be called, officially, Saint Teresa of Calcutta,” he said this week.
Bishop Rozanski of the Springfield Diocese will lead Mass at the Housatonic Church on Saturday night.
Though best known for her with the poor in India, the nun also pointed out a “spiritual poverty” in the United States.
“It’s not just on the streets of Calcutta,” Rozanski said. “It comes in many forms.”
Thirty-one years ago, the Roman Catholic nun and missionary delivered that message at UMass Amherst on June 22, 1985.
“Homelessness is not only a home made of bricks, being rejected, unwanted, unloved, a throwaway of society, but that you find even in the most rich countries,” she said.
Pope Francis will canonize Teresa on Sunday morning in Rome.
Click the audio player above to hear a recording of Mother Teresa’s address at UMass, courtesy of the Springfield Diocese.