ST LOUIS — The U.S. Postal Service and the Missionaries of Charity, St. Louis dedicated the U.S. postage stamp honoring the diminutive Roman Catholic nun and honorary U.S. citizen who served the sick and destitute of India and the world for nearly 50 years. 

Following a prayer service led by Father Gary Meier, District Manager, U.S. Postal Service David F. Martin and Sister Celine Rose MC dedicated the stamp today at the Missionaries of Charity Soup Kitchen in St. Louis.  The Missionaries of Charity is the religious order Mother Teresa of Calcutta established in India in 1950.  The order has 4.500 nuns working in 517 missions in 123 countries.

“Mother Teresa was slight in stature, yet, she possessed an overwhelming sense of spirit and compassion,” said Martin. “Her example of selfless charity and boundless love for all humankind continues to inspire millions of people here in America, and around the world.”

“There is no place more appropriate to honor Mother Teresa than in a place like this – a place devoted to serving those in need, for that was the gift Mother Teresa gave to the world.”

Immediately after the dedication, Martin and St. Louis Postmaster Nancy Fryrear along with other postal employees helped serve those gathered for the daily meal at the Missionaries of Charity Soup Kitchen.

Mother Teresa was drawn to the religious life as a young girl. She left her home in what is now the Republic of Macedonia at the age of 18 to serve as a Roman Catholic missionary in India.  Having adopted the name of Sister Mary Teresa, she arrived in India in 1929 and underwent initial training in religious life at a convent north of Calcutta.  Two years later, she took temporary vows as a nun before transferring to a convent in Calcutta.  She became known as Mother Teresa in 1937, when she took her final vows.

In addition to the traditional vows of chastity, obedience, and poverty, the sisters of this mission take a fourth vow of wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor.  “In order to understand and help those who have nothing,” Mother Teresa said when she founded the order, “we must live like them.”

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