German Nun Beatified, Hailed as "19th Century Mother Teresa"

Ceremony: The beatification of Mother Rosa inside Trier Cathedral. © picture-alliance/dpa

Pope Benedict XVI recently visited the United States for the first time, stopping in Washington and New York. From April 15 to 20, he met with US President George W. Bush, conducted a public mass at National Stadium, addressed the United Nations and conducted a public mass at Yankee Stadium.

Born Joseph Ratzinger in the small village of Marktl am Inn in Bavaria, Pope Benedict XVI grew up in Traunstein near the Austrian border. His election as pope on April 19, 2005, was greeted with warm congratulations and well wishes all over the world.

Now, in an extremely rare event in Germany, the Pope has sent his own well wishes and approval of a special Catholic Church ceremony honoring a nun who lived more than 100 years ago.

The Catholic Church in Germany on Sunday (May 4) beatified Mother Rosa Flesch (1826-1906), who devoted her life to the poor and sick, with Cardinal Joachim Meisner describing her as a 19th-century Mother Teresa.

Holy: An image of Mother Rosa was prominenly placed inside the cathedral for the special event, during which Cardinal Meisner read a letter from the Pope. © picture-alliance/dpa

Like the Albanian-born Teresa, who died in India in 1997, Flesch set up her own religious order in 1863, recruited other women and gained church recognition for her work helping paupers and the dying.

Many members of the 350-strong order, the Waldbreitbach Franciscan Sisters, gathered in Trier Cathedral to hear Meisner, archbishop of Cologne, read out a letter, signed by Pope Benedict XVI, saying that she should in future be known as the Blessed Mother Rosa.

Since 2005, the Vatican has let national churches choose who to beatify, or name as "blessed," and Margaretha Flesch - her name at birth - is the second person to be honored this way by the Germans.

"She's one of us. She's not someone exotic from a faraway land," Meisner told a congregation of 2,000 in the cathedral and thousands more listening outside over loudspeakers. (TWIG/dpa)

Devout: Thousands of believers gathered outside to follow the beatification ceremony. © picture-alliance/dpa

Links:

The Catholic Church in Germany (in German)

KNA - Catholic News Agency

EKD - The Evangelical Church in Germany

EPD - Evangelischer Pressedienst (in German)

Pope Benedict XVI in the USA - Well Wishes from Ambassador Scharioth (Germany.info)

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