UST gets a gift: Mother Teresa

MOTHER Teresa

A bust sculpture of Mother Teresa of Calcutta will be unveiled at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Manila next week.

The work by West Bengal-based Indian sculptor Gautam Pal will be presented at the UST Santissimo Rosario Parish garden on July 16, according to an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website.

The sculpture was donated by the Indian government as a gift to the Catholic university.

The UST’s Office of Public Affairs said the bust will be marked by a plaque with a quote from Mother Teresa—“Your strength lies in small things”—which it said encapsulates her work as a missionary nun.

“It also commemorates her role as a constant source of inspiration for the Thomasian community in upholding UST’s core values of competence, commitment and compassion,” it said.

Expected at the unveiling ceremony are Indian Ambassador Amit Dasgupta, UST Rector Fr. Herminio Dagohoy and nuns from the Missionaries of Charity.

Mother Teresa was an Albanian-born, Indian Catholic Religious Sister who founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. Awarded the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, she served and advocated for the poorest of the poor, earning the moniker “The Living Saint.”

She died in 1997 and is now revered as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta after her beatification in 2003.

She visited the Philippines in 1976, 1977 and 1984.  Tina G. Santos