Word: nirmala
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...without the expectation of receiving anything but gratitude from her congregation of the poor, sick, dying and abandoned. In Calcutta she was free to live and carry out her life's mission in a state that has for many years been governed by a communist majority. Her successor, Sister Nirmala, was free to give up her Hindu religion and embrace Mother Teresa's philosophy in the Roman Catholic tradition. And politicians of many a hue were wary about interfering with her goodness. Weep not, for much good has come from this frail and wonderful woman. LEKHA SUBAIYA New Orleans
...order with only one dissenting vote: her own. But in the fall of 1996, she nearly succumbed to heart disease, and the sisters realized it was time to elect a successor. In March, 123 representative nuns gathered to pray for wisdom and chose a Hindu Brahmin convert named Sister Nirmala, whom one called a compassionate "carbon copy" of their revered leader...
...woman who has taken Teresa's place demurs, saying, "I'm not Mother Teresa; I'm Sister Nirmala. Please don't call me Mother." This 64-year-old, 4-ft. 10-in. nun, who sometimes refers to distances by the number of Rosaries she can pray while traveling them, did not make her Christian conversion until age 17. She was moved to a new faith by the terrible religious carnage that attended the Indian partition in 1947 and by observing Mother Teresa in Calcutta, years later, attending to its refugees. "It was inspiration at first sight," says Nirmala, who became...
Teresa sent her to law school and made her the Missionaries' legal counsel. In 1965 Nirmala traveled to Venezuela to establish the order's first overseas mission; four years later, she was called back to Calcutta to join its contemplative wing, which emphasizes the mystical power of prayer, something dear to the heart of Teresa. As time went on, Nirmala acted as Teresa's nurse and companion. Now it is her turn to rely on Teresa's spiritual guidance. Even though she may be afraid, she has said, "Looking at God, I am sure I will be able...
Saints don't often retire. But MOTHER TERESA, the woman whom many revere as one, is 86. So, it has fallen on the frail-looking shoulders of SISTER NIRMALA, 70, a high-caste Hindu convert to Catholicism, to take over the Missionaries of Charity. Sister Nirmala joined the order at 23, after witnessing the horrors of the partition of India and Pakistan. "It was inspiration at first sight," she says of Mother Teresa's work. "Here was someone who could bring some compassion and a sense of destiny to the people." Sister Nirmala was elected by 123 sisters...