Sainthood to the Saint of the Gutter for "Miracle Healing" after death!

Nobody would disagree that Mother Teresa, who spent her life caring for the destitute, was a noble soul. For the "Saint of the Gutter", who never in her life assumed holiness by herself, sainthood was conferred upon her not by any religious institution, but the gratitude, appreciation and affection of the millions whom she served. Unfortunately, religious institutions make use of such social acceptance to propagate superstitions and in the process damages the integrity of the person involved on a whole.

At least one proven after-death-miracle is a must for any saint. Teresa’s managers have offered the "Healing of Monica Besra" for this purpose and the Vatican has officially accepted it as a suitable ticket to sainthood.

But unexpectedly the miracle has met with a tough challenge.

The medical records prove that it was sheer conventional medical treatment that rescued her life. "In the 21st century how can you talk about miracle healing?" says West Bengal health minister Suyrya Kanta Nishra. The miracle documentation claims that several doctors have certified that the healing was "scientifically inexplicable", but not a single of these anonymous witnesses could so far be traced. The former health minister of West Bengal, Partho De, revealed that he had been approached by the Vatican agents and asked to name a doctor, who would certify that Monica Besra’s healing was a miracle. He declined support. After ordering the medical records of the case in February 2000 for scrutiny to the Kolkata (Calcutta) health department, he was convinced that there was nothing unusual about the disappearance of the tumor after prolonged medical treatment.

Dr. Manju Murshed, superintendent of the government hospital in Balurghat, informed that Monica Besra was admitted in the hospital with severe pain. She suffered from tubercular meningitis and from an ovarian tumor, which was discovered during an ultra-sound investigation. She was subsequently treated by Dr.Tarun Kumar Biwas and the gynecologist Dr. Ranjan Mustafi. After she left the hospital, the treatment was continued in the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital and ended successfully in March 1999. A final ultra-sound investigation showed that the tumor had disappeared.

Vatican’s "proof" is a statement of crown witness Monica Besra. It leaked, despite utmost secrecy, to the press. In this statement, Besra describes that she was suffering from terrible pain from a giant tumor in her stomach and nearly lost all hope. She left her family to seek help with the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata. On 5 October, 1998, Mother Teresa’s first death anniversary, she prayed to her ardently. Two nuns, sister Bartholomea and sister Ann Sevika, took a silver medallion with Mother’s picture from the wall and tied it on Monica’s body with a black thread, right on the tumor. The pain vanished the same night and never came back. Her stomach became smaller and smaller and in the morning she felt that the tumor had vanished. She was miraculously healed!

Monica Besra is a 30-year-old tribal woman from Dulidnapur village. She is illiterate and speaks her tribal mother tongue only, laced with a few words of broken Bengali. Until recently she has not been a Christian. The statement is written in fluent English and shows familiarity with details of Catholic belief. It is obvious that the text has not been written or dictated by her. But Monica Besra was not available to bring light into the murky story: she had vanished. She must have been “under the protection of the church”, suspected those close to her. She was not seen, since her name, despite all efforts of secrecy, became public.

And the nuns involved in the miracle kept their lips sealed. "An objective miracle has happened", explains archbishop D’Souza of Kolkata. "The sisters don’t want to give different versions as that would spoil things."

Some of the doctors who treated Monica Besra, for example, say that there is no evidence of a miracle. They say that her tumour was not fully grown and that her condition responded to medical treatment.

"This miracle claim is absolute nonsense and should be condemned by everyone," Dr Ranjan Kumar Mustafi, of Balurghat Hospital in West Bengal, said. "She had a medium-sized tumour in her lower abdomen caused by tuberculosis. The drugs she was given eventually reduced the cystic mass and it disappeared after a year's treatment."

Her husband initially shared this scepticism. "This miracle is a hoax," he told an interviewer last year. "It is much ado about nothing. My wife was cured by the doctors."

Their children are being educated with the help of the nuns and he has been able to buy a small piece of land. "Everything has changed for the better", says Selku Murmu.

Now, he is full of praise for Mother Teresa and her order. "It was her miracle healing that cured my wife," says Selku Murmu, whose family has converted to Christianity. "Our situation was terrible and we didn't know what to do."

Mother Teresa's elevation has also been criticised for its speed. After a Vatican commission recognised Monica Besra's healing as a miracle, the Pope personally intervened to "fast track" the nun's beatification, making it the swiftest in the Church's history.

Under normal Church rules, at least five years must pass after a person dies before the procedure for sainthood can begin, first with beatification and later with canonisation. The process started in 1999, less than two years after Mother Teresa's death, aged 87.

Her canonisation could follow within a year or two, bestowing upon her the Catholic Church's highest honour, though a second miracle would be needed for her sainthood.

If the idea of miraculous healings gets credence, it will have dangerous consequences for the uneducated and the poor. Confidence in modern medicine and science has to be developed and strengthened and people have to be encouraged to use available medical facilities for treatment instead of taking to superstition and miracle belief. The efforts should be to expand the outreach of the modern medicine to all strata of the society.