<p>For those who revered her, Mother Teresa’s elevation to the Catholic sainthood on Sunday came not a moment too soon. The diminutive nun, whose journey from a corner of the Ottoman Empire to the slums of India made her one of the most famous women in the world, was regarded by many as a saint during her lifetime. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Those who knew her best describe her as someone who loved fun, chocolate and ice-cream. But there was another school of thought. Australian feminist Germaine Greer called her a “religious imperialist”, who preyed on the most vulnerable in the name of harvesting souls for Jesus. <br /><br />And her most ferocious critic, British polemicist Christopher Hitchens, called her “a fanatic, a fundamentalist and a fraud”. But St Teresa was always far more revered than reviled. Millions acclaimed her as an icon of Christian charity and a global symbol of anti-materialism and worthwhile self-sacrifice. <br /><br />Her adopted homeland, India, took her to its heart. “It is natural for every Indian to take pride in Mother Teresa’s canonisation," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said earlier this week. <br /><br />On her death in 1997, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II predicted Mother Teresa would “continue to live on in the hearts of all those who have been touched by her selfless love”. <br /><br />The private St Teresa was a more complex personality than she appeared to the world. Behind her gaunt and wrinkled face lay a troubled soul. For long periods, she was plagued by doubts about the faith that drove her mission to provide comfort to the dying. <br />“There is so much contradiction in my soul,” she wrote to the Bishop of Calcutta in a posthumously published 1957 letter. <br /><br />“Heaven means nothing to me, it looks like an empty place.” Two years later, Mother Teresa wrote to a priest friend saying: “If I ever become a saint, I will surely be one of darkness; I will continually be absent from heaven - to light the light of those in darkness on earth.” <br /></p>
<p>For those who revered her, Mother Teresa’s elevation to the Catholic sainthood on Sunday came not a moment too soon. The diminutive nun, whose journey from a corner of the Ottoman Empire to the slums of India made her one of the most famous women in the world, was regarded by many as a saint during her lifetime. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Those who knew her best describe her as someone who loved fun, chocolate and ice-cream. But there was another school of thought. Australian feminist Germaine Greer called her a “religious imperialist”, who preyed on the most vulnerable in the name of harvesting souls for Jesus. <br /><br />And her most ferocious critic, British polemicist Christopher Hitchens, called her “a fanatic, a fundamentalist and a fraud”. But St Teresa was always far more revered than reviled. Millions acclaimed her as an icon of Christian charity and a global symbol of anti-materialism and worthwhile self-sacrifice. <br /><br />Her adopted homeland, India, took her to its heart. “It is natural for every Indian to take pride in Mother Teresa’s canonisation," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said earlier this week. <br /><br />On her death in 1997, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II predicted Mother Teresa would “continue to live on in the hearts of all those who have been touched by her selfless love”. <br /><br />The private St Teresa was a more complex personality than she appeared to the world. Behind her gaunt and wrinkled face lay a troubled soul. For long periods, she was plagued by doubts about the faith that drove her mission to provide comfort to the dying. <br />“There is so much contradiction in my soul,” she wrote to the Bishop of Calcutta in a posthumously published 1957 letter. <br /><br />“Heaven means nothing to me, it looks like an empty place.” Two years later, Mother Teresa wrote to a priest friend saying: “If I ever become a saint, I will surely be one of darkness; I will continually be absent from heaven - to light the light of those in darkness on earth.” <br /></p>