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Successor to Mother Teresa Is Named

Sister Nirmala, chosen to succeed Mother Theresa Photo:AFP.

After two months of cloistered deliberations, the Missionaries of Charity today selected a Hindu convert to succeed the ailing 86-year-old Mother Teresa as leader of the Catholic order she founded in Calcutta's slums nearly a half-century ago.

In their nearly unanimous choice of Sister Nirmala, 62, who had directed the order's spiritual wing, 130 senior nuns appear to have sought a combination of compassion and administrative skill to sustain a far-flung operation with 4,500 nuns and religious brothers at nearly 600 homes in more than 100 countries, including the United States. In Washington, the Missionaries of Charity operate a spiritual retreat and an AIDS hospice.

The resolution of the succession issue removed the uncertainty that had surrounded the order because of the failing health of Mother Teresa, a Nobel Peace Prize winner known to admirers as "the Saint of the Gutters" for her dedication to aiding the world's poor.

Mother Teresa was hospitalized three times last year for heart problems and related ailments, leading her physicians and close associates to say at times in recent months that she was dying. Friends said her condition has improved enough lately to enable her to walk occasionally to the chapel at the order's international headquarters here.

Mother Teresa had wanted to retire more than a decade ago, but the order reelected her in 1984 and 1990. Her recent illnesses prompted senior nuns to agree to choose a successor in an election that was postponed twice -- in September because of her illness and in February after a consensus had not been reached in the closed deliberations.

Archbishop Henry D'Souza of Calcutta announced their choice in a brief statement that also said, "Mother Teresa was present for the election and blessed Sister Nirmala." Nuns were heard rejoicing inside the order's headquarters, and garlands of flowers were delivered to the door.

Sister Nirmala was not considered the most likely successor because she was not among Mother Teresa's four top assistants. Sister Nirmala had directed the order's spiritual wing since it was created in 1979, overseeing a dozen homes in India, Europe, Latin America and the United States where members seek spiritual rejuvenation. For a time, she ran the order's spiritual retreat in New York City.

Born a Brahman, a member of Hinduism's highest caste, Sister Nirmala grew up in Bihar, one of India's poorest states. Her family traces its ancestry to Nepal; her father was a military officer. She completed college and joined the Missionaries of Charity in the late 1950s.

Close associates frequently use the word "kind" to describe the new superior general, whose Hindi name means "clean," suggesting a purity of mind and spirit. "She's very spiritual and very kind," said Edward Le Joly, a retired priest who has advised her for decades.

Naresh Kumar, a Calcutta businessman who has supported the order's work, said that like its founder, Sister Nirmala "looks very small and frail but has tremendous strength."

Another associate of Mother Teresa predicted that the change in leadership will lead to a decline in donations but added that senior nuns were not concerned about possibly having to downsize operations.

"Money isn't fundamental to this order," said Navin Chawla, a biographer of Mother Teresa. "If the work is intended, the money will come in."

Instead of traditional religious habits, the Missionaries of Charity wear simple white cotton saris with blue borders. They are permitted to own only three such Indian dresses and their eating utensils, with which they consume the same simple food the order serves to the needy.

Mother Teresa, born of Albanian parents in what is now Macedonia, founded the order in 1948 to aid the poorest of the poor, including orphans and lepers in Calcutta. The city of 10 million is known for homeless families sleeping on sidewalks but less so for a vibrant middle class that has produced Indian leaders in the arts and leftist politics. Her work has drawn support from the city's predominant Hindus as well as its Catholics, who number only about 100,000. "The reason people give donations is because 100 percent filters through to the poor," Kumar said. "She helps everybody. She doesn't care whether they're Muslims, Christians or Hindus."

While she lives, Mother Teresa is likely to remain the order's guiding force, as a spiritual model and source of advice. Her presence during the transition has reassured outside supporters that the nature of the order's charitable work will continue.

Special correspondent Rama Lakshmi contributed to this report.