GULF-GOANS e-NEWSLETTER (since 1994)
INDIA 100-year-old nun hailed as unsung Mother Teresa By Anne Nigli KOLKATA, India (UCAN) -- A Hungarian nun, who has just turned 100, has been hailed as an unsung Mother Teresa for her decades of work helping poor women gain the skills to earn a living. Centenarian Sister Lenke Franciscan Sister Etelka Marton, popularly known as Sister Lenke, has lived in Kolkata since 1968 where she has taught thousands of women to sew and embroider, giving them skills that helped them feed their families. Unlike Mother Teresa, or Blessed Teresa of Kolkata, Sister Lenke was "unknown to the media," retired Archbishop Henry D'Souza of Calcutta told UCA News before celebrating a Mass to mark her 100th birthday on June 27. While Blessed Teresa's work was highly visible, Sister Lenke spent most of her time in her workroom, training poor women sent by priests from far-flung mission stations. The frail nun, with a wide grin and sparkle in her eye, still commands respect and love from her companions and the women she taught, say those who know her. Some 250 women who she has helped over the years visited her on her birthday bringing their children and grandchildren. Sister Lenke was active until Jan. 1 when she broke her right arm in a fall, her superior, Sister Celine Xavier, said. While her arm has healed, Sister Lenke, who is nearly blind, has been bedridden since the accident. Sister Xavier said that during her decades of service, the centenarian nun has worked as gardener, nurse, matron to orphans, sacristan and catechism teacher. Her main mission, however, was to head the embroidery section that had in its early years trained over 500 poor village women. She stopped teaching in 1994 but continued to pray, listen to spiritual readings, and welcome innumerable visitors, said Sister Xavier. Sister Lenke was born in 1909 in Budapest. According to Sister Celine, the senior nun vividly recalls growing up in the turmoil that followed the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I. While her father was away at war, her mother worked as a dressmaker to provide for her four children, of which Sister Lenke was the eldest. Only the nun's younger sister is still living today, in Hungary. One of her brothers died a few weeks after his birth and the other died during the World War II. Sister Lenke joined the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in 1930 and reached Jabalpur in central India in 1934. She came to Kolkata in 1968 but remains a Hungarian citizen. http://www.ucanews.com/2009/07/16/100-year-old-nun-hailed-as-unsung-mother-teresa/ http://www.goa-world.com www.colaco.net http://www.flickr.com/photos/venantius/ www.goa-world.com/goa/ music/ - The Online Music Station for KONKANI http://www.konkanisongbook.com/ THANKS TO ALL FOR YOUR PRAYERS http://www.jrsbible.info/bible.htm Promoting Tiatr & Tiatrists since 1994 http://tiatracademy.blogspot.com/ Gulf-Goans e-Newsletter http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/gulf-goans EXPRESSIONS - THE FLOWER SHOP http://www.goa-world.com/expressions/ Tuji kopi sugur korunk visronaka http://tiatracademy.blogspot.com/2009/07/greatest-konkani-song-hits-214-page.html http://tiatracademy.blogspot.com/2009/07/greatest-konkani-song-hits-214-page.html
