The grief has gripped Ranchi following the death of Sister Nirmala.the nun who who took over from Mother Teresa as head of the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata and served for over a decade.
She died today. She was 80 years old.
Nirmala,a Hindu Brahman,was born in Ranchi in 1934.Her parents were from Nepal and her father was an officer of the British Army until India’s independence in 1947.After she got converted by Christian missionaries in Patna,she was educated by them.Later,she learned of Mother Teresa’s work and wanted to share in that service.
After Mother Teresa’s death,she was appointed as her successor in the Missionaries of Charity which cares for the sick and destitute in more than 130 countries. It runs soup kitchens, AIDS hospices, leprosy centers and homes for women and orphaned children.
After the report of her death reached Ranchi,many Catholics expressed their grief.”She was devoted to the cause of the orphaned kids”,said Catholic Church member Joseph John.
“She continued the legacy of Mother [Teresa] and took it forward,” Thomas D’Souza, the Archbishop of Kolkata, who worked with Sister Nirmala,is quoted having said.
