On Sunday, Mother Teresa, an Albanian-born nun who devoted her life to caring for the poor, will become a saint.

In Schuylkill County, the canonization is considered a local celebration.That's because the county is the site of a Missions of Charity convent established in Mahanoy City in 1991, which Mother Teresa visited in 1995.The church was originally known as St. Joseph's but renamed Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Parish. On Sept. 4, the name will change again when it becomes St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish.The church is in the midst of a 15-day celebration. Among the events are a peace rally, a nine-day Novena prayer, and a Mass celebrated by the Most Rev. John O. Barres, fourth bishop of the Diocese of Allentown.FaithfulThe faithful are flocking from a wide region to take part."We came to see all of this and pick up some commemorative coins," said Joyce Ernesti, who arrived in the borough Saturday with husband David. The couple is from Easton.Pope Francis announced in December that Mother Teresa would be declared a saint after the church recognized what they say is a second miracle attributed to her.That event is the healing of a Brazilian man with multiple brain tumors after his loved ones prayed to her. The first such event was when a 30-year-old woman said she was cured of a stomach tumor after praying to Mother Teresa.A Vatican committee said it could find no scientific explanation for what took place and declared it a miracle. Mother Teresa was beatified in October 2003 by Pope John Paul II.The date of her canonization will fall on the eve of the anniversary of her death, which happened Sept. 5, 1997.Many residents of Mahanoy City said they saw this day coming."I'm just so proud about this," said Mary Vesci. "I was here and had my picture taken with her. When I die, I want them to put it in my casket."Vesci enlarged one of the photos to 13 by 19 inches and displays it in the front window of her house at 425 W. Market St."Yes, I was here. It was a very moving experience," said Pat Schnitzius of Mahanoy City. "And this is historic."Blessed Teresa Church is Schnitzius' parish, and she now serves as mayor of the town.The current name of the church came about after consolidation.In 2008, Assumption BVM, St. Canicus, St. Casimir, St. Fidelis, St. Joseph and Sacred Heart, Mahanoy City, and Our Lady of Siluva, Maizeville, merged. The new parish was located at the former St. Joseph's, renamed Blessed Teresa of Calcutta in her honor.Monsignor Anthony Wassel, pastor emeritus of Assumption, Sacred Heart and St. Joseph, was pastor of St. Joseph at the time of Mother Teresa's visit.CalcuttaMother Teresa was born in 1910, baptized Gonxha Agnes Bojaxhiu, according to her Vatican biography.She joined an Irish convent and took the name Sister Mary Teresa before leaving for India. In Calcutta, she taught girls of St. Mary's School.It was there she became Mother Teresa after completing a final profession of vows.But her life would take another turn. Some 20 years later during a train ride she acknowledged what she said was a calling from Jesus to administer to the less fortunate.She went on to establish the Missionaries of Charity to serve the poorest of the poor.According to her biography, it was in 1948 when she dressed in a white sari with blue trim and simply walked out of the convent to begin caring for the poor. In the streets of Calcutta, she administered to the sick, washing their wounds and tending to the dying.Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.Just two years after her passing, Pope John Paul II opened a proceeding of Mother Teresa's cause for canonization, an act which waived the usual requirement of waiting five years after a person's death to pursue a path to sainthood.A complete list of the Mother Teresa celebration events in Mahanoy City is available at the Facebook page of Blessed Teresa Church Parish.