US to release postage stamp on Mother Teresa

The United States Postal Service has announced that it will release a postage stamp honouring Mother Teresa on September 5.

"The US Postal Service will pay tribute to Mother Teresa, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work," the USPS said in a statement.

"Noted for her compassion toward the poor and suffering, Mother Teresa, a diminutive Roman Catholic nun and honorary US citizen, served the sick and destitute of India and the world for nearly 50 years," it said.

The postage stamp would be unveiled at a function in Washington on September 5.

The stamp features a portrait of Mother Teresa painted by award-winning artist Thomas Blackshear II of Colorado Springs in Colorado.

Every year, the US Postal Service releases a series of commemorative stamps, honouring people, places and institutions.

These stamps remain on sale for a limited period and are widely collected.

The Albanian Catholic nun, who devoted her life to the downtrodden, was honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

"Her humility and compassion, as well as her respect for the innate worth and dignity of humankind, inspired people of all ages and backgrounds to work on behalf of the world’s poorest populations," USPS had said in a statement in December last year.

The US Postal Service said when Mother Teresa accepted the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize—one of her numerous honours and distinctions—she did so "in the name of the poor, the hungry, the sick and the lonely," and convinced the organisers to donate to the needy the money normally used to fund the awards banquet.

Well respected worldwide, she successfully urged many of the world's business and political leaders to give their time and resources to help those in need.

President Ronald Reagan presented Mother Teresa with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985, the same year she began work on behalf of AIDS sufferers in the US and other countries.

In 1997, Congress awarded Mother Teresa the Congressional Gold Medal for her "outstanding and enduring contributions through humanitarian and charitable activities."

Mother Teresa died in Calcutta on September 5, 1997, and is buried there. She had been a citizen of India since 1948. Mother Teresa, an ethnic Albanian, was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, in Skopje in what is now the Republic of Macedonia.