Trier, Germany - The Catholic Church in Germany on Sunday beatified Mother Rosa Flesch (1826-1906), a nun who devoted her life to the poor and sick, with Cardinal Joachim Meisner describing her as a 19th century Mother Teresa. Like the Albanian-born Teresa, who died in India in 1997, Flesch set up her own religious order in 1863, recruited other women and gained church recognition for her work helping paupers and the dying.
After 15 years she was cast out of office by the other sisters, but humbly continued as an ordinary sister until her death.
Many members of the 350-strong order, the Waldbreitbach Franciscan Sisters, gathered in Trier Cathedral to hear Meisner, archbishop of Cologne, read out a letter, signed by Pope Benedict XVI, saying that she should in future be known as the Blessed Mother Rosa.
The Catholic Church names exemplary people after their death either "blessed" or the higher rank of "saint."
Since 2005, the Vatican has let national churches choose who to beatify, or name as "blessed," and Margaretha Flesch - her name at birth - is the second person to be honoured this way by the Germans.
"She's one of us. She's not someone exotic from a faraway land," Meisner told a congregation of 2,000 in the cathedral and thousands more listening outside over loudspeakers.
