History Today: When Mother Teresa was declared a saint

One of the most important events of the century was when Pope Francis officially declared Mother Teresa of Calcutta a Saint at a grand canonisation ceremony in St Peter’s Square, Vatican City on September 4, 2016.

If you are a history geek who loves to learn about important events from the past, Firstpost Explainers’ ongoing series, History Today, will be your one-stop destination to explore key events.

Two Stanford University PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, officially founded Google Inc. on September 4, 1998.

Here is all that happened on this day.

Mother Teresa became a Saint

Mother Teresa was proclaimed Mother Teresa of Calcutta a Saint at a grand canonisation ceremony in St Peter’s Square, Vatican City. Tens of thousands of pilgrims, dignitaries, and admirers from around the world gathered to witness the moment, honouring a woman who dedicated her life to serving the poorest of the poor.

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Born Anjeze Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in 1910 in Skopje (now North Macedonia), Mother Teresa moved to India as a young woman, where she became a nun and later founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. Her order worked tirelessly to care for the destitute, sick, abandoned, and dying people of Kolkata. She became a global symbol of compassion, often referred to as the “Saint of the Gutters.”

Mother Teresa’s canonisation followed the recognition of two miracles attributed to her intercession. The first was the healing of a woman in India suffering from a tumour, and the second was a Brazilian man miraculously cured of brain abscesses. These were investigated and approved by the Vatican as evidence of divine intervention through her prayers.

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The canonisation Mass emphasised her message of love, humility, and selfless service. Pope Francis praised her as a “tireless worker of mercy”, highlighting how she touched countless lives regardless of religion or background.

Mother Teresa had previously been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and numerous global honours, but sainthood placed her legacy in a spiritual dimension that transcends borders. Today, her Missionaries of Charity continue to serve in over 130 countries, carrying forward her mission of compassion.

Google came into existence

The way the world accessed information changed forever on September 4, 1998, with the launch of Google Inc. Two Stanford University Ph.D. students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, launched the company in California. What began as a research project in 1996 quickly evolved into a transformative search engine powered by a unique algorithm called PageRank, which ranked web pages based on their relevance and importance.

The duo initially worked out of a rented garage in Menlo Park, California, famously owned by Susan Wojcicki, who later became CEO of YouTube. Their mission was clear - to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. The company’s unusual name, “Google,” was derived from the mathematical term “googol,” meaning 1 followed by 100 zeros, symbolising the vastness of data they aimed to index.

Unlike earlier search engines that listed results in chronological order or by frequency of keywords, Google’s system prioritised accuracy and user relevance. This innovation quickly gained popularity, making Google the most reliable search tool of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

By 2004, Google went public with one of the most talked-about IPOs in Silicon Valley history, cementing its position as a global tech leader. Over the years, the company expanded far beyond search. They branched into advertising, email (Gmail), mobile (Android), video (YouTube), and cloud computing. In 2015, it restructured under its parent company Alphabet Inc., further diversifying into artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, and health technology.

This Day, That Year

• American singer Kelly Clarkson became the first winner of the reality television series American Idol in 2002.
• Nasa and the US Air Force launched the last Titan III rocket in 1989.
• On this day in 1957, the Ford Motor Company introduced the Edsel automobile, which was perhaps its most notable failure.