Macmillan also found himself besieged over the next several days by
newspaper reporters asking him about the miracle he had witnessed.
The completed documentary Something Beautiful for Godwas shown for
the first time in December 1969. It was a resounding success. Later, Mug-
geridge, Macmillan, and Peter Chafer, the producer, credited Mother
Teresa for the film’s reception, citing her as an extremely charismatic pres-
ence. However, both Chafer and Macmillan were reluctant to attribute
the extraordinary lighting sequence at Nirmal Hriday to Divine Provi-
dence, even though when Macmillan used the film again in a low-light
situation he got poor results.
The documentary not only boosted Mother Teresa’s image worldwide,
it also had an impact on the Missionaries of Charity. As a result of the
film, there was a visible increase in the numbers of young women wishing
to join the order. In 1970, a year after the documentary aired, 139 new
candidates were received by the Missionaries of Charity. The new arrivals
came from all over: Pakistan, Ceylon, Nepal, Malaysia, Yugoslavia, Ger-
many, Malta, France, Mauritania, Ireland, Venezuela, Italy, and India.
The total of the entire congregation stood at 585, of which 332 were fully
professed nuns, 175 novices, and 78 postulants, a remarkable achieve-
ment for an order barely two decades old.
NOTE
- Anne Sebba, Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image(New York: Doubleday,
1997), p. 83.
104 MOTHER TERESA