bishop applying for a new congregation had to demonstrate that the ex-
isting orders did not do the work for which the new one was being estab-
lished. In Calcutta, the order of the Daughters of St. Anne, with whom
Mother Teresa had worked while at the Loreto school, already ministered
among the poor. They also dressed in Indian style, slept in a dormitory, ate
simple food, and spoke Bengali. How would Mother Teresa’s new congre-
gation be different?
The archbishop asked Mother Teresa if she could work with the
Daughters of St. Anne. Mother Teresa did not think so. The Daughters
had their own way of doing things and their own traditions. What Mother
Teresa was proposing was quite different. Her congregation would be more
mobile; they would visit the poor where needed. And she did not want
just to work among the poor; she made it clear that she intended to work
among the “poorest of the poor.”^4 She also wanted to start from scratch
and train her novices in her own way.
An entire year passed before the archbishop was satisfied with the in-
formation he had received. Only then did he give permission to Mother
Teresa to write to the mother general of the Loreto Sisters, asking for per-
mission to be released from the Order. In the letter that Father Van Exem
typed for her, Mother Teresa explained her reasons for seeking her release:
she wished to continue her vocation among the poor. In asking the
mother superior to leave, Mother Teresa requested exclaustration,which
simply meant that she would continue to live by her vows but would serve
as a Loreto Sister in a new setting.
However, when the archbishop read the letter, he insisted that Mother
Teresa change exclaustrationtosecularization.To be secularized meant that
Mother Teresa would no longer be a member of the Loreto Order, but she
would continue to honor her vows as a nun. Having to leave the Loreto
Order was a severe disappointment, but as Archbishop Périer explained,
she was to trust God fully and send the letter.
With a heavy heart, Mother Teresa posted the letter to the mother gen-
eral in Rathfarnham in early January 1948. Less than a month later, she
had her reply:
Since this is manifestly the will of God, I hereby give you per-
mission to write to the Congregation in Rome and for the in-
dult. Do not speak to the Provincial. Do not speak to your
Superiors. Speak to nobody. I did not speak to my own coun-
selors. My consent is sufficient. However, do not ask for the in-
dult of secularization, ask for the indult of exclaustration.^532 MOTHER TERESA