The Roman Catholic Church yesterday started the process to canonise Mother Teresa, who died in 1997 after decades of service to the poor.
Archbishop Henry Sebastian D'Souza of Calcutta administered oaths to a team at the opening session of the Diocesan Inquiry into "the life, virtues and reputation of sanctity" of the Nobel laureate.
Church rules call for five years to pass after a person dies before the procedure for sainthood can begin.
However in March, Pope John Paul granted a special dispensation to put the nun of Albanian descent on the "fast track" to sainthood in response to requests from Roman Catholic bishops.
