Mother Teresa, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her selfless devotion to the poor, died Friday of a heart attack, provoking an outpouring of tributes from a world reeling from Princess Diana's sudden death.
The 87-year-old Roman Catholic nun died in the Calcutta headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity order that she had founded nearly half a century ago.Thousands of midnight mourners converged from all corners of the sprawling, humid city to mourn the bowed woman they simply called "Mother."
Ratna Dafadar, a 45-year-old housewife, broke down in tears. "I knew her from my childhood. She is the real mother of all of us."
Police tried to chase away the faithful but finally relented and let the people file in to see Mother Teresa's body, lying on ice blocks in the chapel where she had prayed each day.
"Our Mother passes away to Jesus" was written in large letters on a board outside the Missionaries building.
Nuns dressed in the order's white sari with blue trim filed by Mother Teresa's body, kissing her bare feet.
The death of the renowned missionary, known as the "Saint of the Gutters," unleashed a flood of tributes as a world still in mourning for Princess Diana began grieving for the death of a nun.
Two of the world's most recognizable women, icons of compassion, had died within six days of each other. Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris last Sunday, was a great admirer of Mother Teresa, and they shared a determination to help the downtrodden, lonely and bereaved.
The two women had met four times, first in 1992 and most recently in New York in June, and the Albanian-born nun was among the first to pay tribute after the princess died.
Thursday a spokeswoman for the order had said Mother Teresa would not be able to attend Diana's funeral Saturday because of her poor health.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II praised Mother Teresa just hours after paying tribute to Diana.
"Her untiring devotion to the poor and destitute of all religions has been an inspiration worldwide," the queen said.
"It is rather lovely to think that Mother Teresa, who was very friendly with Princess Diana, should have gone so soon to join her," said Cardinal Basil Hume, head of the Roman Catholic church in Britain.
"In a week already filled with tragedy, the world will be saddened that one of its most compassionate servants has died," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.
Pope John Paul II was "deeply moved and pained" by the death of Mother Teresa and retreated to his private chapel to pray when he heard the news, a Vatican spokesman said.
Indian President K.R. Nara-yanan called her an "angel of mercy" and added: "Such a one as she rarely walks upon this earth."
French President Jacques Chirac said there was "less love, less compassion, less light" in the world after her death.
President Clinton praised the nun as an "incredible person" and "one of the giants of our time."
Her body was to be kept at St. Thomas Church of Loreto Day School in Middleton Row in south Calcutta from Sunday until Tuesday for public viewing, authorities said.
On Tuesday - Sept. 10 - she will be buried under the chapel in her order's headquarters, they said.
Mother Teresa had said that on Sept. 10, 1946, while traveling to the Himalayan region of Darjeeling, she received a divine message from God to devote herself to the poor. Her order celebrates the "inspiration" every year on Sept. 10.
Called "the City of Dreadful Night" by Kipling, Calcutta was a perfect laboratory for Teresa's unique brand of Indianized Catholicism.
She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work for the destitute and dying. "I am unworthy," she said.
A decade later after narrowly escaping an air crash and suffering heart trouble, she was fitted with a pacemaker.
After being hospitalized three times in 1996 and undergoing surgery to unblock two arteries, she stepped down as head of her order in March, passing the leadership to a Hindu convert, Sister Nirmala.
Mother Teresa was born Agnes Goinxha Bejaxhiu to Albanian parents in Skopje, in what was then Serbia.
She opened her first Calcutta slum school in 1949. She took the name Teresa, after France's Saint Therese of the Child Jesus. In mainly Hindu India, she was simply "Mother."