Catholics across South Carolina joined with millions across the world in mourning the death Friday of Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India. She was 87.

Mother Teresa is well remembered across the Lowcountry for her visit to Charleston on June 21, 1982. She spoke from the 50-yard line at Johnson-Hagood Stadium to an audience of about 9,000 people. The event was moved to the Citadel due to the fact that no local church or church hall could hold the crowd.

Bishop Ernest Unterkoefler bestowed the diocese's first Mater Ecclesiae (Mother of the Church) Award on Mother Teresa during her appearance.

The honor was established:

— To honor Mary, the Mother of Jesus and of the Church;

— To recognize Christian womanhood in its imitation of Mary;

— To keep the spirit of Vatican II moving relative to the Doctrine of Mary in Lumen Gentium; and

— To highlight in the Diocese of Charleston the great leadership of Pope Paul VI, who proclaimed Mary Mother of the Church at St. Paul's Outside the Walls in Rome, Italy in 1964, stated Bishop Unterkoefler.

In June editions of The Catholic Banner, the bishop said he had worked for over two years to arrange Mother Teresa's visit.

Prior to her speaking engagement, she was to have visited some of the poverty stricken areas of Charleston, however, due to the lateness of a previous appearance in Kentucky, the planned trip was canceled.

In a "Bishop's Miscellany" column following Mother Teresa's visit, Bishop Unterkoefler wrote about the experience.

"As we traveled to the stadium, Mother Teresa made several significant observations about her first impressions of the city. She thought that the city was beautiful and it reminded her of India because of the hot weather and the humidity."

According to the bishop, some of the quotations of Mother Teresa were to be treasured for their frankness and doctrinal orthodoxy. "On abortion, Mother Teresa told the people in Johnson-Hagood Stadium 'If a mother can kill her unborn child, what is left for others to do to others?' She begged the people in attendance at the prayer service to 'make a resolution in our community that there are no unborn or born child who is unwanted.' Mother Teresa added that abortion makes this the poorest of nations."

He stated, "Mother Teresa's beautiful insights into the life of prayer inspired us all to a deeper relationship with Jesus. Nearly 9,000 people were in good humor because she had some humorous remarks among her very serious words, especially when it began to rain and she saw an opportunity of people sharing their umbrellas with one another as a moment for the exchange of loving one another."

The bishop concluded, "I would sum up the life of Mother Teresa as a life of understanding more deeply than the rest of us the meaning of love of God and love of neighbor."

Msgr. Thomas Duffy, pastor of St. Michael's Church in Garden City, was vicar general at the time of Mother Teresa's visit and helped coordinate the event. He described the nun from Calcutta as "someone who put the message of the Gospel into action and touched the hearts of people."

"The people who came out to listen were really moved by her," he said. "What came across was the spirit of the Gospel and love."