LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY)—The Catholic Church is preparing to welcome a new Saint.

Mother Teresa will be canonized during ceremonies at the Vatican on Sunday.

Here is a look at the bond Acadiana shares with this remarkable, compassionate woman who inspired millions of people around the world.

The canonization of Mother Teresa will be of special significance to Catholics in Acadiana. She founded the Missionaries of Charity, dedicated to caring for the poorest of the poor in India in 1950, winning the Nobel Peace Prize for her work.

In July of 1986, she came to Lafayette to establish a chapter of her order and participated in a mass at the Lafayette Cajundome.

Pope Francis cleared the way for Mother Theresa’s Canonization last December after a second miraculous healing was judged to be due to her intercession.

“Mother Teresa reminds us of where we find Christ,” Said Bishop Deshotel, “In those who are most abandoned and neglected by the world.”

Bishop Deshotel said the Catholic Church Canonized Saints to hold them up as examples to model our lives after, but he said it’s important to remember that Saints were also human beings.

“Sometimes we think as Catholics that Saints are given special privileges, and so forth, so they don’t have to go through the same troubles as we do,” Said Bishop Deshotel, “that’s not true, they go through the same things we do, sometimes more, and yet they prove excellence in following Christ through all of that, through their human lives on earth.”

Mother Teresa touched many lives during her visits to Acadiana, as well as by establishing a chapter of her order, the Missionaries of Charity, here in downtown Lafayette.

But there’s one person who’s honored to call her a close, personal and true friends, Father Joseph Brennan, longtime pastor of St. Genevieve Church in Lafayette.

“I’m going to say Mass in my wheelchair for her on September 3^rd, it’s a big day for me.”

Father Brennan first met Mother Teresa in 1974 in New Orleans, when she attended a seminar he was giving. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship, mementos of which are seen throughout Father Brennan’s home.

“She taught us that doing little things is important, with a lot of love. So she’s up there now and I talk to her, and I say, remember when we were friends?”

Bishop Deshotel said it’s fitting that Mother Teresa will be canonized during this Jubilee Year of Mercy, and he said there is no better way to honor her canonization and life than be doing merciful works for others.

“Caring for our neighbor, that’s the biggest tribute we can pay to her, to Mother Teresa, just as she did.”

Mother Teresa will be canonized on September 4, at the Vatican. It’s the eve of the 19^th anniversary of her death.

Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel of the Diocese of Lafayette will celebrate a special mass to commemorate Mother Teresa’s Sainthood at 10 a.m. Monday, September 5, in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.