MOTHER TERESA of Calcutta received the Freedom of the Borough of Sligo when she visited the town yesterday.
The honour was conferred on her by the Mayor of Sligo, Councillor Matt Lyons, following a prayer ceremony at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
Mr Lyons said that it was a great honour for Sligo to have such a "magnificent" person listed among its citizens.
A crowd of about 2,000 gathered at the cathedral and in the surrounding grounds for the presentation ceremony.
The 85 year old winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, who was confined to a wheelchair as a result of an ankle sprain at the start of her visit to Ireland, was presented with a cluster of fuchsia and shamrock. She was also given a "Cross of Sligo" and a copy of the book Sligo at Prayer, both of which were specially produced for Sligo's 750th anniversary celebrations last year.
Mother Teresa, who was accompanied by a number of missionary sisters from the US, London, Calcutta, Armagh and Blarney, was met on her arrival at Strandhill Airport by the Bishop of Elphin the Most Rev Christopher Jones who praised her "work for the poor, the neglected and the rejected".
. Hundreds of people turned out in Blarney, Co Cork, on Saturday to welcome Mother Teresa to the village.
At a Mass in the Church of the Immaculate Conception she led the congregation in the Rosary and spoke of her opposition to divorce and abortion. The primacy of the family unit should never be diminished, she said.
After Mass Mother Teresa mingled with the large crowd outside the church before retiring to the Convent of the Missionaries of Charity in Blarney, where she spent the night.
Father Vincent O'Donoghue, the parish priest of Blarney, described her visit as a great honour for the village. "She is one of the most loved people in the world", he declared.