A letter from Mother Teresa Dated March 7th, 1990 to Father Richard Kunst

The Saints & Blesseds of the Papal Artifacts Collection

The Papal Artifacts’ Collection is primarily dedicated to artifacts connected to the papacy. Individual popes, their biographies and multiple items belonging to them, including first and second class relics, make up the majority of this Collection. But that isn’t all it is.

Father Kunst has a deep devotion to the saints as can be readily seen in viewing the Saints & Blesseds section of this site. Mother Teresa was canonized September 4, 2016 by Pope Francis. We are honored to feature her as part of the Saints & Blesseds’ Collection and invite you to visit Papal History/Saints & Blesseds to view the many canonized and beatified men and women who make up this section of the Collection.

A letter from Mother Teresa Dated March 7th, 1990 to Father Richard Kunst reprimanding him for a request for her autograph.

However she still signed the letter.

This letter is written on Missionary of Charity letterhead paper:

7th March, 1990

Dear Richard,

Thank you very much for your letter. More
important than autographs is what we do for Jesus
and for Him in others. “You did it to me” – for
I was hungry, thirsty, naked, homeless – look
around and see the loneliness, the pain – in your
own family first – then your neighborhood and
friends – the poor in the hospitals and nursing
homes – do to them what you would someone to do
for you.

Pray the Rosary – put your hand in Mary’s hand and
allow her to lead you to Jesus. Help the poor,
the lonely, the unwanted – Be God’s love and bring His light into their lives.

God loves you—give Him your heart to love Him – y
Your Will to serve Him.

Keep the joy of loving Jesus ever burning in your
heart and share this joy with all you meet.

God bless you

Mother Teresa MC

The Restoration of St. James Parish in Duluth, MN & The Connection to St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Father Kunst’s Parish

Note: The other  letter to Richard Kunst from Mother Teresa is featured in the  the gallery of images presented above.  A quote from that letter was used on the new stain glassed window at St. James.

Papal Artifacts takes this opportunity to feature this incredible transformation of St. James, the gift of many donors and the vision of  their pastor, without whom it wouldn’t have occurred.  

Beautiful Churches Draw People to God.  Thank you, Father Richard Kunst!

Fr. Rich’s Ramblings
Part of His Message to His Parishioners Upon Completion of the Restoration

This is the part of the project I have been most anticipating, not only because we are restoring St. James as it was built with windows in the sanctuary, but also because at least three of the four windows are personal to me.

Pope John Paul the Great of course is my favorite saint, but I purposefully had him portrayed the way you see the window, because the vestment he is wearing is what he wore for the closing Mass of World Youth Day in Denver 1993.  Our former bishop, Bp. Schnurr, was the executive director of the 1993 World Youth Day, and as a gift of appreciation for his work, John Paul II gave him the vestment after the Mass.

Fast forward to 2004. Bp. Schnurr gifted the vestment to me and my collection of papal memorabilia, so the vestment you see the pope wearing in the window, I now own. (There is a whole back story about my getting this vestment, which I may share at a later time).

Mother Teresa of course is a beloved saint to people of all faiths.  In 1995 I quit the seminary to seek a career in politics, so I wrote Mother Teresa asking for her prayers and guidance as I discerned my vocation in life.  Amazingly Mother Teresa took time out of her busy schedule to respond to me.  Her   letter, typed with a manual typewriter on both sides of a half sheet of paper, was very inspirational, so I lifted one line from this personal letter and made that the quote under her image.

St. Gianna Molla was not my first choice, nor even my second choice for the window, but she was the right choice.  St. Gianna was a young medical doctor in Italy when she was diagnosed with cancer. She was advised by her doctors to abort her unborn baby, so that she could have aggressive treatment to save her life.  She adamantly told her doctors, “No.” 

 She said the baby’s life was as important as hers, and that if one life was to be saved it was her unborn baby’s life.  St. Gianna died a week after giving birth to a daughter who shares her name.  Because of this St. Gianna Molla has become the patron saint of the pro-life movement, and the baby she gave her life for also grew up to be a medical doctor like her mother.  The younger Gianna Molla happens to be a friend of mine!  She has been to Duluth to visit me and to speak at my last parish, and we keep in regular contact with one another. I have already sent her a picture of the window portraying her “Saint Mom” as she likes to call her.

Finally St. James the Less needed to be portrayed in our sanctuary, because he is our patron.

St. John Paul II

St. Mother Teresa

St. Gianna Molla

St. James the Less

Pray for us!

-Fr. Rich