The cause for the beatification of Mother Teresa of Calcutta is advancing rapidly.

Father Michael Van der Peet, who is working with Father Brian Kolodiejchuk as postulator for the cause-- responsible for bringing together the evidence of "heroic virtue" in the life of Mother Teresa-- reports that his work could be complete before Easter.

Father Van der Peet told the Italian daily Avvenire that by Easter, work will be complete on the "positio" for the cause. That document will summarize the 80 volumes of documents and oral testimony collected on the life of Mother Teresa, the founder of the Missionaries of Charity.

Once the positio is completed, it will be examined by a panel of 9 theologians appointed by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. If that panel finds evidence that Mother Teresa lived a life of "heroic virtue"-- a conclusion which few people doubt they will reach-- their recommendation, with the approval of the Congregation, would be relayed to the Pope, who could then proclaim her "Venerable." The subsequent approval of a miracle attributed to her intercession would then clear the way for her beatification.

In fact, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints is already examining reports of a miracle: the case of a 30-year-old woman, Monika Besra, in India, who suddenly recovered from both tuberculosis and a stomach tumor after neighbors prayed for Mother Teresa's intercession.

Ordinarily, a cause for beatification cannot begin until five years after the candidate's death. But the cause of Mother Teresa-- who died on September 5, 1997-- is already well advanced because in 1999, Pope John Paul II waived the usual waiting period. The Pope explained that he was making that unusual move in response to the widespread popular demand for a speedy process in Mother Teresa's case.