On second glance, though, it clearly recalled a large-scale religious gathering. Kerchiefed Sisters, white-collared Fathers, neatly dressed housewives, and nimble schoolgirls occupied the area around the front entrance, washed over the front steps, and inundated the surroundings. The grey, blue, black, or white scarf-tints of the Sisters flickered in a gentle wind, creating a rich play of color in the warm sunshine.
A man guarding the admission gates now shouted to the swarming throng: "A full total of 2,000 tickets has been issued, and those who have them, please step inside quickly. Don't push, now. We will accommodate all ticket-holders."
As the many ticket-holders now celebrated their good luck, still a great many more in the waiting crowd audibly bemoaned their fates: They had come too late to hear Mother Teresa, the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has spread a gospel of love around the world.
Sponsored by the Chinese Catholic Bishop's Conference, the 75-year-old Yugoslavian-born "angel of the slums" had come to Taiwan from India, via Hongkong, for a four-day visit. The appearance at the City Hall was to be her first public address in Taipei; she had informally met with gathered nuns earlier that morning at the Archbishop's residence just before receiving the First Class Social Service Medal of the Republic of China from Interior Minister Wu Po-hsiung.
A little bit later than the scheduled time, the diminutive, 4 ft.- 11 in. Mother Superior from Calcutta, dressed as always in a blue-trimmed white sari and sandals, appeared on the City Hall auditorium stage in the company of Arch bishop Lo Kwang. A great silence immediately descended over the restive ambience. Then, in the wake of a psalm — "Where there is benevolence, there is God" —Mother Teresa's low, tender, speaking accents visibly moved the audience.
"Jesus came to teach us how to love.... Where does this love begin? At home. How does it begin? By loving one another; by praying together. For prayer gives a clean heart and a clean heart can see God. And when we see God in each other, we will love one another as He loves each one of us."
She called abortion the greatest destroyer of peace, "because as love begins at home, also, the evil of destruction, of killing has begun at home ... by destroying the little ones, we destroy love."
Then she talked of homelessness—"being rejected, unwanted, unloved, uncared for, with no one to love," and she told a story: "I will never forget one day as I was walking down a London street, I saw a man sitting by the street, so lonely, so sad.
"I came near to him, and I took his hand and asked how he was. And he looked up to me and said: 'It has been so long since I felt the warmth of a human hand.'"
In parting, Mother Teresa advised that the holy state of being is not some kind of privilege for a few, but the duty of everyone who loves God.
The 30-minute speech was followed by a psalm, Prayer for Peace, and then a fund-raising drive to support Mother Teresa's charitable work was officially launched.
Echoing the generous gesture of the Nobel Committee in canceling an elegant banquet and donating the US$6,000 saved for the poor, the deeply-moved Taipei audience responded, within minutes, with only slightly less, providing a total of NT$230,000 (US$5,750).
Immediately after the speech, at 4:30 p.m. on January 17, President Chiang Ching-kuo received Mother Teresa in his offices. President Chiang told her that he deeply respected her 40-years of saintly commitment to the sick and destitute. He added that she exemplified for Chinese a traditional saying that the "purpose of life is' to serve."
Mother Teresa's next destination was the southern city of Tainan, the site of a branch of her worldwide Missionaries of Charity.
The Tainan branch was established on August 23, 1984 by two Sisters from India and two overseas Chinese Sisters. (The moment of their arrival, Bishop Chen Shih-kwang sent a teacher to assist the four to learn Chinese.)
Tuesdays and Fridays, the sisters go to Tainan's Benevolence House on Victory Road and help the ill and disabled resident there to wash and to clean their things; Wednesdays and Sundays they go to Evergreen House to assist the aged and chronically-ill resident there.
Sister Ma, the head of the group, told inquiring reporters covering Mother Teresa's visit: "We just do some simple chores, often visiting many places in a day, looking for—thinking about-what we can do to positively contribute. We are here to serve the poorest of the poor."
A reporter commented to Mother Teresa that Taiwan did not have India's burden of extensive poverty and asked why it was decided to also work here. Mother Teresa answered quietly: "Perhaps material scarcity is not difficult for you to solve. But there is a dearth in spiritual life, and a loneliness confronting people everywhere today. Therefore, we seek out the spiritually poor. We give them a smile, a handshake, a comforting word, a hug—a pair of listening ears—to sate their inner emptiness."
Covering a morning Mass later attended by Mother Teresa, a reporter wrote this account in the Sunday Times Chinese Weekly:
When I stepped inside the small chapel on the second floor of the Tainan branch of the Missionaries of Charity at 6:30 a.m., I was shocked by what I saw (of Mother Teresa's rigorous devotion):
Early sunshine penetrating the white curtains intensified the candlelight before an altar.
Mother Teresa, kneeling there on the floor, concentrated on her reading of the Bible.
Sister Ma told me that Mother Teresa had been there from 5 a.m.—praying, reading the Bible, meditating.
The ambience was so quiet. Our two photographers really didn't want to break the silence, but as duty required, they had no choice and began to take pictures. Mother Teresa seemed not a bit disturbed by our intrusion and concentrated on her reading.
Meanwhile, a Sister who had accompanied Mother Teresa to Taiwan, with the other Sisters, was busy preparing the utensils for a Mass next door.
At 6:55, the doorbell rang, and more than 20 uniformed teenage male acolytes from Tainan's Tayi Abbey came to see Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa received them downstairs. She took a little box full of "cards of divine manifestation" and handed the future Fathers each a card, asking them to increase their prayers.
Close to noon that day, Mother Teresa, accompanied by Bishop Chen, visited Tainan Mayor Su Nan-chen, who presented to her the key to Tainan and a wooden carving of Confucius. "I hope this is the key to the benevolent hearts of Tainan's people," said Mother Teresa.
A surprise for her was Mayor Su's promise to provide a piece of land for the establishment of a permanent service center for those in need.
In following speeches at the Teh Kwang Girls' Junior High School that same afternoon, and at the Kaohsiung Cultural Center that night, Mother Teresa, as in Taipei, spoke simply and forcefully.
Said photographer Shen Yi, after several days with the group: "Even younger people like me can't hold up under such a heavy schedule. I really don't know how she can bear it. And she is always so peaceful, not a bit bothered by the cameramen and reporters circling around at each of her appearances."
Mother Teresa left Taiwan on January 19, leaving behind an eternal message of love for the people of the Republic of China.