Monica Besra was a 35-year-old Bengali tribal woman of Santal background, mother of five, living in extreme poverty in the village of Nakor near Patiram in northern West Bengal. By the summer of 1998 she had an abdominal tumour the size of a melon, was unable to eat, was bedridden, and had been told by hospital doctors that nothing more could be done. The Missionaries of Charity took her into the nearby home of the Sisters of the Eucharist.
On the evening of September 4, 1998 — the eve of the first anniversary of Mother Teresa's death — the sisters placed on Monica's abdomen a small Miraculous Medal that Mother Teresa had touched and given to one of the sisters. They prayed through the night. At about 1 a.m. on September 5, Monica felt a sudden warmth; the tumour visibly began to shrink. By morning, it was gone. Subsequent ultrasound and CT scans found no evidence of any tumour.
The cure was investigated by the Vatican medical commission for the cause of Mother Teresa's beatification — including expert review by physicians, some of whom were not Catholic. It was accepted as the miracle for Mother Teresa's beatification on October 19, 2003.