BREAUX BRIDGE, Louisiana - While the world finds ways to celebrate Mother Teresa's birthday this August 26th, a little coffee house in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana would seem like an unlikely place to pay tribute to this world renowned missionary and Nobel Prize winner.  Yet, that's where Beatification photographer Marie Constantin will bring her private collection of images titled: Mother Teresa of Calcutta: Journey Through 13 Years of Images, for exhibit at The Coffee Break from July 26th through August 27th.

 

Constantin photographed Mother Teresa over a 13-year period and was one of two photographers who were invited to travel up and down the East Coast with her whenever she came to the U.S.  Additionally, one of Constantin's images hung in Saint Peter's square at the Vatican and was unveiled in front of 200,000 people as the official beatification photo for Mother Teresa's beatification ceremony during Pope John Paul, II’s 25th anniversary celebration.

 

"While Mother Teresa could be found in churches and cathedrals, she also sought out humble places in her journeys," Constantin said. "For her birthday celebration, I didn't want my collection of images to be in a museum, I wanted to honor her by hanging them in a place where all types of people go and Frank Dupuis' little Breaux Bridge coffee house fit that bill."

A YMCA Woman of Achievement, and winner of numerous awards in photography and writing, Constantin is a seven-time winner of Gold Addy Awards in the Annual Reports category. In 2007, she won a Gold Addy for Best in Show and that work appeared in Communications Arts Magazine.

 

The images will hang at The Coffee Break from July 26 until August 27 when they will be moved to Saint Joseph's Cathedral in Baton Rouge for the Sunday, August 29th celebration.

 

The Coffee Break, located at 109 N. Main Street in historic downtown Breaux Bridge and is famous for its Saturday Pont Breaux Cajun Music Jam sessions and its homemade Hummingbird and Carrot Cakes. The exhibit is free and open to the public and can be viewed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Sunday. For more information, contact: Frank Dupuis at the Coffee Break at 337.442.6607.