The US has released a special postal stamp in honor of Mother Teresa, acknowledging the diminutive nun's unrelenting humanitarian service for the sick and destitute for nearly 50 years. The US Postal Service issued the stamp during a special ceremony held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington yesterday. The 44-cent stamp features a portrait of Mother Teresa, who received a Nobel prize in 1979, painted by award-winning artist Thomas Blackshear II of Colorado Springs. Blackshear II was also in attendance at the event. Teresa, who died in Kolkata on September 5, 1997, and is buried there, was awarded honorary US citizenship in 1996. The honour has only been bestowed on six others. Mother Teresa was of Albanian ethnicity and an Indian citizen who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata in 1950. For over 45 years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding missionary's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries. Well respected worldwide, she successfully urgedmany of the world's business and political leaders to givetheir time and resources to help those in need. Following her death, she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title Blessed Teresa of Kolkata.