Praise the Lard! Sweet Roll’s a Ringer for Mother Teresa

NASHVILLE — The Muppet-like image of Mother Teresa discovered in the folds of a coffee shop’s cinnamon bun has launched a cottage industry, and now Internet believers can view the “nun bun” on its own Web site.

“We have given some thought to taking the bun on tour, visiting coffeehouses in major cities. But for the time being, we are just acting as the hosts of this awesome miracle,” joked Bob Bernstein, owner of Nashville’s Bongo Java coffee shop and creator of the nun bun Web site.

For now, the preserved cinnamon bun, which bears a remarkable likeness to the 86-year-old “Angel of Calcutta,” is on display for hundreds of pilgrims inside a glass case illuminated by Christmas lights in front of a purple velvet background. The bun is removed for safekeeping each night.

The Web site contains tongue-in-cheek biblical references, including one that claims the Catholic Church has been asked to recognize the nun bun as a miracle.

Net surfers can link up to pages listing references to the bun in dozens of news stories and on NBC-TV’s “Tonight Show” hosted by Jay Leno. One page displays a picture of the “miracle” bun that “morphs” into a photograph of Mother Teresa.

“Every day, our Web site illustration will change so that eventually the image of Mother Teresa will merge with the bun, flashing to and fro,” Bernstein said.

The Web site address is: https://www.qecmedia.com/nunbun/

Viewers can also buy T-shirts ($18), packages of nun bun bookmarks and prayer cards ($12), nun bun photographs ($10), a set of two nun bun coffee mugs ($12), Mother Teresa Special Blend Coffee ($10 a pound) and a video entitled “A Music City Miracle” ($15) in which a squirrel steals the bun and munches on it to the mock horror of Bongo Java workers.

Bernstein said buyers have snatched up more than 100 of the T-shirts in a few days, and some of the other items have sold out and will be reordered. He pledged at least 5% of the proceeds to Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.

The aged nun, sometimes referred to as the “saint of the gutters,” recently recovered from another bout with illness.

The bun’s likeness to Mother Teresa was first noticed in October by musician Ryan Finney just as he was about to take a bite out of it. “I almost ate it,” Finney said.

Russ McGarry, a Bongo Java employee, said one family drove to Nashville from their home in Indiana to pay homage to the nun bun. “They bought the T-shirts and everything and had a good time,” he said.