Mother Teresa or Saint Teresa of Calcutta devoted her life to the care of the sick, the homeless and the unwanted. Her humanity knew no bounds and she is still revered all over the world for her great, charitable work. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and was canonised or made a saint of the Roman Catholic Church in 2015.
Mother Teresa was born in Skopje, North Macedonia (now known as Albania) on August 26, 1920. She was the youngest of the three daughters of Nikolle and Dranafile Bojaxhiu. Though she was christened Agnes Gonxa Bojaxhiu she later chose to be known as Mother Teresa after spending time at the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Ireland. Later, owing to her living and working for the poor and sick in Kolkata (also known as Calcutta) she became globally known as Mother Teresa of Kolkata.
Becoming a nun
This dedicated missionary nun says that she was attracted to the calling of a nun from the tender age of 12 years. As a young girl she loved to listen to the stories of missionaries who travelled the globe to spread their faith. When she was eighteen years old Mother Teresa left home and joined an Irish community of nuns.
She had a few months of training in Dublin and was then sent to India where the Sisters of Loreto had missions. Mother Teresa took her solemn vows on May 14, 1937 while she was a teacher at the Loreto Convent School in Entally, Eastern Kolkata.
She served there for nearly twenty years and was appointed its headmistress in 1944. This compassionate nun was touched by the poverty she saw all around her in Kolkata and left the convent to devote her life to the sick and unwanted. Nothing or no one was too much for Mother Teresa. The love and care she showed to people with diseases like leprosy was unimaginable. Her smiling face radiated compassion at all times.
Missionaries of Charity
Mother Teresa started her organisation 'Missionaries of Charity' in 1950. Some call them ‘Sisters of Charity’. Though her work was mainly in India many branches of the charity was established in other countries. Even to date, there are many branches of the organisation in many countries. In Sri Lanka too we have charitable institutions run by them. The wonderful and selfless work of their founder is still carried on by the’ Missionaries of Charity’ who devote their lives to care for the poor, sick and the unwanted.
Much of Mother Teresa's work was on helping children who were poor and sick She founded street schools and orphanages to support the local children in Kolkata.
Nobel Peace Prize
In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her charitable work among the poor and sick.
She declined the customary dinner and requested the which was to be spent on the dinner be given to the poor of Kolkata.
This remarkable missionary nun was also a linguist. She spoke English, Bengali, Hindi, Albanian and Serbian languages with fluency and this helped her to communicate with people. This helped her greatly in her work too.
Death and canonisation
Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997 when she was 87 years old. Her death was mourned by many across the world. The Indian government honoured her with a State funeral. Sadly, from the day she left home to join the Sisters of Loreto and until her death Mother Teresa never saw her mother and sisters.
Mother Teresa was made a Saint of the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Francis in 2015.
This is called canonisation and means that Mother Teresa is now known in the Catholic Church as St Teresa of Calcutta. There was a week-long celebration of her canonisation in Mother Teresa's hometown of Skopje.
Albania (former Macedonia) Mother Teresa’s country of birth has named their International airport after her.
Compiled by Nira Diaz
Source : Internet