Historical Figure
Mother Teresa
1910–1997
Albanian-Indian Catholic saint (1910–1997)
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Biography
Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of Charity and a Catholic saint. Born in Skopje, then part of the Ottoman Empire, she was raised in a devoutly Catholic family. At the age of 18, she moved to Ireland to join the Sisters of Loreto and later to India, where she lived most of her life and carried out her missionary work. On 4 September 2016, she was canonised by the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta. The anniversary of her death, 5 September, is now observed as her feast day.
Timeline
The story of Mother Teresa, told in moments.
Born Anjeze Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Ottoman Empire. Her name means "flower bud" in Albanian. She's the youngest of three children. Her father, a politically active merchant, will be dead by the time she's eight. Probably poisoned.
Leaves home at 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland. She never sees her mother or sister again. Both die under communist rule in Albania while she begs foreign embassies for a reunion that never comes.
On a train to Darjeeling, she hears what she calls "the call within the call." Leave the convent. Help the poor. Live among them. "It was an order," she says later. "To fail would have been to break the faith."
Founds the Missionaries of Charity with 13 members. She converts an abandoned Hindu temple into her first hospice, Kalighat. Muslims read the Quran there. Hindus receive water from the Ganges. Catholics get last rites. Everyone gets to die inside, off the street.
Wins the Nobel Peace Prize. She asks that the banquet be canceled and the $192,000 budget given to the poor. By now the Missionaries of Charity operate in dozens of countries. She speaks five languages and has a diplomatic passport from India.
Brokers a temporary ceasefire between the Israeli army and Palestinian guerrillas during the siege of Beirut. Walks through the war zone with Red Cross workers. Evacuates 37 children from a front-line hospital.
Dies in Calcutta at 87. India gives her a state funeral. By then her congregation has grown from 13 to over 4,000 sisters running 600 missions in 120 countries. Critics say her clinics lack proper medical care. She'd say the point was never the medicine.
Canonized as Saint Teresa of Calcutta by Pope Francis. The anniversary of her death, September 5, becomes her feast day. The white sari with the blue border is now one of the most recognized garments on earth.
In Their Own Words (20)
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
Mother Teresa Reflects on Working Toward Peace, (essay, Santa Clara University, retrieved August 2012)., 2012
I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?
Statement of 1977, as quoted in Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (2011) by Susan Ratcliffe, p. 373, 2011
If I ever become a Saint — I surely be one of "darkness". I will continually be absent from Heaven — to light the light of those in darkness on earth.
As quoted in Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (2007) by Brian Kolodiejchuk <!-- *If I ever become a saint, I will surely be one of 'darkness'. I will be absent from heaven for those in darkness on earth., 2007
Don't look for big things, just do small things with great love....The smaller the thing, the greater must be our love.
As quoted in Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (2007) by Brian Kolodiejchuk, 2007
I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I do know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, He will not ask, "How many good things have you done in your life?," rather He will ask, "How much love did you put into what you did?
Quoted in: Honor Books, W. B. Freeman (2004), God's Little Devotional Book for Girls, p. 205, 2004
Artifacts (15)
President of Republic Sandro Pertini with Mother Teresa of Calcutta
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