Mother Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu[6] (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, Albanian: [aˈɲɛzə ˈɡɔndʒɛ bɔjaˈdʒiu]; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), honoured in the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta,[7] was an Albanian-Indian[4] Roman Catholic nun and missionary. In fact, she could locate different missions on a map and would tell others about what was going on in each location. Soon, they realized her true intention and began to bring dying people from the streets to Nirmal Hriday to receive love and care. [173] The Cathedral is also Kosovo's first Roman Catholic cathedral as well. "Top Ten Things to Know About Mother Teresa", Embassy of India in Armenia Official Website, "Indianborn nun to succeed Mother Teresa", "The Vatican's secretary of state delivers a homily at Mother Teresa's funeral", "Mother Teresa of Calcutta Online Memorial Tribute", "Nehru Award Recipients | Indian Council for Cultural Relations | Government of India", "In India, Teresa Draws Devotees of All Faiths", "Commemorative coin on Mother Teresa released – Times of India", "A Critic's Lonely Quest: Revealing the Whole Truth About Mother Teresa", "Was Mother Teresa a saint? She came to India in 1929. 0. Anderson provides an argument against Pinker’s esteem for the Gates. October 6, 2017 For her unwavering commitment to aiding those most in need, Mother Teresa stands out as one of the greatest humanitarians of the 20th century. Meg Greene, Mother Teresa: A Biography, Greenwood Press, 2004, page 18. Queen Elizabeth was the Queen consort of King George VI until his death in 1952. Her efforts quickly caught the attention of Indian officials, including the prime minister. She often went to the slums on Saturdays to help the poor and suffering people of Moti Jhil. Agnes attended a convent-run primary school and then a state-run secondary school. Today, her words are a message of comfort for countless many across the globe, across all social strata. Pope Paul VI gave her the inaugural Pope John XXIII Peace Prize in 1971, commending her work with the poor, display of Christian charity and efforts for peace,[98] and she received the Pacem in Terris Award in 1976. [119] It was said that the additional money might have transformed the health of the city's poor by creating advanced palliative care facilities. Benenate, Becky and Joseph Durepos (eds). "You have only to say the word and all that will be yours again", the Tempter kept on saying. Aroup Chatterjee, a physician born and raised in Calcutta who was an activist in the city's slums for years around 1980 before moving to the UK, said that he "never even saw any nuns in those slums". It means being unwanted, unloved, and neglected . In England, the footage was found to be extremely well-lit and Muggeridge called it a miracle of "divine light" from Teresa. An Idiographic Application of Rational Choice Theory". While the cause of his death remains unknown, many have speculated that political enemies poisoned him. Her order also opened numerous centres serving the blind, the aged, and the disabled. She went to Ireland in 1928 to join the Sisters of Loretto at the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary and sailed six weeks later to India, where she taught for 17 years at the order’s school in Calcutta (Kolkata). She was given a building next to the temple. [94][138] Teresa wrote to spiritual confidant Michael van der Peet, "Jesus has a very special love for you. A former student from St. Mary's was the first to join her. As to my calling, I belong to the world. [57] By 2007, the Missionaries of Charity numbered about 450 brothers and 5,000 sisters worldwide, operating 600 missions, schools and shelters in 120 countries. [77] Teresa's death was mourned in the secular and religious communities. [92], Teresa received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding, given for work in South or East Asia, in 1962. Since her death, Mother Teresa has remained in the public spotlight. Even deep down ... there is nothing but emptiness and darkness. [143] The group found no obstacle to Teresa's canonisation, and issued its nihil obstat on 21 April 1999. Her body had been bitten by rats and by ants. Her order from the Sisters of Loreto was to live among the poor as she helped them. Tens of thousands of people witnessed the ceremony, including 15 government delegations and 1,500 homeless people from across Italy. [36], During this visit to Darjeeling by train, she heard the call of her inner conscious. She also began teaching children how to care for themselves. Born in Macedonia to parents of Albanian-descent and having taught in India for 17 years, Mother Teresa experienced her "call within a call" in 1946. Check it out! She begged for food and supplies to help the poor. She chose sandals and a simple, inexpensive white sari trimmed in blue. "It was by talking to her that I discovered, and she assured me, that she wasn't working to alleviate poverty", he said, "She was working to expand the number of Catholics. Bindra, Satinder (7 September 2001). "[49], She opened a hospice for those with leprosy, calling it Shanti Nagar (City of Peace). Benedict XVI served as pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013. Mother Teresa first arrived in India in 1928 and soon joined the Loreto novitiate in Darjeeling. [14][32][33] She served there for nearly twenty years and was appointed its headmistress in 1944. The congregation made an annual pilgrimage to the Church of the Black Madonna in Letnice, and it was on one such trip at the age of 12 that she first felt a calling to religious life. While Jesus had a physical thirst, Mother Teresa perceived that Jesus’ thirst was spiritual as well. Mother Teresa served as a teacher during the week and helped the poor on Sundays. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. When Gonxha was young, she was fascinated by stories of missionaries. Teresa singled out abortion as "the greatest destroyer of peace today. She was canonized by Pope Francis I on September 4, 2016. St. Teresa of Calcutta (commonly known as Mother Teresa) served the poorest of the poor. I don't do it for this reason. Are we willing to go beyond just saying that we love others and wish they would come to know Him and do something about it? Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, the daughter of an ethnic Albanian grocer. The Roman Catholic cathedral in Pristina, Kosovo, is named in her honour. ("My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"). [39], She began missionary work with the poor in 1948,[26] replacing her traditional Loreto habit with a simple, white cotton sari with a blue border. She was honoured by governments and civilian organisations, and appointed an honorary Companion of the Order of Australia in 1982 "for service to the community of Australia and humanity at large". She respected the religions of the people and simply believed that everyone deserved to die in a loving and caring atmosphere. To understand what happened on this train is the key to understanding what would become Mother Teresa’s life work and the motivation for everything she did. Kolodiejchuk submitted 76 documents, totalling 35,000 pages, which were based on interviews with 113 witnesses who were asked to answer 263 questions. Despite this widespread praise, Mother Teresa's life and work have not gone without its controversies. Over the years, Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity established homes all over the world for the dying, the sick, orphaned children, lepers, the aged, the disabled, and AIDS victims (in New York). Analysing her deeds and achievements, Pope John Paul II said: "Where did Mother Teresa find the strength and perseverance to place herself completely at the service of others? We strive for accuracy and fairness. As a girl, she sang in the local Sacred Heart choir and was often asked to sing solos. [58], Teresa said, "By blood, I am Albanian. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. https://www.biography.com/religious-figure/mother-teresa. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. At the age of 12 Agnes felt that she had a calling to help others. In 1991, after a bout of pneumonia in Mexico, she had additional heart problems. “Mercy was the salt which gave flavor to her work, it was the light which shone in the darkness of the many who no longer had tears to shed for their poverty and suffering,” he said, adding. This is a step on the way to becoming a Saint. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Building on this theme in her Nobel lecture, she said: "Around the world, not only in the poor countries, but I found the poverty of the West so much more difficult to remove. It was a struggle to get the people of Calcutta to trust her. The missionaries worked six days a week, woke up at 4:30 in the morning and went to bed at 10:00 at night. Mother Teresa chose to "serve the poorest of the poor and to live among them and like them." [60], At the height of the Siege of Beirut in 1982, Teresa rescued 37 children trapped in a front-line hospital by brokering a temporary cease-fire between the Israeli army and Palestinian guerrillas. She called the new home for the dying, "Nirmal Hriday" which means the "Pure Heart." No Greater Love (p. 101). [149][150] Because of the attacks on her, some Catholic writers called her a sign of contradiction. In 1950 her order received canonical sanction from Pope Pius XII, and in 1965 it became a pontifical congregation (subject only to the pope). "May she be your model of holiness.". She found it in prayer and in the silent contemplation of Jesus Christ, his Holy Face, his Sacred Heart. At first, she started her work on her own with very little support. Occupation: Catholic Nun Born: August 26, 1910 in Uskub, Ottoman Empire Died: September 5, 1997 in Calcutta, India Best known for: Fighting for the rights of the sick and helpless Biography: Mother Teresa was a humanitarian. While in Darjeeling, she taught geography and history at St. Mary's High School, a local school established to educate the poorest Bengali girls. President Pratibha Patil said, "Clad in a white sari with a blue border, she and the sisters of Missionaries of Charity became a symbol of hope to many – the aged, the destitute, the unemployed, the diseased, the terminally ill, and those abandoned by their families. I protested and said that I wouldn't leave unless they hospitalized her. [132], Teresa may have experienced something similar to Jesus, who said when he was crucified: "Eli Eli lama sabachthani?" In 1979 she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian work, and the following year the Indian government conferred on her the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian honour. She writes: “…there is a far greater kind of poverty. This clothing was similar to the dress of the common people of India. She converted an abandoned Hindu temple into the Kalighat Home for the Dying, free for the poor, and renamed it Kalighat, the Home of the Pure Heart (Nirmal Hriday). While such revelations are shocking considering her public image, they have also made Mother Teresa a more relatable and human figure to all those who experience doubt in their beliefs. [160] The ceremony was also presided over by D'Souza and the Vatican's ambassador to India, Giambattista Diquattro, who lead the Mass and inaugurated a bronze statue in the church of Mother Teresa carrying a child. [96] Muggeridge later converted to Catholicism.[97]. In 1950, Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation that had over 4,500 nuns and was active in 133 countries in 2012. This article was most recently revised and updated by, IndiaNetzone - Biography of Mother Teresa, National Academy of Engineering - Biography of Robert E. Kahn, Cultural India - Reformers - Biography of Mother Teresa, The Nobel Prize - Biography of Mother Teresa, Teresa, Mother - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Mother Teresa - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). In 1950 she founded ‘Missionaries of Charity'. She was sent to Ireland to learn English because India was ruled by the British at the time. [153] The miracle first came to the attention of the postulation (officials managing the cause) during the events of World Youth Day 2013 when the pope was in Brazil that July. [142], After Teresa's death in 1997, the Holy See began the process of beatification (the second of three steps towards canonisation) and Kolodiejchuk was appointed postulator by the Diocese of Calcutta. "My child, never eat a single mouthful unless you are sharing it with others," she counseled her daughter. The Sisters of Charity recite the prayer of Saint Francis every morning at Mass during the thanksgiving after Communion, and their emphasis on ministry and many of their vows are similar. In 1946 Sister Teresa experienced her “call within a call,” which she considered divine inspiration to devote herself to caring for the sick and poor. [82], To commemorate the 100th anniversary of her birth, the government of India issued a special ₹5 coin (the amount of money Teresa had when she arrived in India) on 28 August 2010. Because if a mother can kill her own child – what is left for me to kill you and you kill me – there is nothing between. Pope Paul VI on his trip to India in 1964 gave her his ceremonial limousine, which she immediately raffled to help finance her leper colony. Mother Teresa Day (Dita e Nënë Terezës), 19 October, is a public holiday in Albania. When Robert Maxwell met Mother Teresa". Mother Teresa was soon given a single room to live in. Several other members of the Missionaries of Charity were also former wealthy Hindu students of St. Mary's High School. In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize […] [81] In Kolkata, she is worshipped as a deity by some Hindus. In 1979 she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian work, and the following year the Indian government conferred on her the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian honour. She is peace in the world. She received numerous awards for all her charity work including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from. [52], The congregation began to attract recruits and donations, and by the 1960s it had opened hospices, orphanages and leper houses throughout India. In 1948, Sister Teresa was granted permission by Pope Pius XII to leave her order and serve the poor. At the time of Mother Teresa’s death, her order included hundreds of centres in more than 90 countries with some 4,000 nuns and hundreds of thousands of lay workers. In her own words: “Why does Jesus say ‘I thirst’? [84][85] According to him, some of the hygiene problems he had criticized (needle reuse, for example) improved after Teresa's death in 1997. [120][121], One of Teresa's most outspoken critics was English journalist, literary critic and antitheist Christopher Hitchens, host of the documentary Hell's Angel (1994) and author of the essay The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice (1995) who wrote in a 2003 article: "This returns us to the medieval corruption of the church, which sold indulgences to the rich while preaching hellfire and continence to the poor.

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