Mother Teresa
Why is Mother Teresa so famous?
Mother Teresa was born on August 26,
1910, in Skopje, the current capital of the
Republic of Macedonia. On August 27,
1910 she was baptized as Agnes Gonxha
Bojaxhiu. It was not until later that she
was to take the name Mother Teresa.
Agnes came from a devoutly Catholic
family, and her parents were involved in
the local church. Sadly when Agnes was
only young her father died and her
mother had to bring her up on her own. It
was from her mother, Drana, that Agnes
learnt the importance of caring for all
people.
The story is told that Drana Bojaxhiu
always opened her home to the city’s
poor and homeless who would often eat
with the family. She would say:
“My child, never eat a single mouthful
unless you are sharing it with others.
Some of them are our relations, but all of
them are our people.”
Always a strong Catholic, at the age of 18
Agnes decided to become a nun and went
to live in Ireland to join the Loreto Sisters
of Dublin. It was there that she took the
name Sister Mary Teresa. During the
following year Sister Teresa left Ireland
and went to India – eventually she was
sent to Calcutta where she became a
teacher in a school run by the Loreto
Sisters. The school had been established
to help the girls from the city’s poorest
families.
It was during her time at the school that
Sister Teresa took her final vows of
poverty, chastity and obedience.
Following the traditions of the Loreto
Sisters she then took on the title of
Mother Teresa.
On September 10, 1946, Mother Teresa
experienced a second calling that would
forever transform her life. She was riding
in a train from Calcutta to the Himalayan
foothills when she heard Christ speak to
her. Mother Teresa knew that God told
her to leave teaching completely in order
to work in the slums of Calcutta helping
the city’s poorest and sickest people.
Mother Teresa was determined to turn
this calling into concrete action. This
wasn’t an easy task in India in 1948. She
had very little support and, while trying to
feed and help the poorest of the poor,
she herself was constantly hungry.
Soon other women joined her and she
formed the Missionaries of Charity.
Mother Teresa described the purpose of
the Missionaries of Charity as an
organization to take care of “the hungry,
the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the
blind, the lepers, all those people who
feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for
throughou
t society,
people
that have
become a
burden to
the society
and are
shunned
by
everyone”.
Mother Teresa has received numerous
honours for her work – including a Nobel
Peace Prize in 1979. Mother Teresa died
on September 5, 1997 at the age of 87 but
her work continues.
Quotes from M. Teresa
“in these 20 years of work….I have come more and more to realize that it is
being unwanted that is the worst disease that any human being can ever
experience… For all kinds of disease there are medicine and cures. But for
being unwanted, except there are willing hands to serve and there’s a loving
heart to love, I don’t think this terrible disease can ever be cured.”
:We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.”
“If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”
"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?"
"The other day I dreamed that I was at the gates of heaven. And St. Peter said,
'Go back to Earth, there are no slums up here.'" -