Blessed Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on 26 August 1910, in Skopje, capital of the Republic of Macedonia. Although she was born on 26 August, she considered 27 August, the day she was baptized, to be her "true birthday."
She was the youngest of the children of a family from Shkodër, Albania, born to Nikollë and Drana Bojaxhiu. Her father, who was involved in Albanian politics, died in 1919 when she was eight years old. After her father's death, her mother raised her as a Roman Catholic.
Agnes was fascinated by stories of the lives of missionaries and their service, and by age 12, was convinced that she should commit herself to a religious life. She left home at age 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto as a missionary.
She arrived in India in 1929, and began her novitiate in Darjeeling, near the Himalayan mountains. She took her first religious vows as a nun on 24 May 1931. At that time she chose the name Teresa after Thérèse de Lisieux, the patron saint of missionaries. She took her solemn vows on 14 May 1937, while serving as a teacher at the Loreto convent school in eastern Calcutta.
Although Teresa enjoyed teaching at the school, she was increasingly disturbed by the poverty surrounding her in Calcutta. The Bengal famine of 1943 brought misery and death to the city; and the outbreak of Hindu/Muslim violence in August 1946 plunged the city into despair and horror.
On 10 September 1946, Teresa experienced what she later described as "the call within the call" while traveling to the Loreto convent in Darjeeling from Calcutta for her annual retreat.
She began her missionary work with the poor in 1948, replacing her traditional Loreto habit with a simple white cotton sari decorated with a blue border, adopted Indian citizenship, and ventured out into the slums. Initially she started a school in Motijhil; soon she started tending to the needs of the destitute and starving. Her efforts quickly caught the attention of Indian officials, including the prime minister, who expressed his appreciation.
Her first year was fraught with difficulties. She had no income and had to resort to begging for food and supplies. Teresa experienced doubt, loneliness and the temptation to return to the comfort of convent life during these early months.
Teresa received Vatican permission on 7 October 1950 to start the diocesan congregation that would become the Missionaries of Charity. Its mission was to care for, in her own words, "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone."
It began as a small order with 13 members in Calcutta; today it has more than 4,000 nuns running orphanages, AIDS hospices and charity centers worldwide, and caring for refugees, the blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless, and victims of floods, epidemics, and famine.
In 1952 Mother Teresa opened the first Home for the Dying in space made available by the city of Calcutta. With the help of Indian officials she converted an abandoned Hindu temple into the Kalighat Home for the Dying, a free hospice for the poor. She renamed it Nirmal Hriday, the Home of the Pure Heart.
Those brought to the home received medical attention and were afforded the opportunity to die with dignity, according to the rituals of their faith; Muslims were read the Quran, Hindus received water from the Ganges, and Catholics received the Last Rites. "A beautiful death," she said, "is for people who lived like animals to die like angels—loved and wanted."
Mother Teresa soon opened a home for those suffering from Hansen's disease, commonly known as leprosy, and called the hospice Shanti Nagar (City of Peace). The Missionaries of Charity also established several leprosy outreach clinics throughout Calcutta, providing medication, bandages and food.
As the Missionaries of Charity took in increasing numbers of lost children, Mother Teresa felt the need to create a home for them. In 1955 she opened the Nirmala Shishu Bhavan, the Children's Home of the Immaculate Heart, as a haven for orphans and homeless youth.
The order soon began to attract both recruits and charitable donations, and by the 1960s had opened hospices, orphanages and leper houses all over India. Mother Teresa then expanded the order throughout the globe. By 1996, she was operating 517 missions in more than 100 countries.
On 13 March 1997, Mother Teresa stepped down from the head of Missionaries of Charity. She died on 5 September 1997. Her body lay in state in St Thomas, Kolkata for one week prior to her funeral, in September 1997. She was granted a state funeral by the Indian Government in gratitude for her services to the poor of all religions in India.
Mother Teresa had first been recognised by the Indian government more than a third of a century earlier when she was awarded the Padma Shri in 1962. She continued to receive major Indian rewards in successive decades including, in 1972, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding and, in 1980, India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.
Around this time, the Catholic world began to honor Mother Teresa publicly. In 1971, Paul VI awarded her the first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize, commending her for her work with the poor, display of Christian charity and efforts for peace. She later received the Pacem in Terris Award in 1976.
In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace." She refused the conventional ceremonial banquet given to laureates, and asked that the $192,000 funds be given to the poor in India. When Mother Teresa received the prize, she was asked, "What can we do to promote world peace?" She answered "Go home and love your family." She also singled out abortion as 'the greatest destroyer of peace in the world'.
Since her death, Mother Teresa has progressed rapidly along the steps towards sainthood, currently having reached the stage of having been beatified. The beatification of Mother Teresa took place on 19 October 2003, thereby bestowing on her the title "Blessed." A second miracle is required for her to proceed to canonization.
Mother Teresa’s deeds were indeed simple, her thoughts and words left one speechless and, in her death, she has revealed to us that no one really dies in spirit. It seems no coincidence to me that this ‘heroic example of truth in a corrupt world’ died on 5th September, celebrated as Teacher’s Day (Guru Din), as a reminder to teachers everywhere to follow in her footsteps and ‘serve the poorest of the poor’ in their classrooms. One can have no better educator than her and none better to emulate.
From a very young age, I have been fascinated with this angelic woman who, like Jesus, taught the world to love again. What does Blessed Mother Teresa teach you and me? I believe that:
1. Mother Teresa teaches us to accept what we get from the hand of God.
2. Mother Teresa teaches us there is holiness in doing small things with great love.
3. Mother Teresa teaches us not to fret about the tasks before us.
4. Mother Teresa teaches us that every person has worth and dignity.
5. Mother Teresa started her day with prayer, and arranged her day in an orderly way.
Mostly likely. I will never tend to wounds of people ravaged by disease or scarred emotionally by severe rejection like Mother Teresa did. But, by remembering Mother Teresa's example and trying to live the spirituality she demonstrated, I too can be an instrument of God, bringing peace and healing in my little part of the world, be it to my family, my neighbours and my community.
(This radio talk was written and aired prior to her canonization hence the title Blessed)
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