Introduction:
Mother Teresa (1910-1997) was a Roman Catholic
nun from the Republic of Macedonia who adopted India as her country of service.
She dedicated her life in the service of the poor, ailing and the destitute
through the Missionaries of Charities, an order of Roman Catholic nuns, in
Kolkata, India. She had once said, “Love cannot remain by itself – it has no
meaning. Love has to be put into action, and that action is service.” Her work
transcended geo-political borders and she encompassed the whole of humanity in
her healing embrace.
Early Life
Mother Teresa was born on 26th August, 1910. She was born as Anjezë (Agnes) Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, the
then Ottoman Empire (now the capital of Republic of Macedonia), on August 26,
1910 in an Albanian family. She was the youngest in the family. Her father,
Nikola Bojaxhiu worked as a construction contractor as well as a trader and her
mother, Dranafile Bojaxhiu hailed from a village near Gjakova. The family was
devout catholic and Agnes’s father was a strong proponent of Albanian
independence. Nikolai fell ill and ultimately succumbed to his ailments in 1919
when Agnes was just eight-year-old. Agnes was particularly close to her mother,
who was a deeply religious woman with deep commitment to charity.
From a very young age, Agnes was attracted to a monastic life.
She began her education in a Convent-run school and joined the local Sacred
Heart choir in her church. She had heard the stories of Catholic Missionaries
and their work of serving humanity. By the age of 12, she strongly believed
that it was the calling of her life. Her pilgrimages to various Catholic
churches, especially the shrine of the Black Madonna of Vitina-Letnice,
strengthened her beliefs and inclinations.
Education and career
Mother Teresa used to go to the Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham, Ireland, to
learn English, the language the Sisters of Loreto used to teach school children
in India. After that she went to Darjeeling in India and there she learnt the
language Bengali and taught at the St. Teresa's School, a schoolhouse close to
her convent. She took her religious vows while serving as a teacher in eastern
Calcutta. Later on after serving the school for almost twenty years, she
became the Principal of the school. She loved serving as a teacher as it
satisfied her and alongside helped immensely to those in despair and horror.
Dedication to poor
Mother Teresa's group continued to expand
throughout the 1970s, opening new missions in places such as Amman, Jordan;
London, England; and New York, New York. She received both recognition and
financial support through such awards as the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize and a
grant from the Joseph Kennedy Jr. Foundation. Benefactors, or those donating
money, regularly would arrive to support works in progress or to encourage the
Sisters to open new ventures.
By 1979 Mother Teresa's groups had more than
two hundred different operations in over twenty-five countries around the
world, with dozens more ventures on the horizon. The same year she was awarded
the Nobel Prize for Peace. In 1986 she persuaded President Fidel Castro (1926–)
to allow a mission in Cuba. The characteristics of all of Mother Teresa's
works—shelters for the dying, orphanages, and homes for the mentally
ill—continued to be of service to the very poor.
In 1988 Mother Teresa sent her Missionaries
of Charity into Russia and opened a home for acquired immune deficiency
syndrome (AIDS; an incurable disease that weakens the immune system) patients
in San Francisco, California. In 1991 she returned home to Albania and opened a
home in Tirana, the capital. At this time there were 168 homes operating in
India.
The Call
When Mother Teresa was 12 years old, she began to feel called to
serve God as a nun. Deciding to become a nun was a very difficult decision.
Becoming a nun not only meant giving up the chance to marry and have children,
but it also meant giving up all her worldly possessions and her family, perhaps
forever.
For five years, Mother Teresa thought hard about whether or not
to become a nun. During this time, she sang in the church choir, helped her
mother organize church events, and went on walks with her mother to hand out
food and supplies to the poor.
When Mother Teresa was 17, she decided to become a nun. Having
read many articles about the work Catholic missionaries were doing in India,
Mother Teresa was determined to go there. Mother Teresa applied to the Loreto
order of nuns, based in Ireland but with missions in India.
In September 1928, 18-year-old Mother Teresa said goodbye to her
family to travel to Ireland and then on to India. She never saw her mother or
sister again.
Becoming a Nun
It took more than two years to become a Loreto nun. After
spending six weeks in Ireland learning the history of the Loreto order and to
study English, Mother Teresa then traveled to India, where she arrived on Jan.
6, 1929.
After two years as a novice, Mother Teresa took her first vows
as a Loreto nun on May 24, 1931.
As a new Loreto nun, Mother Teresa (known then only as Sister
Teresa, a name she chose after St. Teresa of Lisieux) settled into the Loreto
Entally convent in Kolkata (previously called Calcutta) and began teaching history and geography at the convent
schools.
Usually, Loreto nuns were not allowed to leave the convent;
however, in 1935, 25-year-old Mother Teresa was given a special exemption to
teach at a school outside of the convent, St. Teresa's. After two years at St.
Teresa's, Mother Teresa took her final vows on May 24, 1937, and officially
became "Mother Teresa."
Almost immediately after taking her final vows, Mother Teresa
became the principal of St. Mary's, one of the convent schools, and was once
again restricted to staying within the convent's walls.
Becoming a Saint
After Mother Teresa's death, the Vatican began
the lengthy process of canonization. After an Indian woman was cured of her
tumor after praying to Mother Teresa, a miracle was declared, and the third of
the four steps to sainthood was completed on Oct. 19, 2003, when the Pope
approved Mother Teresa's beatification, awarding Mother Teresa the title
"Blessed."
The final stage required to become a saint involves a second
miracle. On December 17, 2015, Pope Francis recognized the medically inexplicable waking (and
healing) of an extremely ill Brazilian man from a coma on December 9, 2008,
just minutes before he was to undergo emergency brain surgery as being caused
by the intervention of Mother Teresa.
Mother Teresa was canonized (pronounced a saint) on September 4,
2016.
Founding the Missionaries of
Charity
Mother Teresa started with what she knew. After walking around
the slums for a while, she found some small children and began to teach them.
She had no classroom, no desks, no chalkboard, and no paper, so she picked up a
stick and began drawing letters in the dirt. Class had begun.
Soon after, Mother Teresa found a small hut that she rented and
turned it into a classroom. Mother Teresa also visited the children's families
and others in the area, offering a smile and limited medical help. As people
began to hear about her work, they gave donations.
In March 1949, Mother Teresa was joined by her first helper, a
former pupil from Loreto. Soon she had 10 former pupils helping her.
At the end of Mother Teresa's provisionary year, she petitioned
to form her order of nuns, the Missionaries of Charity. Her request was granted
by Pope Pius XII; the Missionaries of Charity was established on Oct. 7, 1950.
Awards and Recognitions
Mother Teresa believed in the good of Humanity. She believed
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great
love.” And that message became the basis of her life’s work. She worked tirelessly,
tending to the ailing, teaching the children and speaking to the topmost tier
of the society of her vision. Mother Teresa not only built a giant institution
and gave it the vision but also inspired millions of people around the globe to
do their bit.
She received numerous awards and recognitions for her
endeavours. She received the Padma Shree in 1962 and the Bharat Ratna in 1980.
She was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International
Understanding in 1962 for her work in South East Asia. She accepted the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1979 but refused to attend the ceremonial banquets and requested
the authorities to donate the expenses to charity. She was honoured with a
number of civilian recognitions in other countries like the UK, the US,
Australia and Germany. The Roman Catholic Church recognised her voluminous work
with the first ‘Pope John XXIII Peace Prize’ in 1979.
Controversies
Mother’s efforts received criticism from certain human rights
agencies once she vocally expressed her views against contraception and
abortion. Some allegations were made against her hospices for not providing
proper pain alleviating methods or medical attentions to the dying despite
receiving millions of dollars in donation for that specific purpose.
Later Years and Death
Despite the controversy, Mother Teresa continued to be an
advocate for those in need. In the 1980s, Mother Teresa, already in her 70s,
opened Gift of Love homes in New York, San Francisco, Denver, and Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia for AIDS sufferers.
Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, Mother Teresa's health
deteriorated, but she still traveled the world, spreading her message.
When Mother Teresa, age 87, died of heart failure on Sept. 5,
1997 (just five days after Princess Diana's
death), the world mourned her passing. Hundreds of thousands of people lined
the streets to see her body, while millions more watched her state funeral on
television.
After the funeral, Mother Teresa's body was laid to rest at the
Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata. When Mother Teresa
passed away, she left behind more than 4,000 Missionary of Charity Sisters at
610 centers in 123 countries.
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