Saint’s Life Story

Her Early Life

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, Albania, in what is now North Macedonia. She was the youngest child of Nikollë and Dranafile Bojaxhiu, in a devout Albanian Catholic family. She was baptized in Skopje the day after her birth, received her First Communion at the age of five and a half and was confirmed in November 1916.

Her father died when Agnes was eight. Agnes grew up in the care of her Catholic Albanian mother. Her early life was deeply influenced by her mother, Dranafile, who instilled in her the values of compassion and devotion to the poor. Agnes’ religious formation was further assisted by the vibrant Jesuit parish of the Sacred Heart in which she was much involved. From her childhood, Agnes was fascinated with the missionaries. By the time Agnes was twelve, she wanted to enter religious life.

Sister Mary Teresa

At the age of 18, Agnes left her home to join the Sisters of Loreto at the Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham, Dublin, Ireland. Here, she took the name Sister Mary Teresa, after St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the patroness of the missions.

Two months later in December, Teresa departed for India, arriving in Calcutta on January 6, 1929. Two years later in May 1931 after making her first vows, Teresa was assigned to the Loreto Entally community in Calcutta. Here in Calcutta, she began teaching at the St Mary’s School for girls. Although she enjoyed her work as a respected teacher and school principal, Teresa was disturbed by the poverty surrounding her in Calcutta.

On May 24 1937, Sister Teresa made her Final Profession of Vows, becoming, as she said, the “spouse of Jesus” for “all eternity.” From that time on, she was called Mother Teresa. She continued teaching at St Mary’s. In 1944, Teresa became the school’s principal. Although she enjoyed her work as a respected teacher and school principal, Teresa was disturbed by the poverty surrounding her in Calcutta.

“Call within a Call”

One day while travelling on a train to Darjeeling for an annual retreat, Teresa experienced an overwhelming sense of growing spiritual divine call. A “call within a call” as she described it, to leave the convent and work directly with the poorest of the poor. Over the course of the next weeks and months, by means of interior locutions and visions, Jesus revealed to her the desire of His heart for “victims of love” who would “radiate His love on souls.” He revealed His pain at the neglect of the poor, His sorrow at their ignorance of Him and His longing for their love.

Missionaries of Charity

She waited for two years for approval of the new order she founded, the Missionaries of Charity, dedicated to the service of the poorest of the poor. With her new order, Teresa started going into the slums of Calcutta. On August 17, 1948, Mother Teresa dressed for the first time in a white, blue-bordered sari and passed through the gates of her beloved Loreto convent to enter the world of the poor.

After a short course with the Medical Mission Sisters in Patna, Mother Teresa returned to Calcutta and found temporary lodging with the Little Sisters of the Poor. In December, she went for the first time to the slums. Here, Teresa washed children’s sores, cared for an old man lying on the road and for an old woman dying of tuberculosis and starvation.

Each day, Mother Teresa started in communion with Jesus in the Eucharist. Then, she went out, rosary in her hand, to find and serve Him in “the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for.” After some months, she was joined, one by one, by her former students.

Opened Hospices and Orphanages

On October 7, 1950, the new congregation of the Missionaries of Charity was officially established in the Archdiocese of Calcutta. In 1952, Mother Teresa opened her first hospice with help from Calcutta officials. “A beautiful death”, Mother Teresa said, “is for people who lived like animals to die like angels—loved and wanted.” She also opened a hospice for those with leprosy, calling it Shanti Nagar (City of Peace).

The Missionaries of Charity took in an increasing number of homeless children. In 1955, Mother Teresa opened Nirmala Shishu Bhavan, the Children’s Home of the Immaculate Heart, as a haven for orphans and homeless youth.

Worldwide Spread of Her Order

By the early 1960s, Mother Teresa began to send her Sisters to other parts of India. Mother Teresa was fluent in five languages – Bengali, Albanian, Serbo-Croatian, English and Hindi. So, she made occasional trips outside India for humanitarian reasons.

The Decree of Praise granted to the Congregation by Pope Paul VI in February 1965 encouraged her to open a house in Venezuela. Soon, it was followed by foundations in Rome and Tanzania and, eventually, on every continent. Starting in 1980 and continuing through the 1990s, Mother Teresa opened houses in almost all of the communist countries, including the former Soviet Union, Albania and Cuba.

In 1963, in order to respond better to both the physical and spiritual needs of the poor, Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity Brothers. This new order was followed by the contemplative branch of the Sisters in 1976, the Contemplative Brothers in 1979, and the Missionaries of Charity Fathers in 1984.

By 1996, the Missionaries of Charity operated 517 missions in over 100 countries. The number of sisters in the Missionaries of Charity grew from twelve to thousands, serving the “poorest of the poor” in 450 centers worldwide. The first Missionaries of Charity home in the United States was established in the South Bronx area of New York City. By 1984, the congregation operated 19 establishments throughout the country. In 1985, Mother Teresa, opened up the 14- bed hospice at St. Veronica’s Church in Greenwich Village a ″guest house″ for people with AIDS/HIV.

Humble Winner of Multiple Prizes

Mother Teresa became internationally known for her extraordinary acts of love and service. She received numerous awards during her lifetime, beginning with the Indian Padmashri Award in 1962, the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize by Pope Paul VI in 1971 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She received both prizes and attention “for the glory of God and in the name of the poor.” Despite her widespread acclaim, she remained humble and lived a life of simplicity and prayer. Her letters and journals, later published, revealed a profound spiritual depth and a long period of interior dryness and spiritual struggle, which she endured with remarkable faith and trust in God.

Declining Health

In 1983, Mother Teresa had a heart attack in Rome while she was visiting Pope Saint John Paul II. Following a second attack in 1989, she received a pacemaker. In 1991, after a bout of pneumonia in Mexico, she had additional heart problems. Although Mother Teresa offered to resign as head of the Missionaries of Charity, in a secret ballot the sisters of the congregation voted for her to stay, and she agreed to continue.

In April 1996, Mother Teresa fell, breaking her collarbone, and four months later she had malaria and heart failure. Although she underwent heart surgery, her health was clearly declining. On March 13, 1997, Mother Teresa resigned as head of the Missionaries of Charity.

Her Death

Mother Teresa passed away on September 5, 1997, at the age of 87, at the Mother House in Calcutta, West Bengal, India, where she had lived and served for nearly five decades. In 2001, the Indian State of West Bengal has handed a plot of land over to the Missionaries of Charity in Motijhil, a slum area where Mother Teresa began her work of service to the poor in 1948.

By the time of her death in 1997, Mother Teresa’s sisters numbered nearly 4,000 members and were established in 594 foundations in 120 countries worldwide.

Born:                 August 26, 1910 in Skopje, Albania (now North Macedonia)

Died:                  September 5, 1997 in Calcutta, West Bengal, India

Beatified:          October 19, 2003 by Pope John Paul II

Canonized:       September 4, 2016 by Pope Francis

Feast Day:        September 5

Patron Saint:    Archdiocese of Calcutta, India; Missionaries of Charity

Source:

• • St. Mother Teresa – Missionary of Charity and Saint of the Poor – All Saint Stories
  • Saint of the Day – 5 September – St Teresa of Calcutta M.C. (1910-1997) – AnaStpaul
  • St. Teresa of Calcutta: Model of Mercy and Charity – Catholic Fire
  • Sep 5 – St Mother Teresa of Calcutta 1910-97 – Catholicireland.net
  • CatholicSaints.Info » Saint Teresa of Calcutta
  • Saint Teresa of Calcutta – Saint for a Minute: Saints & Blesseds
  • Mother Teresa – Wikipedia

Prayers

Video Link

Saint of the Day for September 5. Saint Teresa of Calcutta – YouTube (Ezer)