Mother Teresa Biography
Born: August
26, 1910
Died: September 5, 1997
Achievements: Started Missionaries of Charity in 1950; received Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979
received Bharat Ratna
in 1980.
Religion Catholic
Order Sisters of Loreto (1928–1950)
Missionaries of Charity (1950–1997) Personal Nationality Indian Born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu
August 26, 1910
Calcutta, India Senior posting Title Superior General Period in office 1950–1997 Successor Sister Nirmala
LIFE BEGINS:
preconceived and expectations. Her own life story includes many illustrations of her willingness to
listen to and follow her own conscience, even when it seemed to contradict what was expected.
This strong and independent woman was born at Gonxha (Agnes) Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Yugoslavia, on
August 27, 1910. Five children were born to Nikola and Dronda Bojaxhiu, yet only three survived.
Gonxha was the youngest, with an older sister, Aga, and brother, Lazar. This brother describes the
family's early years as "well-off," not the life of peasants reported inaccurately by some. "We lacked
for nothing." In fact, the family lived in one of the two houses they owned.
Nikola was a contractor, working with a partner in a successful construction business. He was also
heavily involved in the politics of the day. Lazar tells of his father's rather sudden and shocking death,
which may have been due to poisoning because of his political involvement. With this event, life
changed overnight as their mother assumed total responsibility for the family, Aga, only 14, Lazar, 9, and Gonxha, 7.
Though so much of her young life was centered in the Church, Mother Teresa later revealed that until
she reached 18, she had never thought of being a nun. During her early years, however, she was
fascinated with stories of missionary life and service. She could locate any number of missions on the
map, and tell others of the service being given in each place.
Religious Life:
At 18, Gonxha decided to follow the path that seems to have been unconsciously
unfolding throughout her life. She chose the Loreto Sisters of Dublin, missionaries and
educators founded in the 17th century to educate young girls.
In 1928, Mother Teresa began her religious life in Ireland, far from her family and the life
she'd known, never seeing her mother again in this life, speaking a language few
understood. During this period a sister novice remembered her as "very small, quiet and
shy," and another member of the congregation described her as "ordinary." Mother Teresa
herself, even with the later decision to begin her own community of religious, continued to
value her beginnings with the Loreto sisters and to maintain close ties. Unwavering
commitment and self-discipline, always a part of her life and reinforced in her association
with the Loreto sisters, seemed to stay with her throughout her life.
One year later, in 1929, Gonxha was sent to Darjeeling to the novitiate of the Sisters of
Loreto. In 1931, she made her first vows there, choosing the name of Teresa, honoring
both saints of the same name, Teresa of Avila and Therese of Lisieux. In keeping with the
usual procedures of the congregation and her deepest desires, it was time for the new
Sister Teresa to begin her years of service to God's people. She was sent to St. Mary's, a
high school for girls in a district of Calcutta.
Here she began a career teaching history and geography, which she reportedly did with
dedication and enjoyment for the next 15 years. It was in the protected environment of
this school for the daughters of the wealthy that Teresa's new "vocation" developed and
grew. This was the clear message, the invitation to her "second calling," that Teresa heard
on that fateful day in 1946 when she traveled to Darjeeling for retreat.
At Calcutta.....
During the next two years, Teresa pursued every avenue to follow what she "never doubted" was the
direction God was pointing her. She was "to give up even Loreto where I was very happy and to go
out in the streets. I heard the call to give up all and follow Christ into the slums to serve him among
the poorest of the poor."
Technicalities and practicalities abounded. She had to be released formally, not from her perpetual
vows, but from living within the convents of the Sisters of Loreto. She had to confront the Church's
resistance to forming new religious communities, and receive permission from the Archbishop of
Calcutta to serve the poor openly on the streets. She had to figure out how to live and work on the
streets, without the safety and comfort of the convent. As for clothing, Teresa decided she would set
aside the habit she had worn during her years as a Loreto sister and wear the ordinary dress of an
Indian woman: a plain white sari and sandals.
Teresa first went to Patna for a few months to prepare for her future work by taking a nursing course.
In 1948 she received permission from Pius XII to leave her community and live as an independent nun.
So back to Calcutta she went and found a small hovel to rent to begin her new undertaking.
Wisely, she thought to start by teaching the children of the slums, an endeavor she knew well. Though
she had no proper equipment, she made use of what was available—writing in the dirt. She strove to
make the children of the poor literate, to teach them basic hygiene. As they grew to know her, she
gradually began visiting the poor and ill in their families and others all crowded together in the
surrounding squalid shacks, inquiring about their needs.
Teresa found a never-ending stream of human needs in the poor she met, and frequently was
exhausted. Despite the weariness of her days she never omitted her prayer, finding it the source of
support, strength and blessing for all her ministry.
Movement Begins
Teresa was not alone for long. Within a year, she found more help than she anticipated. Many seemed
to have been waiting for her example to open their own floodgates of charity and compassion. Young
women came to volunteer their services and later became the core of her Missionaries of Charity.
Others offered food, clothing, the use of buildings, medical supplies and money. As support and
assistance mushroomed, more and more services became possible to huge numbers of suffering people.
From their birth in Calcutta, nourished by the faith, compassion and commitment of Mother Teresa, the
Missionaries of Charity have grown like the mustard seed of the Scriptures. New vocations continue to
come from all parts of the world, serving those in great need wherever they are found. Homes for the
dying, refuges for the care and teaching of orphans and abandoned children, treatment centers and
hospitals for those suffering from leprosy, centers and refuges for alcoholics, the aged and street
people—the list is endless.
Until her death in 1997, Mother Teresa continued her work among the poorest of the poor, depending
on God for all of her needs. Honors too numerous to mention had come her way throughout the years,
as the world stood astounded by her care for those usually deemed of little value. In her own eyes she
was "God's pencil—a tiny bit of pencil with which he writes what he likes."
Despite years of strenuous physical, emotional and spiritual work, Mother Teresa seemed unstoppable.
Though frail and bent, with numerous ailments, she always returned to her work, to those who
received her compassionate care for more than 50 years. Only months before her death, when she
became too weak to manage the administrative work, she relinquished the position of head of her
Missionaries of Charity. She knew the work would go on.
At last , on September 5, 1997, after finishing her dinner and prayers, her weakened heart gave her
back to the God who was the very center of her life.
IMAGES OF A GREAT LEADER WHO THOUGHT MORAL VALUES
Mother Teresa Quotes
“Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.”
“I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will not ask, 'How many good things have you done in your life?' rather he will ask, 'How much love did you put into what you did?”
“Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”
“Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”
“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”
“At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done.
We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.”
“I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness.”
MOTHER TERESA........................
