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Mother Teresa
(1910-1997)
 “By
blood, I am Albanian.
By citizenship, an
Indian. By faith, I am
a Catholic nun. As to
my calling, I belong
to the world. As to my
heart, I belong
entirely to the Heart
of Jesus. ”Small of
stature, rocklike in
faith, Mother Teresa
of Calcutta was
entrusted with the
mission of proclaiming
God’s thirsting love
for humanity,
especially for the
poorest of the poor.
“God still loves the
world and He sends you
and me to be His love
and His compassion to
the poor.” She was a
soul filled with the
light of Christ, on
fire with love for Him
and burning with one
desire: “to quench His
thirst for love and
for souls.”
This luminous
messenger of God’s
love was born on 26
August 1910 in Skopje,
a city situated at the
crossroads of Balkan
history. The youngest
of the children born
to Nikola and Drane
Bojaxhiu, she was
baptised Gonxha Agnes,
received her First
Communion at the age
of five and a half and
was confirmed in
November 1916. From
the day of her First
Holy Communion, a love
for souls was within
her. Her father’s
sudden death when
Gonxha was about eight
years old left in the
family in financial
straits. Drane raised
her children firmly
and lovingly, greatly
influencing her
daughter’s character
and vocation. Gonxha’s
religious formation
was further assisted
by the vibrant Jesuit
parish of the Sacred
Heart in which she was
much involved.
At the age of
eighteen, moved by a
desire to become a
missionary, Gonxha
left her home in
September 1928 to join
the Institute of the
Blessed Virgin Mary,
known as the Sisters
of Loreto, in Ireland.
There she received the
name Sister Mary
Teresa after St.
Thérèse of Lisieux. In
December, she departed
for India, arriving in
Calcutta on 6 January
1929. After making her
First Profession of
Vows in May 1931,
Sister Teresa was
assigned to the Loreto
Entally community in
Calcutta and taught at
St. Mary’s School for
girls. On 24 May 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 and in 1944
became the school’s
principal. A person of
profound prayer and
deep love for her
religious sisters and
her students, Mother
Teresa’s twenty years
in Loreto were filled
with profound
happiness. Noted for
her charity,
unselfishness and
courage, her capacity
for hard work and a
natural talent for
organization, she
lived out her
consecration to Jesus,
in the midst of her
companions, with
fidelity and joy.
On 10 September 1946
during the train ride
from Calcutta to
Darjeeling for her
annual retreat, Mother
Teresa received her
“inspiration,” her
“call within a call.”
On that day, in a way
she would never
explain, Jesus’ thirst
for love and for souls
took hold of her heart
and the desire to
satiate His thirst
became the driving
force of her life.
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.” “Come be My
light,” He begged her.
“I cannot go alone.”
He revealed His pain
at the neglect of the
poor, His sorrow at
their ignorance of Him
and His longing for
their love. He asked
Mother Teresa to
establish a religious
community,
Missionaries of
Charity, dedicated to
the service of the
poorest of the poor.
Nearly two years of
testing and
discernment passed
before Mother Teresa
received permission to
begin. On August 17,
1948, she 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. On 21 December
she went for the first
time to the slums. She
visited families,
washed the sores of
some children, cared
for an old man lying
sick on the road and
nursed a woman dying
of hunger and TB. She
started each day in
communion with Jesus
in the Eucharist and
then 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.
On 7 October 1950 the
new congregation of
the Missionaries of
Charity was officially
established in the
Archdiocese of
Calcutta. By the early
1960s, Mother Teresa
began to send her
Sisters to other parts
of India. The Decree
of Praise granted to
the Congregation by
Pope Paul VI in
February 1965
encouraged her to open
a house in Venezuela.
It was soon 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 order to respond
better to both the
physical and spiritual
needs of the poor,
Mother Teresa founded
the Missionaries of
Charity Brothers in
1963, in 1976 the
contemplative branch
of the Sisters, in
1979 the Contemplative
Brothers, and in 1984
the Missionaries of
Charity Fathers. Yet
her inspiration was
not limited to those
with religious
vocations. She formed
the Co-Workers of
Mother Teresa and the
Sick and Suffering
Co-Workers, people of
many faiths and
nationalities with
whom she shared her
spirit of prayer,
simplicity, sacrifice
and her apostolate of
humble works of love.
This spirit later
inspired the Lay
Missionaries of
Charity. In answer to
the requests of many
priests, in 1981
Mother Teresa also
began the Corpus
Christi Movement for
Priests as a “little
way of holiness” for
those who desire to
share in her charism
and spirit.
During the years of
rapid growth the world
began to turn its eyes
towards Mother Teresa
and the work she had
started. Numerous
awards, beginning with
the Indian Padmashri
Award in 1962 and
notably the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1979,
honoured her work,
while an increasingly
interested media began
to follow her
activities. She
received both prizes
and attention “for the
glory of God and in
the name of the poor.”
The whole of Mother
Teresa’s life and
labour bore witness to
the joy of loving, the
greatness and dignity
of every human person,
the value of little
things done faithfully
and with love, and the
surpassing worth of
friendship with God.
But there was another
heroic side of this
great woman that was
revealed only after
her death. Hidden from
all eyes, hidden even
from those closest to
her, was her interior
life marked by an
experience of a deep,
painful and abiding
feeling of being
separated from God,
even rejected by Him,
along with an
ever-increasing
longing for His love.
She called her inner
experience, “the
darkness.” The
“painful night” of her
soul, which began
around the time she
started her work for
the poor and continued
to the end of her
life, led Mother
Teresa to an ever more
profound union with
God. Through the
darkness she
mystically
participated in the
thirst of Jesus, in
His painful and
burning longing for
love, and she shared
in the interior
desolation of the
poor.
During the last years
of her life, despite
increasingly severe
health problems,
Mother Teresa
continued to govern
her Society and
respond to the needs
of the poor and the
Church. By 1997,
Mother Teresa’s
Sisters numbered
nearly 4,000 members
and were established
in 610 foundations in
123 countries of the
world. In March 1997
she blessed her
newly-elected
successor as Superior
General of the
Missionaries of
Charity and then made
one more trip abroad.
After meeting Pope
John Paul II for the
last time, she
returned to Calcutta
and spent her final
weeks receiving
visitors and
instructing her
Sisters. On 5
September Mother
Teresa’s earthly life
came to an end. She
was given the honour
of a state funeral by
the Government of
India and her body was
buried in the Mother
House of the
Missionaries of
Charity. Her tomb
quickly became a place
of pilgrimage and
prayer for people of
all faiths, rich and
poor alike. Mother
Teresa left a
testament of
unshakable faith,
invincible hope and
extraordinary charity.
Her response to Jesus’
plea, “Come be My
light,” made her a
Missionary of Charity,
a “mother to the
poor,” a symbol of
compassion to the
world, and a living
witness to the
thirsting love of God.
Less than two years
after her death, in
view of Mother
Teresa’s widespread
reputation of holiness
and the favours being
reported, Pope John
Paul II permitted the
opening of her Cause
of Canonization. On 20
December 2002 he
approved the decrees
of her heroic virtues
and miracles.
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