MOTHER TERESA

David Wright
STM 323C 11/A7

In Her Own Words

"At the moment of death we will not be
judged according to the number of good
deeds we have done or by the diplomas we
have received in our lifetime. We will be
judged according to the love we have put
into our work."
~MOTHER TERESA

Early Life
Born on August 26, 1910, as Agnes Bojaxhiu, in Skopje, the current capital of the
Republic of Macedonia.
Her parents, Nikola and Dranafile Bojaxhiu, were of Albanian descent and were a devoutly
Catholic family
Her father was an entrepreneur
Was deeply involved in the local church and city politics as a proponent of Albanian independence.
He died of illness (or possible poisoning from a political opponent) when she was only 8 years
old.

She became very close with her mother who extended an open invitation to the
city's poor to dine with them
"My child, never eat a single mouthful unless you are sharing it with others.
This had a great impact on Mother Teresas philosophies.

First Calling
She attended a convent-run primary school and
then a state-run secondary school.
At a pilgrimage to the Church of the Black Madonna
in Letnice at the age of 12 she first felt a calling to
a religious life.
Six years later, in 1928, she decided to become a
nun and set off for Ireland to join the Sisters of
Loreto in Dublin.
She took the name Sister Mary Teresa after Saint
Thrse of Lisieux.

Vows
She made her First Profession of Vows after a trip to India.
She was sent to Calcutta, and taught Saint Mary's High School for Girls
Dedicated to teaching girls from the city's poorest
Learned to speak both Bengali and Hindi fluently as she taught geography and history and dedicated
herself to alleviating the girls' poverty through education.

On May 24, 1937, she took her Final Profession of Vows to a life of poverty, chastity,
and obedience.
The custom for Loreto nuns, meant that she took on the title of "Mother" upon
making her final vows
She continued to teach at Saint Marys
Became the school's principal in 1944.

The "call within a call"

1946: While riding a train from Calcutta to the Himalayan foothills for a retreat,
Christ spoke to her and told her to abandon teaching to work in the slums of
Calcutta aiding the city's poorest and sickest people.
Since Mother Teresa had taken a vow of obedience, she could not leave her convent
without official permission.
After nearly a year and a half of lobbying, in 1948, she received approval from the
local Archbishop Ferdinand Prier to pursue this new calling.
After six months of basic medical training, she voyaged for the first time into
Calcutta's slums with no more specific goal than to aid "the unwanted, the unloved,
the uncared for."

Charity
She began an open-air school and established a home for the dying destitute in a
dilapidated building that she convinced the city government to donate to her cause.
In the1950s and 1960s, she established a leper colony, an orphanage, a nursing
home, a family clinic, and a string of mobile health clinics.
1971: She traveled to New York City to open her first American-based house of
charity
1985: She returned to New York and spoke at the 40th anniversary of the United
Nations General Assembly and opened Gift of Love, a home to care for those
infected with HIV/AIDS.

Legacy
1997: Died at the age of 87 from heart, lung and
kidney problems.
She is remembered for her unwavering commitment
to aiding those most in need,
She is one of the greatest humanitarians of the 20th
century.
She combined empathy and commitment with
organizational skills that allowed her to develop
missionaries to help impoverished citizens all across the
globe.

Summing up her life, Mother Teresa said, "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."

Sources
http://www.biography.com/people/mother-teresa-9504160#death-and-legacy
http://www.motherteresa.org/
http://www.catholic.org/clife/teresa/