Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was:

Born: Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia.
She Died: Mother Teresa on September 5, 1997 in Kolkata, India.
She joined the Loreto Novitiate on May 23, 1929.
Her first profession was on May 25, 1931.
She was known as Sister Teresa after her patroness St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
Her final profession was May 24, 1937.
She was to be known as Mother Teresa following Loreto custom.
Inspiration Day: September 10, 1946 on a train journey from Calcutta to Darjeeling, Mother Teresa received the "call within a call," which was to give rise to the Missionaries of Charity Order. On October 7, 1950 the Missionaries of Charity was officially erected as a religious institute for the Archdiocese of Calcutta.

Among the 124 Awards Received:

Padmashree Award (from the President of India) August 1962

Pope John XXIII Peace Prize January 1971

John F. Kennedy International Award September 1971

Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding November 1972

Templeton Prize for "Progress in Religion" April 1973

Nobel Peace Prize December 1979

Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India) March 1980

Order of Merit (from Queen Elizabeth) November 1983

Gold Medal of the Soviet Peace Committee August 1987

United States Congressional Gold Medal June 1997

In addition to the Sisters, Mother Teresa founded four other branches of the Missionaries of Charity family. On March 25, 1963, the Archbishop of Calcutta blessed the beginning of an active branch of Brothers. The contemplative branch of the Sisters began in New York on June 25, 1976, and the contemplative Brothers were established in Rome on March 19, 1979. The Fathers were founded in the Bronx, New York on October 13, 1984.

In 1980 Mother Teresa also founded the Corpus Christi Movement for priests desiring to share in her spirituality. From the very beginning, Mother Teresa also involved lay people in her service to the poor. In March 1969, the Co-Workers of Mother Teresa were officially begun. On April 16, 1984, the Lay Missionaries of Charity were established. At the time of Mother Teresa's death, The Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity numbered 3,914 members, and were established in 594 communities in 123 countries of the world. Her work continues under the guidance of Sister Nirmala, Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity Sisters. The order has grown over 4,000 members in 697 foundations in 131 countries of the world. 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.”

http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20031019_madre-teresa_en.html

In 1952, she opened the 'Normal Friday', Home for Dying Destitute, in a dormitory, formerly a Kale temple hostel, which was donated by the city of Calcutta. The Missionaries of Charity began to treat lepers there in 1957. Two years later, they opened the first house outside Calcutta, in Drachi. Soon afterward, they expanded to Delhi and other cities.

Though her Calcutta clinic was the center of Mother Teresa’s growing charity and the place she called home, her work expanded the globe, with more than 500 missions in 120 countries. Wherever people needed comfort, she was there: among the hungry in Ethiopia, the radiation victims at Chernobyl, and the rubble of Armenia’s earthquake, in the squalid townships of South Africa.

http://www.cyberindian.com/india/mother.htm

Mother Teresa, whose original name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, was born on August 26, 1910 in what is now Skopje, Macedonia. She always wrote her birthday as the 27th of August because that was the day of her baptism, which was always more important to her than her birth. For her work with the poor around the world she received the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1928 she joined a religious order and took the name Teresa. The order immediately sent her to India. A few years later, she began teaching in Calcutta, and in 1948 the Catholic Church granted her permission to leave her convent and work among the city's poor people. She became an Indian citizen that same year. In 1950, she founded a religious order in Calcutta called the Missionaries of Charity. The order provides food for the needy and operates hospitals, schools, orphanages, youth centers, and shelters for lepers and the dying poor. It now has branches in 50 Indian cities and 30 other countries. In addition to the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa has received other awards for her work with the needy. These awards include the 1971 Pope John XXIII Peace Prize and India's Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1972. Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997. She is sorely missed.

http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95aug/motherteresa.html

In 1928 she joined a religious order and took the name Teresa. The order immediately sent her to India. She taught in the order's school in Calcutta until 1946, when she experienced what she described as a "call within a call" to aid the desperately poor of India in a way that required she leave her convent. She received permission from Rome to do this and began her work by bringing dying persons from the streets into a home where they could die in peace and dignity. She became an Indian citizen that same year. In 1950, she founded a religious order in Calcutta called the Missionaries of Charity. The order provides food for the needy and operates hospitals, schools, orphanages, youth centers, and shelters for lepers and the dying poor. Almost 50 years later, the Missionaries of Charity have grown from 12 sisters in India to over 3,000 in 517 missions throughout 100 countries worldwide.

In addition to the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa has received other awards for her work with the needy. These awards include the 1971 Pope John XXIII Peace Prize and India's Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1972.

Mother Teresa died a very peaceful death on September 5, 1997 leaving behind her a legacy. A legacy of selfless service to people in need. She was 87. Mother Teresa was a living saint and she will be greatly missed around the world. May she rest in peace?

http://www.cyberindian.com/india/mother.htm

God so loved the world And God loved the world so much that He gave His son - it was a giving. God gave His son to the Virgin Mary, and what did she do with Him? As soon as Jesus came into Mary's life, immediately she went in haste to give that good news. And as she came into the house of her cousin, Elizabeth, Scripture tells us that the unborn child - the child in the womb of Elizabeth - leapt with joy. While still in the womb of Mary - Jesus brought peace to John the Baptist who leapt for joy in the womb of Elizabeth. And as if that were not enough, as if it were not enough that God the Son should become one of us and bring peace and joy while still in the womb of Mary, Jesus also died on the Cross to show that greater love. He died for you and for me, and for the leper and for that man dying of hunger and that naked person lying in the street, not only of Calcutta, but of Africa, and everywhere. Our Sisters serve these poor people in 105 countries throughout the world. Jesus insisted that we love one another as He loves each one of us. Jesus gave His life to love us and He tells us that we also have to give whatever it takes to do good to one another. And in the Gospel Jesus says very clearly: "Love as I have loved you."

http://www.motherteresacause.info/PrayersandMeditations.htm