Mother Teresa

     Mother Teresa was born on the 27^th of August 1910 in Skopje. Her father died unexpectedly when she was ten..At the age of twelve she decided to spend her life as a nun . She was inspired to do so by the news work done in India by a  missionary .She followed her dream to become a nun passionately. At the age of 18 she was accepted into an Irish Catholic organization called Loreto Order.

     This organization and its members were especially devoted education in India. Their mission was to post nuns to help the poor .After two months, she was allowed to follow a dream and she join the Loreto Order in Bengal. She took her first vow in Calcutta to devote her life to god. She spend the following 17 years in St. Mary’s School in Calcutta (now Kolkata). First she worked as a teacher . She was later promoted to governor.

It was on one of her journeys through the vast city of Calcutta  in 1964. She realized in order to help the poor she must live with them. She was given permission to leave the Loreto Order but still keep the status as a nun. Mother Teresa made the decision to live among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. She became known as the “ Saint of the Gutters”.

In 1949, she was given Indian nationality and she founded the “ Missionaries of Charity” in 1950. The members of the organization had to take vow of allegiance to the poor. Mother Teresa’s organization was then recognize by the Pope and placed under his control. Mother Teresa and her charity focused mainly on the dying , the ill and on orphans. She was interested in looking after lepers.

More than 3,000 nuns and 500 monks in over 100 countries belong to her charity organization today. She received many awards for her selfless work, the most important of which was the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

Mother Teresa died on 5^th September, 1997. She was buried in Kolkata . The world lost a true angel on earth that day.

Mother Teresa is one of the rare human beings who lived for charity. She took care of the poorest of the poor, the dying and the lepers on the streets of Kolkata. She is admired by many people around the world. When she was alive, Mother Teresa was called “ a living saint”. She was formally beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 19, 2003 with the title Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.

Her dedication for human dignity will be remembered for many generations. Her selfless spirit lives on through her Missionaries of Charity.