St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta with children

Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Mother Teresa, born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu on 26 August 1910 in Skopje, was the daughter of a well-off Albanian Catholic family. She lost her father at the age of nine and grew up deeply religious. At the age of 18, she joined the Order of the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland to begin her mission.

In 1929, she travelled to India, where she took the name Teresa in honour of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. In Calcutta, she became principal of a girls’ school and soon began working with the poor. In 1946, she reported a mystical encounter with Jesus, who called her to leave everything and serve the “poorest of the poor” in the slums of Calcutta.

With papal permission, she left the order in 1948 and founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950, whose sisters wore the iconic white sari with blue borders, symbol of humility. She also founded the male branch in 1963. In 1952, she opened the Nirmal Hriday hospice for the dying.

Her work gained international attention through journalist Malcolm Muggeridge. Donations flowed in, and the order expanded worldwide. In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

She travelled globally, met with world leaders, and developed deep friendships with figures like Princess Diana and Pope John Paul II. She died on 5 September 1997 in Calcutta and was given a state funeral. In 2003, she was beatified, and in 2016, canonised by Pope Francis.

Today, over 4,500 sisters and 500 brothers of the Missionaries of Charity continue her mission in over 100 countries.

Iconography:
With a white sari with blue borders, with a book, a rosary, with children, with the poor

Feast Day:
September 5

Patronage:
Of the poor, the sick, the dying, and the Missionaries of Charity