Saint Teresa of Calcutta (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu; 1910–1997), universally known as Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun who devoted her life to serving “the poorest of the poor” in the slums of Kolkata (Calcutta), India, and around the world. She was the founder of the Missionaries of Charity, a religious congregation that expanded globally to provide care for the sick, the destitute, the orphaned, and the dying. Recognized during her lifetime as a “living saint,” she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church in 2016.
Key Biographical Information
| Detail | Information |
| Original Name | Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu |
| Born | August 26, 1910, Skopje, Ottoman Empire (now North Macedonia) |
| Died | September 5, 1997 (aged 87), Kolkata (Calcutta), India |
| Nationality | Albanian (by ethnicity), Indian (by citizenship) |
| Religious Order | Missionaries of Charity (Founder) |
| Key Award | Nobel Peace Prize (1979) |
| Canonization | Canonized by Pope Francis as St. Teresa of Calcutta on September 4, 2016 |
Early Life and “The Call within the Call”
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Early Vocation: Born into a devout Kosovar Albanian family, Anjezë felt a calling to religious life early on. At the age of 18, she left her home in Skopje and traveled to Ireland to join the Sisters of Loreto, a missionary order.
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Arrival in India: She arrived in India in 1929 and, after making her first vows in 1931, took the name Sister Mary Teresa after St. Thérèse of Lisieux. She made her final vows in 1937 and was assigned to the Loreto convent in Calcutta, where she taught at St. Mary’s School for middle-class girls, eventually becoming the school’s principal.
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“The Call”: In 1946, while traveling by train from Calcutta to Darjeeling, she experienced what she described as “the call within the call.” She felt compelled to leave the relative comfort of the convent to live among the poorest and serve Christ by caring for them directly. In 1948, she received permission to leave the Loreto Sisters and venture into the slums, adopting the simple, white cotton sari with a blue border that would become her recognizable uniform.
Founding the Missionaries of Charity
In 1950, Mother Teresa received canonical recognition from the Vatican to establish the Missionaries of Charity, a new religious congregation dedicated to providing “wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor.”
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Fourth Vow: Members of the order take the traditional vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, along with a fourth vow to give free service to the poorest of the poor.
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Homes for the Dying: In 1952, with help from Calcutta officials, she opened Nirmal Hriday (Place for the Pure of Heart), the first “Home for the Dying,” where the destitute could receive medical attention and die with dignity, rather than alone on the streets.
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Expansion: The Missionaries of Charity quickly expanded its scope to include Nirmala Shishu Bhavan (Children’s Home of the Immaculate Heart) for abandoned children and orphans, leper houses (Shanti Nagar, the “Place of Peace”), and mobile health clinics. By the time of her death in 1997, her order had grown to thousands of sisters and brothers operating hundreds of centers in over 120 countries, ministering to people with AIDS, refugees, and the mentally ill.
Global Recognition and Peace Prize
Mother Teresa’s tireless work gained her global recognition, transforming her into one of the most admired public figures of the 20th century.
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Nobel Peace Prize (1979): She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace.” She famously accepted the prize in the name of the poor and requested that the customary Nobel banquet be cancelled, asking that the money be instead donated to the poor of Kolkata.
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Other Honors: She received India’s highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna (1980), and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom (1985), among numerous other awards.
Controversies and Spiritual Turmoil
Mother Teresa’s life and methods have attracted significant criticism alongside global admiration:
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Quality of Care: Critics and former volunteers raised concerns about the inadequate medical care provided in her homes, including a reported lack of pain relief (often only aspirin was available) and unhygienic conditions, arguing that funds could have been better used to establish modern medical facilities. Her defense was that her mission was to provide dignity and love to the rejected, not to run a hospital that was financially or logistically impossible at the time.
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Dogmatic Views: She was widely criticized for her staunch adherence to traditional Catholic dogma, publicly and fiercely opposing abortion, contraception, and divorce, views she expressed even during her Nobel acceptance speech.
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Donations and Finances: She faced scrutiny for accepting large donations from controversial figures (like Charles Keating and Jean-Claude Duvalier) and for the opaque accounting practices of her order, with critics alleging that too little of the millions raised went directly to medical care.
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Spiritual Darkness: Posthumously published letters revealed that for the last five decades of her life, Mother Teresa experienced a profound and painful “darkness,” a sense of being spiritually separated from God. The Church viewed this as a testament to her faith and redemptive suffering.
Canonization
The process for her sainthood began remarkably fast after her death. She was beatified (the first step to sainthood) in 2003 by Pope John Paul II and canonized as a saint by Pope Francis on September 4, 2016, confirming her status as one of the Catholic Church’s most significant modern figures.