Ravi Rohmetra
Mother Teresa was born on 27th August 1910 in SKOPJE, Macedonia. Mother Teresa’s original name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. The youngest of the children born to Nikola and Drane Bojaxhiu. Her father was a successful merchant and she was youngest of the three siblings. She received her First Commission in the age of five and a half and was confirmed in November 1916. From the day of her first Holy Communion, a love for souls was within her. Her father’s sudden death when Gonxha was about eight years old left in the family in financial straits. Drane raised her children firmly and lovingly, greatly influencing her daughter’s character and vocation. Gonxha’s religious formation was further assisted by the vibrant Jesuit Parish of the Sacred Heart in which she was much involved. At the age of 18 she left her parental home in Skopje and joined the sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India. There she received the name Sister Mary Teresa after St. Therese of Lisieux. After a few months of training at the Institute of Blessed Virgin Mary in Dublin Mother Teresa came to India on 6th January 1929. On 24th May, 1931, she took her initial vows as a nun. From 1931 to 1948, Mother Teresa taught geography and catechism at St. Mary’s High School in Calcutta. On 24th May 1937, Sister Teresa made her final Profession of Vows, becoming as she said, the :Spouse of Jesus” for “all Eternity”. From that time on she was called Mother Teresa. She continued teaching at St. Mary’s and in 1944 became the school’s Principal.
On 10th September 1946 during the train ride from Calcutta to Darjeeling for her annual retreat, Mother Teresa received an “inspiration” “call within call”. On that day, in a way she would never explain Jesus thirst for love and for souls took hold of her heart and the desire to satiate.
Her thirst became the driving force of her life. Over the course of the next weeks and months, by means of interior locations and visions, Jesus revealed to her the desire of his heart of “Victims of love” who would “Radiate his love on souls” “come be my light” he begged her. “I cannot go alone” he revealed his pain at the neglect of the poor, his sorrow at their ignorance of him and his longing of their love. He asked mother Teresa to establish a religious community, Missionaries of charity dedicated to the service of the poorest of the poor. However, the prevailing poverty in Calcutta had a deep impact on Mother Teresa’s mind and in 1948 she received permission from her superiors to leave the convent school and devote herself to working among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. On 17th August 1948, she dressed for the first time in a White, Blue bordered Sari and passed through the gates of her beloved Loreto convent to enter the world of the poor. After a short course with the Medical Mission Sisters in Patna, she returned to Calcutta and found temporary lodging with the little sisters of the poor. She started an open air school for homeless children. Soon she was joined by voluntary helpers and she received financial support from church organizations and the municipal authorities. On 21st December she went for the first time to the slums. On 7th October 1950, Mother Teresa received permission from the Vatican to start her own order. Vatican originally labeled the order as the Diocesan Congregation of the Calcutta Diocese and it later came to known as the “Missionaries of Charity”. The Primary task of the missionaries of charity was to take care of those person who nobody was prepared to look after. She visited families, washed the sores of some children, cared for an old man lying sick on the road and nursed a woman dying of hunger and T.B. She started each day in communion with Jesus in the Eucharist and then went out rosary in her hand, to find and serve him in “the unwanted the unloved, the uncared for”. After some months she was joined one by one by her former students. By the early 1960’s Mother Teresa began to send her sisters to other parts of India. The decree of Praised granted to the congregation by Pope Paul VI in February 1965 encouraged her to open a house in Venezuela. It was soon followed by foundations in Rome and Tanzania and eventually on every continent starting in 1980 and continuing through the 1990’s Mother Teresa opened houses in almost all the communist countries including the former Soviet Union, Albania and Cuba. She formed the co-workers of Mother Teresa and the sick and suffering co-workers, people of many faiths and nationalities with whom she shared her spirit of prayer, simplicity, sacrifice and her apostolate of humble work of love. The Spirit later inspired the lay Missionaries of charity. In answer to the requests of many priests, in 1981 Mother Teresa also began the Corpus Christi Movement for Priests as a “Little way of holiness” for those who desire to share in her charisma and spirit. She has received a number of awards and distinctions. Numerous awards beginning with the Indian Padamshree Award in 1962 and notably the Nobel peace prize in 1979, honoured her work while an increasingly interested media began to follow her activities. She received both prizes and attention “for the glory of God and in the name of the Poor”.
Death and Legacy
After several years of deteriorating health in which she suffered from heart, lung and kidney problems, Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997 at the age of 87. Since her death, Mother Teresa has remained in the public spotlight. In particular, the publication of her private correspondence in 2003 caused a wholesale re-evaluation of her life by revealing the crisis of faith she suffered for most of the last 50 years of her life.
For her unwavering commitment to aiding those most in need, Mother Teresa stands out as one of the greatest humanitarians of the 20th century. She combined profound empathy and a fervent commitment to her cause with incredible organizational and managerial skills that allowed her to develop a vast and effective international organization of missionaries to help impoverished citizens all across the globe.
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