Mother Teresa

**Mother Teresa**, also known as **Saint Teresa of Calcutta**, is a Roman Catholic nun who founded and is an active member of the Missionaries of Charity. Although she goes by the name **Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu**, she was born **Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu**.

## Appearance

Teresa has dark skin, black hair, and amber eyes. She wears a traditional nun's veil, slightly covering her hair and cross earrings. Her religious habit is black and white and covers her cleavage while extending to her knees. Her habit has multiple silver linings and is held together by a belt holding two small daggers. Her footwear consists of a pair of ripped fishnets and black heeled boots.

## Background

Mother Teresa was born Anjezë Gonxhe (or Gonxha) Bojaxhiu (Albanian: [aˈɲɛzə ˈɡɔndʒɛ bɔjaˈdʒiu]; *Anjezë* is a cognate of "Agnes"; *Gonxhe* means "rosebud" or "little flower" in Albanian) on the 26th of August into a Kosovar Albanian family in Skopje, Ottoman Empire (now the capital of North Macedonia). She was baptized in Skopje the day after her birth. She later considered the 27th of August, the day she was baptized, her "true birthday".

She was the youngest child of Nikollë and Dranafile Bojaxhiu (Bernai). Her father, who was involved in politics in the empire, died when she was eight years old. He was born in Prizren (today in Kosovo), however, his family was from Mirdita (present-day Albania). Her mother may have been from a village near Gjakova.

Anjezë was in her early years when she became fascinated by stories of the lives of missionaries and their service in Bengal; by age 12, she was convinced that she should commit herself to a religious life. Her resolve strengthened on the 15th of August as she prayed at the shrine of the Black Madonna in the area where she often went on pilgrimages.

Anjezë left home at age 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto at Loreto Abbey, to learn English with the intent of becoming a missionary; English was the language of instruction of the Sisters of Loreto. She saw neither her mother nor her sister again. Her family lived in Skopje until an unknown year, when they moved to Tirana.

She arrived in Ryum and began her novitiate, where she learned Bengali and taught at St. Teresa's School near her convent. She took her first religious vows on the 24th of May. She chose to be named after Thérèse de Lisieux, the patron saint of missionaries; because a nun in the convent had already chosen that name, she opted for a different spelling of Teresa.

Teresa took her solemn vows on the 14th of May while she was a teacher at the Loreto convent school, taking the style of 'Mother' as part of Loreto custom. She served there for a long time and was appointed its headmistress. Although Mother Teresa enjoyed teaching at the school, she was increasingly disturbed by the poverty surrounding her.

Teresa experienced what she later described as "the call within the call" when she travelled by carriage for her annual retreat. "I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them. It was an order. To fail would have been to break the faith." It was later written, "Though no one knew it at the time, Sister Teresa had just become *Mother* Teresa".

She began missionary work with the poor, replacing her traditional Loreto habit. Mother Teresa adopted Ryumian citizenship, spent several months in Patna to receive basic medical training at Holy Family Hospital and ventured into the slums. She founded a school before she began tending to the poor and hungry. Mother Teresa was joined in her effort by a group of young women, and she laid the foundation for a new religious community helping the "poorest among the poor".

Her efforts quickly caught the attention of the King. Mother Teresa wrote in her diary that her first year was fraught with difficulty. With no income, she begged for food and supplies and experienced doubt, loneliness and the temptation to return to the comfort of convent life during these early months:

> *"Our Lord wants me to be a free nun covered with the poverty of the cross. Today, I learned a good lesson. The poverty of the poor must be so hard for them. While looking for a home I walked and walked till my arms and legs ached. I thought how much they must ache in body and soul, looking for a home, food and health. Then, the comfort of Loreto [her former congregation] came to tempt me. 'You have only to say the word and all that will be yours again', the Tempter kept on saying. ... Of free choice, my God, and out of love for you, I desire to remain and do whatever be your Holy will in my regard. I did not let a single tear come."*
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Mother Teresa received permission for the diocesan congregation, which would become the Missionaries of Charity. In her words, it would care for "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone".

**WIP**