Mother Teresa - Biographical Mother Teresa The Nobel Peace Prize 1979 Mother Teresa Questions and Answers on Mother Teresa Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje * , Macedonia, on August 26 ** , 1910. Her family was of Albanian descent. At the age of twelve, she felt strongly the call of God. She knew she had to be a missionary to spread the love of Christ. At the age of eighteen she left her parental home in Skopje and joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India. After a few months' training in Dublin she was sent to India, where on May 24, 1931, she took her initial vows as a nun. From 1931 to 1948 Mother Teresa taught at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, but the suffering and poverty she glimpsed outside the convent walls made such a deep impression on her that 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.

Although she had no funds, she depended on Divine Providence, and started an open-air school for slum children. Soon she was joined by voluntary helpers, and financial support was also forthcoming. This made it possible for her to extend the scope of her work. On October 7, 1950, Mother Teresa received permission from the Holy See to start her own order, "The Missionaries of Charity", whose primary task was to love and care for those persons nobody was prepared to look after. In 1965 the Society became an International Religious Family by a decree of Pope Paul VI. Today the order comprises Active and Contemplative branches of Sisters and Brothers in many countries. In 1963 both the Contemplative branch of the Sisters and the Active branch of the Brothers was founded. In 1979 the Contemplative branch of the Brothers was added, and in 1984 the Priest branch was established. The Society of Missionaries has spread all over the world, including the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries.

They provide effective help to the poorest of the poor in a number of countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and they undertake relief work in the wake of natural catastrophes such as floods, epidemics, and famine, and for refugees. The order also has houses in North America, Europe and Australia, where they take care of the shut-ins, alcoholics, homeless, and AIDS sufferers. The Missionaries of Charity throughout the world are aided and assisted by Co-Workers who became an official International Association on March 29, 1969. By the 1990s there were over one million Co-Workers in more than 40 countries. Along with the Co-Workers, the lay Missionaries of Charity try to follow Mother Teresa's spirit and charism in their families. Mother Teresa's work has been recognised and acclaimed throughout the world and she has received a number of awards and distinctions, including the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (1971) and the Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding (1972). She also received the Balzan Prize (1979) and the Templeton and Magsaysay awards.

From Nobel Lectures , Peace 1971-1980, Editor-in-Charge Tore Frängsmyr, Editor Irwin Abrams, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1997 This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel . It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures . To cite this document, always state the source as shown above. * Former Uskup, a town in the Ottoman Empire. ** Mother Teresa's date of birth is disputed: "So unconcerned was she about accuracy in relation to the chronicling of her own life, and so disinclined actually to read anything written about her, that for many years and in a succession of books her birthdate was erroneously recorded as 27 August 1910. It even appeared in the Indian Loreto Entrance Book as her date of birth. In fact, as she confided to her friend, co-worker and American author, Eileen Egan, that was the date on which she was christened Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu.

The date which marked the beginning of her Christian life was undoubtedly the more important to Mother Teresa, but she was none the less actually born in Skopje, Serbia, on the previous day." (Spink, Kathryn: Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography, HarperSanFrancisco, 1997. Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997. Mother Teresa biography | birthday, trivia | Macedonian Humanitarian | Who2 Mother Teresa Biography Name at birth: Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu Mother Teresa grew famous for humbly ministering to lepers, the homeless and the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta (otherwise known as Kolkata), India. She was proclaimed a saint by the Catholic Church in 2016. In 1928, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu joined the Sisters of Our Lady of Lareto, a Catholic order that did charity work in India. She took the name Sister Teresa and for 17 years taught school in the country.

In 1950 she founded the Missionaries of Charity, a new order devoted to helping the sick and the poorest of the poor; the order grew to include branches in more than 100 cities around the world, and Mother Teresa became a worldwide symbol of charity, meeting with Princess Diana and many other public figures. Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979, and in 1985 she was awarded the Medal of Freedom from the United States. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 19 October 2003, who judged that Teresa’s supernatural intervention had cured an Indian woman suffering from an abdominal tumor. In 2015, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had formally attributed a second miracle to Mother Teresa: the healing of a Brazilian man with brain tumors in 2008.

That cleared the way for canonization, with Mother Teresa officially declared a saint in a Vatican service on September 4, 2016, with Pope Francis saying “We declare and define Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to be a saint and we enroll her among the saints, decreeing that she is to be venerated as such by the whole Church.” Extra credit Though her parents were ethnic Albanians, Mother Teresa was born in what is now Macedonia and what was then part of the Ottoman Empire. Some sources give her date of birth as August 26th, not August 27th… After beatification she became known as the Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkata. Biography Mother Teresa -Biography Online About Biography Mother Teresa Mother Teresa (1910–1997) was a Roman Catholic nun who devoted her life to serving the poor and destitute around the world. She spent many years in Calcutta, India where she founded the Missionaries of Charity, a religious congregation devoted to helping those in great need. In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and has become a symbol of charitable selfless work.

She was canonised as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in 2016. “It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.” – Mother Teresa Short Biography of Mother Teresa Mother Teresa was born in 1910 in Skopje, capital of the Republic of Macedonia. Little is known about her early life, but at a young age she felt a calling to be a nun and serve through helping the poor. At the age of 18 she was given permission to join a group of nuns in Ireland. After a few months of training, with the Sisters of Loreto, she was then given permission to travel to India. She took her formal religious vows in 1931, and chose to be named after St Therese of Lisieux – the patron saint of missionaries. On her arrival in India, she began by working as a teacher, however the widespread poverty of Calcutta made a deep impression on her and this led to her starting a new order called “The Missionaries of Charity”. The primary objective of this mission was to look after people, who nobody else was prepared to look after.

Mother Teresa felt that serving others was a key principle of the teachings of Jesus Christ. She often mentioned the saying of Jesus, “Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me.” As Mother Teresa said herself: “Love cannot remain by itself – it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action, and that action is service .” – Mother Teresa She experienced two particularly traumatic periods in Calcutta. The first was the Bengal famine of 1943 and the second was the Hindu/Muslim violence in 1946, before the partition of India. In 1948, she left the convent to live full-time among the poorest of Calcutta. She chose to wear a white Indian sari, with a blue border, out of respect for the traditional Indian dress. For many years, Mother Teresa and a small band of fellow nuns survived on minimal income and food, often having to beg for funds. But, slowly her efforts with the poorest were noted and appreciated by the local community and Indian politicians. In 1952, she opened her first home for the dying, which allowed people to die with dignity. Mother Teresa often spent time with those who were dying.

Some have criticised the lack of proper medical attention, and their refusal to give painkillers. Others say that it afforded many neglected people the opportunity to die knowing that someone cared. Over time the work grew. Missions were started overseas, and by 2013, there are 700 missions operating in over 130 countries. The scope of their work also expanded to include orphanages, and hospices for those with terminal illnesses. “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” - Mother Teresa Mother Teresa never sought to convert those of another faith. Those in her hospices were given the religious rites appropriate to their faith. However, she had a very firm Catholic faith and took a strict line on abortion, the death penalty and divorce – even if her position was unpopular. Her whole life was influenced by her faith and religion, even though at times she confessed she didn’t feel the presence of God. The Missionaries of Charity now has branches throughout the world including branches in the developed world where they work with the homeless and people affected with AIDS. In 1965, the organisation became an International Religious Family by a decree of Pope Paul VI.

In the 1960s, the life of Mother Teresa was first brought to a wider public attention by Malcolm Muggeridge who wrote a book and produced a documentary called “Something Beautiful for God”. In 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 didn’t attend the ceremonial banquet, but asked that the $192,000 fund be given to the poor. In later years, she was more active in western developed countries. She commented that though the West was materially prosperous, there was often a spiritual poverty. “The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.” - Mother Teresa When she was asked how to promote world peace, she replied,”Go home and love your family”. Over the last two decades of her life, Mother Teresa suffered various health problems but nothing could dissuade her from fulfilling her mission of serving the poor and needy. Until her very last illness she was active in travelling around the world to the different branches of The Missionaries of Charity. During her last few years, she met Princess Diana in the Bronx, New York.

The two died within a week of each other. Following Mother Teresa’s death the Vatican began the process of beatification, which is the second step on the way to canonisation and sainthood. Mother Teresa was formally beatified in October 2003 by Pope John Paul II . In September 2015, Pope Francis declared: “Mother Teresa, in all aspects of her life, was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making herself available for everyone through her welcome and defense of human life, those unborn and those abandoned and discarded,” “She bowed down before those who were spent, left to die on the side of the road, seeing in them their God-given dignity. She made her voice heard before the powers of this world, so that they might recognize their guilt for the crime of poverty they created.” Mother Teresa was a living saint who offered a great example and inspiration to the world. Awards given to Mother Teresa The first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize.

(1971) Kennedy Prize (1971) The Nehru Prize –“for promotion of international peace and understanding”(1972) Albert Schweitzer International Prize (1975), The Nobel Peace Prize (1979) States Presidential Medal of Freedom (1985) Congressional Gold Medal (1994) Mother Teresa was born in Skopje?Macedonia Timeless Mother Teresa was born in Skopje? Did you know that Mother Teresa was born in Skopje? Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia, in the former Yugoslavia, she was the youngest of three children. Her family was of Albanian descent. At the age of twelve she realized that what she wanted to do most of all, was to help the poor. She decided to train for missionary work and came to India at the age of nineteen to join the Sisters of Loretto, an Irish community of nuns with a mission in Kolkata. In 1928 she took her initial vows as a nun.

She started various projects for rehabilitating slum-dwellers, children's homes, homes for the dying, clinics and a leper colony, etc. The Missionaries of Charity' has also spread worldwide and undertakes relief work for a number of countries in Africa Asia and South America. Mother Teresa's work has been recognized throughout the world and she has received a number of awards, the most prestigious being the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize; in 1971 she received the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize; the Bharat Ratna and many more. Mother Teresa died on 5th September, 1997. . Mother Teresa Memorial House The desire to pay respect to one the most famous person and Nobel Prize winner from Macedonia was accomplished on the 30-th of January 2009 with the opening of the Memorial house dedicated to Mother Teresa. The Memorial house of Mother Teresa is non profit organization financed by the Government of Republic of Macedonia. The Location of the museum is not randomly chosen. That is to say, on this exact place the old Catholic Church “Sacred heart of Jesus” used to stand.

It is where Mother Teresa, then Gonxha Bojaxhiu was baptized just one day after her birth, on the 27th of august 1910, place where she received her first communion and where she find her inner peace after her father’s death. This place had a great importance and influence on developing of the character of young Gonxha and to her desire to help the poor people. Since she was a child she sang in the Catholic Church choir and participated in charity organizations. Somehow the location itself represents a symbolic bridge that connects little Gonxha to one of the greatest humanitarian of the world, Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa Biography - life, family, children, story, school, old, information, born, time, year, sister Mother Teresa Biography Calcutta, India Albanian nun Mother Teresa's devotional work among the poor and dying of India won her the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979. She is also known as the founder of the only Catholic religious order still growing in membership. Early life Mother Teresa of Calcutta was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia, on August 27, 1910.

At the time of her birth Skopje was located within the Ottoman Empire, a vast empire controlled by the Turks in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Agnes was the last of three children born to Nikola and Dranafile Bojaxhiu, Albanian grocers. When Agnes was nine years old, her happy, comfortable, close-knit family life was upset when her father died. She attended public school in Skopje, and first showed religious interests as a member of a school society that focused on foreign missions (groups that travel to foreign countries to spread their religious beliefs). By the age of twelve she felt she had a calling to help the poor. This calling took sharper focus through Mother Teresa's teenage years, when she was especially inspired by reports of work being done in India by Yugoslav Jesuit missionaries serving in Bengal, India. When she was eighteen, Mother Teresa left home to join a community of Irish nuns, the Sisters of Loretto, who had a mission in Calcutta, India. She received training in Dublin, Ireland, and in Darjeeling, India, taking her first religious vows in 1928 and her final religious vows in 1937.

One of Mother Teresa's first assignments was to teach, and eventually to serve as principal, in a girls' high school in Calcutta. Although the school was close to the slums (terribly poor sections), the students were mainly wealthy. In 1946 Mother Teresa experienced what she called a second vocation or "call within a call." She felt an inner urging to leave the convent life (life of a nun) and work directly with the poor. In 1948 the Vatican (residence of the pope in Vatican City, Italy) gave her permission to leave the Sisters of Loretto and to start a new work under the guidance of the Archbishop of Calcutta. Founding the Missionaries of Charity To prepare to work with the poor, Mother Teresa took an intensive medical training with the American Medical Missionary Sisters in Patna, India. Her first venture in Calcutta was to gather unschooled children from the slums and start to teach them. She quickly attracted both financial support and volunteers. In 1950 her group, now called the Missionaries of Charity, received official status as a religious community within the Archdiocese of Calcutta.

Members took the traditional vows of poverty, chastity (purity), and obedience, but they added a fourth vow—to give free service to the most poor. The Missionaries of Charity received considerable publicity, and Mother Teresa used it to benefit her work. In 1957 they began to work with lepers (those suffering from leprosy, a terrible infectious disease) and slowly expanded their educational work, at one point running nine elementary schools in Calcutta. They also opened a home for orphans and abandoned children. Before long they had a presence in more than twenty-two Indian cities. Mother Teresa also visited other countries such as Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Australia, Tanzania, Venezuela, and Italy to begin new foundations. Dedication to the very poor Mother Teresa's group continued to expand throughout the 1970s, opening new missions in places such as Amman, Jordan; London, England; and New York, New York. She received both recognition and financial support through such awards as the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize and a grant from the Joseph Kennedy Jr. Foundation. Benefactors, or those donating money, regularly would arrive to support works in progress or to encourage the Sisters to open new ventures.

By 1979 Mother Teresa's groups had more than two hundred different operations in over twenty-five countries around the world, with dozens more ventures on the horizon. The same year she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. In 1986 she persuaded President Fidel Castro (1926–) to allow a mission in Cuba. The characteristics of all of Mother Teresa's works—shelters for the dying, orphanages, and homes for the mentally ill—continued to be of service to the very poor. In 1988 Mother Teresa sent her Missionaries of Charity into Russia and opened a home for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS; an incurable disease that weakens the immune system) patients in San Francisco, California. In 1991 she returned home to Albania and opened a home in Tirana, the capital. At this time there were 168 homes operating in India. Mother Teresa. Dr Comfort Omon-Irabor Aug 15, 2016 @ 11:23 pm Mother Teresa, you will for ever be remembered for your gemerousity and your concerns for the poor. I love her dogedness.

Mother teresa was nor distracted with the challenge of loosing her father at that tender age. She was very hard working and prayerful person. She is considered to be brilliant and brave. She stands for what she believes in. She gave her entire life in ty service of humanity. What torched me most is her commitment even in her deteriorating state of health. She was still able to play advisory role in expense to her health. She gave up her last breath with the challenges of the less privilege in her heart. I love her and would like to follow her footsteps. God give me the grace to follow her example. Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic: Name: Mother Teresa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Your continued donations keep Wikipedia running! Mother Teresa Jump to: navigation , search Mother Teresa in 1985 Mother Teresa (born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu ( August 26 , 1910 – September 5 , 1997 ), Bharat Ratna , OM , was an Albanian Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in India .

Her work among the poverty-stricken in Kolkata (Calcutta) made her one of the world's most famous people, and she was beatified by Pope John Paul II in October 2003. Hence, she may be properly called Blessed Teresa by Catholics. Born in Skopje , Ottoman Empire (located in modern-day Macedonia ), at 18 she left home to join the Sisters of Loretto. In 1962, she received the Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding. In 1971, she was awarded the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize and St. Gabriel award. Teresa was also awarded the Templeton Prize in 1973, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, and India 's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna , in 1980. She was awarded the Legion d'Honneur from Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1981.

She was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985, was made an Honorary Citizen of the United States (one of only two people to have this honor during their lifetime) in 1996, and received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. She was the first and only person to be featured on an Indian postage stamp while still alive. Contents 11.2 Critical [ edit ] Early years in Skopje Agnes was born in the center of Skopje on 26 August 1910 to Albanians Nikollë and Dranafille Bojaxhiu, both originally from Kosovo. She became a member of the Loreto Order of nuns when she was 17.

Mother Teresa's Home for the Dying in Kolkata (Calcutta) [ edit ] The Beginnings of the Missionaries of Charity In October, 1950 Teresa received Vatican permission to start a diocesan congregation, which would become the Missionaries of Charity , whose mission was to care for (in her own words) "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." It began as a small order with 12 members in Calcutta; today it has more than 4,000 nuns running orphanages, AIDS hospices, and charity centers worldwide, and caring for refugees, the blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless and victims of floods, epidemics and famine on all six continents. In 1952 the first Home for the Dying was opened in space made available by the City of Calcutta. With the help of Indian officials she converted an abandoned Hindu temple into the Kalighat Home for the Dying , a free hospice for the poor.

She renamed Kalighat, the Home of the Pure Heart (Nirmal Hriday). She soon opened a home for those suffering Hansen's disease, commonly known as leprosy, and called it Shanti Nagar (City of Peace). An orphanage followed. The order soon began to attract both recruits and charitable donations, and by the 1960s had opened hospices, orphanages and leper houses all over India. She was one of the first to establish homes for AIDS victims. Teresa's order started to rapidly grow, with new homes opening all over the globe. The order's first house outside India was in Venezuela , and others followed in Rome and Tanzania , and eventually in many countries in Asia , Africa , and Europe , including Albania . By the early 1970s, Mother Teresa had become an international celebrity. Her fame can be in large part attributed to the 1969 documentary Something Beautiful for God which was filmed by Malcolm Muggeridge and his 1971 book of the same title, which is still in print. During the filming of the documentary, footage taken in poor lighting conditions, particularly the Home for the Dying, was thought unlikely to be of usable quality by the crew.

After returning from India, however, the footage was found to be extremely well-lit. Muggeridge claimed this was a miracle of "divine light" from Mother Teresa herself. Others in the crew thought it more likely ascribable to a new type of Kodak film. Muggeridge later converted to Catholicism. President Ronald Reagan presents Mother Teresa with the Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony, 1985. In 1971 Paul VI awarded her the first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize. Other awards bestowed upon her included a Kennedy Prize (1971), the Balzan prize (1978) for humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples, the Albert Schweitzer International Prize (1975), the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom (1985) and the Congressional Gold Medal (1994), honorary citizenship of the United States ( November 16 , 1996 ), and honorary degrees from a number of universities. In 1972 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding.

In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize , "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace." She refused the conventional ceremonial banquet given to laureates, and asked that the $6,000 funds be diverted to the poor in Calcutta, claiming the money would permit her to feed hundreds of needy for a year. She is stated to have said that earthly rewards were important only if they helped her help the world’s needy. When Mother Teresa received the prize, she was asked, "What can we do to promote world peace?" Her answer was simple: "Go home and love your family." In the same year, she was also awarded the Balzan Prize for promoting peace and brotherhood among the nations. In 1982, Mother Teresa persuaded Israelis and Palestinians, who were in the midst of a skirmish, to cease fire long enough to rescue 37 mentally handicapped patients from a besieged hospital in Beirut . When the walls of Eastern Europe collapsed, she expanded her efforts to communist countries that had rejected her, embarking on dozens of projects.

She was undeterred by criticism about her firm stand against abortion and divorce saying, "No matter who says what, you should accept it with a smile and do your own work." Mother Teresa travelled to help the hungry in Ethiopia , radiation victims at Chernobyl , and earthquake victims in Armenia . In 1991, Mother Teresa returned for the first time to her native region and opened a Missionaries of Charity Brothers home in Tirana , Albania . By 1996, she was operating 517 missions in more than 100 countries. Over the years, Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity grew from 12 to thousands serving the "poorest of the poor" in 450 centers around the world. The first Missionaries of Charity home in the United States was established in the South Bronx , New York . [ edit ] Deteriorating health and death In 1983 Teresa suffered a heart attack in Rome , while visiting Pope John Paul II . After a second attack in 1989, she received a pacemaker . In 1991, after a battle with pneumonia while in Mexico , she had further heart problems.

She offered to resign her position as head of the order. A secret ballot vote was carried out, and all the nuns, except herself, voted for Mother Teresa to stay. Mother Teresa agreed to continue her work as head of the Missionaries of Charity. In April 1996, Mother Teresa fell and broke her collar bone . Later that year, in August, she suffered from malaria , and failure of the left heart ventricle . She underwent heart surgery , but it was clear that her health was declining. On March 13 , 1997 she stepped down from the head of Missionaries of Charity and died on September 5 , 1997 , just 9 days after her 87th birthday. The Archbishop of Calcutta, Henry Sebastian D'Souza, said he ordered a priest to perform an exorcism on Mother Teresa shortly before she died because he thought she was being attacked by a devil.

[1] At the time of her death, Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity had over 4,000 sisters, an associated brotherhood of 300 members, and over 100,000 lay volunteers, operating 610 missions in 123 countries. These included hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS , leprosy and tuberculosis , soup kitchens , children's and family counseling programs, orphanages , and schools. Mother Teresa was granted a full state funeral by the Indian Government , an honor normally given to presidents and prime ministers , in gratitude for her services to the poor of all religions in India. Her death was widely considered a great tragedy within both secular and religious communities. The former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar , for example, said: "She is the United Nations . She is peace in the world." Nawaz Sharif , the Prime Minister of Pakistan said that Mother Teresa was "A rare and unique individual who lived long for higher purposes.

Her life-long devotion to the care of the poor, the sick, and the disadvantaged was one of the highest examples of service to our humanity." [ edit ] Influence in the World Mother Teresa at the inaguration of the Mother Theresa Womens University in Tamil Nadu with Chief Minister M.G.Ramachandrann and J&K Chief Minister Farook Abdullah Mother Teresa's work inspired other Catholics to affiliate themselves with her order. The Missionaries of Charity Brothers was founded in 1963, and a contemplative branch of the Sisters followed in 1976. Lay Catholics and non-Catholics were enrolled in the Co-Workers of Mother Teresa, the Sick and Suffering Co-Workers, and 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. Today over one million workers worldwide volunteer for the Missionaries of Charity.

During her lifetime and after her death, Mother Teresa was consistently found by Gallup to be the single most widely admired person , and in 1999 was ranked as the "most admired person of the 20th century." Notably, Mother Teresa out-polled all other volunteered answers by a wide margin, and was in first place in all major demographic categories except the very young. [ edit ] Miracle and beatification Following Teresa's death in 1997, the Holy See began the process of beatification , the second step towards possible canonization , or sainthood . This process requires the documentation of a miracle performed from the intercession of Mother Teresa. In 2002, the Vatican recognized as a miracle the healing of a tumor in the abdomen of an Indian woman, Monica Besra, following the application of a locket containing Teresa's picture. Monica Besra said that a beam of light emanated from the picture, curing the cancerous tumor. The issue of the alleged miracle proved controversial in India around the time of Mother Teresa's beatification. [2] Teresa was formally beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 19 , 2003 with the title Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.

A second miracle is required for her to proceed to canonization. According to The Daily Telegraph , Besra's husband initially said that the tumor was cured by medical treatment. He is quoted as saying: "This miracle is a hoax. It is much ado about nothing. My wife was cured by the doctors." He later changed his mind, however, and told an interviewer: "It was her miracle healing that cured my wife. Our situation was terrible and we didn't know what to do. Now my children are being educated with the help of the nuns and I have been able to buy a small piece of land. Everything has changed for the better." [3] According to Monica Besra in TIME Asia , [4] records of her treatment were removed by a member of the order from the hospital and are now with a nun. [ edit ] Controversy and critics Critics of Mother Teresa, namely Christopher Hitchens , Aroup Chatterjee , and Robin Fox, have argued that her organization provided substandard care, and were primarily interested in converting the dying to Catholicism. At the same time, Teresa received large sums in donations, the amount or destination of which has not been revealed.

These donations are alleged to have been transferred to Catholic missionary programs elsewhere, rather than being spent on improving the standard of healthcare. Furthermore, Teresa's relationships with some donors and political figures has been a source of controversy. The Catholic Church has dismissed most of these criticisms. Destination of donations Christopher Hitchens , a British journalist now living in Washington, D.C. , described Mother Teresa's organization as a cult which promoted suffering and did not help those in need. Hitchens wrote that Mother Teresa's own words on poverty proved that "her intention was not to help people." He quoted Mother Teresa's words at a 1981 press conference in which she was asked: "Do you teach the poor to endure their lot?" She replied: "I think it is very beautiful for the poor to accept their lot, to share it with the passion of Christ . I think the world is being much helped by the suffering of the poor people." Hitchens further alleged that Mother Teresa lied to donors about what their contributions were to be used for. Donors were told that the money went to aid and the construction of healthcare facilities in India and elsewhere. Evidence points to it instead being spent largely on missionary work and that Mother Teresa was actually the controller of some of the funds.

No hospitals were ever built. In 1994, Hitchens published an article in The Nation entitled "The Ghoul of Calcutta". Dr. Aroup Chatterjee , the author of "Mother Teresa: The Final Verdict" (2003), asserted that the public image of Mother Teresa as a helper of the poor, the sick, and the dying was misleading and overstated; the number of people who are served by even the largest of the homes is not nearly as large as westerners are led to believe. [1] Hitchens, with British journalist Tariq Ali , co-produced a television documentary for the UK's Channel 4 called Hell's Angel, which was based on Aroup Chatterjee's work. Although he has never disputed the documentary's conclusions, Chatterjee criticized what he called the "sensationalist" approach of the film [2] . The next year Hitchens published The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice , which contained much of the same content, though with more references.

Hitchens was the only witness called by the Vatican to give evidence against Mother Teresa's beatification and canonization process, as the Vatican had abolished the traditional " Devil's Advocate " role that filled a similar purpose. [5] Criticism of care provided In 1991, Dr. Robin Fox, then editor of the British medical journal The Lancet , visited the Home for Dying Destitute in Calcutta and described the medical care the patients received as "haphazard". He observed that sisters and volunteers, some of whom had no medical knowledge, had to make decisions about patient care, because of the lack of doctors in the hospice. Dr. Fox specifically held Teresa responsible for conditions in this home, and observed that her order did not distinguish between curable and incurable patients; people who could otherwise survive their ordeals would be at a heightened risk of dying from infections and lack of treatment. Fox conceded that the regimen he observed included cleanliness, the tending of wounds and sores, and kindness, but he noted that the sisters' approach to managing pain was "disturbingly lacking".

The formulary at the facility Fox visited lacked strong analgesics which he felt clearly separated Mother Teresa's approach from the hospice movement. Fox also wrote that needles were rinsed with warm water, which left them inadequately sterilized, and the facility did not isolate patients with tuberculosis . Aroup Chatterjee alleged that many operations of the order engage in absolutely no charitable activity at all, but instead use their funds for missionary work. He stated, that none of the eight facilities that the Missionaries of Charity run in Papua New Guinea have residents living there; their sole use is converting people to Catholicism. In an open letter to Mother Teresa Chatterjee asked for clarification. In the letter, he quotes her as having given numbers of 57,000 helped at a single facility, 250,000 helped at another, thousands helped daily at another. He cast doubt upon these numbers. [3] Chatterjee contends that families of the residents of its homes were not allowed to visit their loved ones and that, among India's charitable organizations, Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity is the only one which refuses to release a public financial account.

There have been a series of other reports documenting inattention to medical care in the order's facilities. Similar points of view have also been expressed by some former volunteers who worked for Teresa's order . Attitude toward political leaders Mother Teresa made some public statements regarding political leaders that have produced controversy. After Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's suspension of civil liberties in 1975, Mother Teresa said: "People are happier. There are more jobs. There are no strikes." These approving comments were seen as a result of the friendship between Teresa and the Congress Party . These comments were criticized even in Catholic media. (Chatterjee, p. 276). In 1981, she made a trip to Haiti to accept an honor from Jean-Claude Duvalier , who was notorious as a repressive kleptocrat , and praised the Duvalier family as friends of Haiti's poor. In 1989, she travelled to Albania and laid a wreath at the grave of Enver Hoxha , the nation's hard-line Stalinist leader throughout the Cold War era, who had outlawed religion and sometimes brutally repressed religious expressions, including those of the Catholic Church.

Another example of Teresa apparently abandoning her convictions where the famous and powerful were involved concerns the subject of divorce. Hitchens wrote that in spite of her hostility to the practice, she nevertheless told the Ladies Home Journal that, with respect to the marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, "It is a good thing that it is over. Nobody was happy anyhow." The question of whether or not she personally felt that divorce for all should be allowed among Catholics was not raised, but rather was left for the Pope, in his role as Holy Father of the Catholic Church, to discern. [6] The Tamil Nadu Government headed by the Late Dr.M.G.Ramachandran established a women's university in Kodaikanal named after Mother Teresa. Baptisms of the dying Mother Teresa has garnered criticism for her encouragement of sacramental baptisms being performed on the dying (a majority of which were Hindus and Muslims ), thus converting them to the Catholic faith. These were purportedly done without regard to the individuals' religion. [ citation needed ] In a speech at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego , California in January, 1992, she said, "Something very beautiful... not one has died without receiving the special ticket for St.

Peter , as we call it. We call baptism 'a ticket for St. Peter.' We ask the person, do you want a blessing by which your sins will be forgiven and you receive God? They have never refused. So 29,000 have died in that one house [in Kalighat] from the time we began in 1952." The Catholic Church's response to criticism In the process of examining Teresa's suitability for beatification and canonization, the Roman Curia (the Vatican) pored over a great deal of documentation of published and unpublished criticisms against her life and work. Vatican officials say Hitchens' allegations have been investigated by the agency charged with such matters, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints , and they found no obstacle to Mother Teresa's canonization . [7] Due to the attacks she has received, some Catholic writers have called her a sign of contradiction . [4] [ edit ] Commemoration Memorial plaque dedicated to Mother Teresa at a building in Václavské náměstí square in Olomouc , Czech Republic .

[ edit ] Memorial Museum of Mother Teresa A memorial room (museum) was opened in the Feudal Tower in Skopje , a building in which she used to play as a child. The museum has a significant selection of objects from Mother Theresa’s life in Skopje and relics from her later life. In the Memorial room there is a model of her family home, made by the artist Vojo Georgievski. Next to the Memorial room, there is an area with the image of Mother Theresa and her prayer as well as a memorial park and a fountain. [ edit ] Memorial plaque where Mother Teresa’s home stood Just at the edge of Skopje’s city mall is the place where the house of Mother Theresa used to stand. The memorial plaque was dedicated in March of 1998 and it reads: “On this place was the house where Gondza Bojadziu - Mother Theresa - was born on 26 August 1910”.

Her message to the world is also inscribed: “The world is not hungry for bread, but for love” [ edit ] Mother Teresa Day in Albania Mother Teresa Day (Dita e Nënë Terezës) on October 19 is a public holiday in Albania . [ edit ] Mother Teresa in Kosovo The main street in Kosovo`s capital Pristina is called Mother Theresa Street (Rruga Nëna Terezë) Mother Teresa, horoscope for birth date 26 August 1910, born in Skopje, with Astrodatabank biography - Astro-Databank photo: Túrelio, license cc-by-sa-2.0 Biography Born in what is now Macedonia, a nun and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Through her service of universal love as a nun and missionary, she devoted her life to the poor and sick. She decided to be a nun on 25 September 1928 and took the name of Teresa on 24 May 1931.

(She said her divine call to work among the poor had come in 1946 and she opened her first Calcutta slum school in 1949.) Petite and of short body structure, she was plagued with heart problems and received a pacemaker 1 December 1989. (She was treated in California for bacterial pneumonia and heart disease and was hospitalized again in November 1996. She suffered several heart failures and received surgery to unblock two coronary arteries.) In early 1997 she was replaced by sister Nirmala, 63, as head of the Missionaries of Charity, stepping down due to poor health. Mother Teresa died 5 September 1997 9:30 PM Calcutta. Upon her death many of her followers wanted her to be beatified and canonized before the required waiting period. Canonized by Pope Francis on 4 September 2016. chart Placidus Equal_H. Source Notes Marcello Borges quotes the photo-bio "Faith and Compassion, The Life and Works of Mother Teresa," in Portuguese by Raghu Rai and Navin Chawle, Element Books.

Chawle is a civil servant in India and had close contact with the nun. On p.22, "Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born 26 August 1910 in Skopje. The date is often given as August 27, which is the date she was baptized." Astrolog quotes Astrol Auskunfsbogen for August 27, 1910, 2:25 PM MET. Helen Adams Garret gives August 26 (with 4:58 AM MET, no source) in the ISAR Emailleter Vol.41. As Yugoslovia was on the Julian calendar, the question remains of whether the date is OS or NS. Mother Teresa's date of birth is disputed: So unconcerned was she about accuracy in relation to the chronicling of her own life, and so disinclined actually to read anything written about her, that for many years and in a succession of books her birth date was erroneously recorded as 27 August 1910. It even appeared in the Indian Loreto Entrance Book as her date of birth.

In fact, as she confided to her friend, co-worker and American author, Eileen Egan, that was the date on which she was christened Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. The date which marked the beginning of her Christian life was undoubtedly the more important to Mother Teresa, but she was none the less actually born in Skopje, Serbia, on the previous day." (Spink, Kathryn: Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography, HarperSanFrancisco, 1997) Starkman rectified to 26 August 1910 NS 19.03.00 CET Asc 23Pis22' de Jabrun rectified to 26 August 1910, around 10:00. Asc.Sco 24° Categories Vocation : Religion : Ecclesiastics/ western (R.C. nun) Notable : Awards : Nobel prize (1979) Notable : Book Collection : Occult/ Misc. Collection

Question: Mother Theresa was born in which country?
Answer: Macedonia