Mother Teresa - Facts Mother Teresa The Nobel Peace Prize 1979 Mother Teresa Born: 26 August 1910, Uskup (now Skopje), Ottoman Empire (now Republic of Macedonia) Died: 5 September 1997, Calcutta, India Residence at the time of the award: India Role: Leader of Missionaries of Charity, Calcutta Field: humanitarian work Prize share: 1/1 Saint in the Gutter - and Saint in Heaven? At the age of twelve, the Catholic Albanian girl Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu heard a call. God demanded that she devote her life to Him. She entered a nunnery, received an education, and was sent to Calcutta in India to be a teacher. Her new name was Teresa. In India she received a second call from God: to help the poor while living among them. She founded a new sisterhood, Missionaries of Charity. Mother Teresa and her helpers built homes for orphans, nursing homes for lepers and hospices for the terminally ill in Calcutta. Mother Teresa's organization also engaged in aid work in other parts of the world.

The modest nun became known all over the world, and money poured in. But she was also criticized. It was alleged that dying people in the hospices were refused pain relief, whereas Mother Teresa herself accepted hospital treatment. She also held a conservative view on abortion. She was regarded as a spokesperson for the Vatican. In 2003, the Pope took the first step towards her canonization. Copyright © The Norwegian Nobel Institute Share this: 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 dies at 87 years old after heart fails in 1997 - NY Daily News Mother Teresa dies at 87 years old after heart fails at a convent in Calcutta in 1997 Mother Teresa dies at 87 years old after heart fails in 1997 Mother Teresa of Calcutta arrives in Rome to meet Pope John Paul II on May 16, 1997. The Nobel prizewinner died September 5, 1997 from cardiac arrest. (PAOLO COCCO/REUTERS) Friday, September 4, 2015, 12:00 PM (Originally published by the Daily News on Sept.

6, 1997) Mother Teresa, the "saint of the gutters" who lovingly brought aid and dignity to the "unwanted, unloved and uncared for" during a half-century of hands-on charity, died yesterday. The Nobel laureate, whose missions stretched from the slums of Calcutta to the streets of the South Bronx, was 87. After years of battling debilitating ailments, Mother Teresa's heart stopped at 9:30 p.m. (noon New York time) while surrounded by grieving nuns of her order at her convent in Calcutta, India's poorest city and her headquarters. "I cannot breathe," the frail Catholic nun said before collapsing in bed, according to close friend Naresh Kumar. "Her heart, which held up for all those years, suddenly gave way," said Dr. Vincenzo Bilotta, her personal physician in Rome. Thousands gathered outside the convent, weeping for the woman who treated society's cast-offs as if they were her children. Hundreds of police were called in to hold back the human crush of anguish. "Our Mother passes away to Jesus," read the message posted on a board outside the convent, as nuns inside prayed over her body.

New York Daily News covers Mother Teresa's death in the Sept. 6, 1997 paper. (New York Daily News ) New York Daily News covers Mother Teresa's death in the Sept. 6, 1997 paper. (New York Daily News ) This morning, Mother Teresa's body was taken to a chapel at the convent and laid out with hands clasped in the simple habit worn by members of her order a blue-trimmed white sari and a long-sleeved blouse. Young nuns filed past, touching her feet in a traditional Indian gesture of respect. Word of Mother Teresa's death sparked new sadness and reflection throughout a world already mourning the death of Princess Diana. At the Vatican, officials said Pope John Paul planned to say a Mass for the nun today at his summer residence outside Rome. "Her death touched his heart very deeply," said the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman. "The world has lost one of the giants of our time," President Clinton said.

"She gave comfort to the poor, the suffering and the dying, and served as an inspiration and a challenge to all of us." Nuns of the Missionaries of Charity indicated the funeral was planned for Wednesday, the 51st anniversary of the day Mother Teresa received what she said was a calling from Jesus "to serve him among the poorest of the poor." Sister Nirmala said a site in Calcutta had been chosen for the burial, but it was not immediately identified. The order said the Vatican would be consulted. The death of the woman many called a living saint came five days after her friend Diana, who also was known for her charitable efforts, was killed in a Paris car crash. Nuns at Missionaries of Charity headquarter pray around Mother Teresa's body in Calcutta on September 6, 1997. (JOY SHAW/REUTERS) Mother Teresa lies beside her successor as Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, Sister Nirmala, wearing spectacles second from right, and other Catholic nuns in Calcutta early morning Saturday, September 6, 1997. (BIKAS DAS/AP) The two were, no doubt, among the most famous women on Earth.

But if Diana was the world's most photographed woman, Mother Teresa was its most admired. Starting in the festering gutters of Calcutta, Mother Teresa comforted the ill, fed the starving, took in the orphaned and cleansed the wounds of lepers and other outcasts. A giant in a stooped, 5-foot frame, Mother Teresa built her devotion to aiding what she called "the poorest of the poor" to a worldwide network of homes for the homeless. But for all the accolades she collected, Mother Teresa lived as humbly as those she helped, making her simple $1 cloth sari her trademark. "The poor must know that we love them," she often said. She poured back into her charities the $192,000 she received with her 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, which she accepted in behalf of the "unwanted, unloved and uncared for." Winning the Nobel let her expand her good works, attracting donors and cutting across religious lines. By last year, she had 517 missions operating in more than 100 countries. Pope John Paul II has his arms around Mother Teresa as they greet the faithful in the Popemobile Feb.

3, 1986, just outside the Home for the Dying in Calcutta, India. (AP) While bolstering her mission in India, Mother Teresa became an international ambassador for charity aiding the starving in Ethiopia, comforting radiation-scarred victims from Chernobyl, Ukraine, helping earthquake victims in Armenia. She also found time to help the poverty-stricken of the world's richest city: New York. She built shelters in Harlem and the South Bronx, and opened a center for AIDS patients in Greenwich Village. She established a Missionaries of Charity convent on 145th St. in the Bronx, where she stayed for a few weeks in May and June. It was there, in June, that Mother Teresa and Diana met for the last time. It also was in June when Mother Teresa visited Washington and received the congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian honor. The public appearances were among the last for an increasingly fragile Mother Teresa, who turned down an invitation to Diana's funeral because of poor health. In 1983, Mother Teresa suffered her first heart attack during a meeting with Pope John Paul. She barely survived a second heart attack six years later and was equipped with a Pacemaker.

She spent much of her last years in and out of hospitals, being treated for heart and kidney ailments, and malaria. Mother Teresa finally retired in March, turning over her empire of good will to Sister Nirmala. But she knew her work would never be done. "The other day I dreamed that I was at the gates of heaven," she once told Prince Michael of Greece. "And St. Peter said, 'Go back to Earth, there are no slums up here.' " Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born to Albanian parents in Skopje, in what is now Macedonia, on Aug. 26, 1910. At 18, she became a nun and took the name Sister Teresa after Saint Teresa of Lisieux, the patroness of missionaries. She said it was in 1946 that she heard a voice from God, calling on her to serve the poorest of the poor. Soon after, she began ministering to Calcutta's downtrodden, opening her Nirmal Hriday, or "Pure Heart," clinic.

Tags: BBC ON THIS DAY | 5 | 1997: Mother Teresa dies About This Site | Text Only 1997: Mother Teresa dies Mother Teresa, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who devoted her life to helping the sick and the poor, has died at the age of 87. She died of a heart attack at the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta shortly before 1700 BST. The nun from Skopje, Macedonia, had been battling ill health for some years, and in March stepped down as head of the order of nuns she founded. She was revered by many around the world as a living saint for her work with the dispossessed. The Pope often praised her work and a Vatican spokesman told reporters he was "deeply hurt" by the news of her death. "The Pope believes she is a woman who has left her mark on the history of this century," he said. The head of the Catholic church in England and Wales, Cardinal Hume, said she was an "enormously significant figure - everyone knows who Mother Teresa is".

Conservative stance Born Agnes Bojaxhiu in Skopje, then part of the Ottoman Empire later Macedonia, she took the name Sister Teresa in Ireland, where she began her training as a nun with the Loreto Sisters. She founded her order in 1948 and went out to work in the slums of Calcutta. She was sometimes accused by Hindus in her adopted country of trying to convert the poor to Catholicism by "stealth" and criticised by liberals who disliked her conservative stance on abortion and contraception. But her biographer and friend Navin Chana said she would be remembered as someone who "gave the word compassion a new dimension".

Mother Teresa to be canonised on September 4 - The Hindu Mother Teresa to be canonised on September 4 March 15, 2016 15:38 IST Updated: October 05, 2016 17:42 IST Share Article March 15, 2016 15:38 IST Updated: October 05, 2016 17:42 IST more-in Pope Francis makes the announcement at a meeting of Cardinals to give final approval to several sainthood causes. Mother Teresa will be made a saint on September 4, Pope Francis announced on Tuesday, 19 years after the death of the Nobel Laureate who spent 45 years serving the poor and sick on the streets of Kolkata. “Pope Francis today approved Mother Teresa’s elevation to sainthood and set September 4 as the date for her canonisation,” said a message from the Vatican to the Mother’s House, the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata. Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity and spent 45 years serving the poor, the sick, the orphaned, and the dying on the streets of Kolkata.

She died at the age of 87 in Kolkata in 1997. The elevation of Mother Teresa to sainthood came after the Church recognised a second miracle earlier, the Missionaries of Charity said. “We have now received an official confirmation from Vatican that Pope Francis has approved Mother’s sainthood and set September 4 as the date for her canonisation. We are very excited and happy about it,” Missionaries of Charity Spokesperson Sunita Kumar said. Archbishop Thomas D’Souza said that the canonisation is a formality but an important one. “This is the last step that the Pope needs the cardinal and sign the decree,” D’Souza said. Thanksgiving Mass planned The Missionaries of Charity and other Christian associations in Kolkata are planning a big thanksgiving Holy Mass on October 2 at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata. Nuns at the Missionaries of Charity said the canonisation in Rome will have a special universal significance because of the Mother’s popularity. Sister Prema and Archbishop D’Souza will go to Rome to attend the canonisation.

More than 300,000 pilgrims went to Rome in 2003 for Teresa’s beatification — the first step towards sainthood. Mother Teresa was born Anjeze Gonxhe Bojaxhiu of Albanian parents in Macedonia in 1910 in what was then part of the Ottoman Empire. After having lived in Macedonia for some 18 years, she moved to Ireland and then to India, where she lived for most of her life. She was granted Indian citizenship in 1951 and received a state funeral after her death. Archbishop D’souza said they were planning a big celebration in Kolkata in September to mark the occasion where delegates from different parts of the country will participate. Besides a religious programme which includes a Holy Mass, there will also be a civil programme where dignitaries will be present. Missionaries of Charity Spokesperson Kumar said the nuns also had a special mass and prayers this evening. Mother Teresa, who will now be a Saint of the Roman Catholic Church, was beatified by then pope John Paul II in a fast-tracked process in 2003.

In 2002, the Vatican officially recognised a miracle she was said to have carried out after her death, namely the 1998 healing of a Bengali tribal woman, Monika Besra, who was suffering from an abdominal tumour. The traditional canonisation procedure requires at least two miracles. “The first miracle was performed in Kolkata many years ago. The second one was performed in Brazil, where a person had been healed miraculously as a result of her earlier prayers,” Kumar said, adding that such miracles were known to happen even after the death of a saint. Kumar, who worked closely with the Mother, said the late nun was an extraordinary woman who believed that hard work was the best way to serve God. Teresa to be canonized 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) Pope Francis to Canonize Mother Teresa Pope Francis to Canonize Mother Teresa July 06, 2016 7:45 PM Laura Konda Copy and paste the embed code below. The code changes based on your selection. The code has been copied to your clipboard. Video size Print WASHINGTON — On September 4, the Vatican will hold a ceremony, officiated by Pope Francis, to canonize Mother Teresa, the Roman Catholic nun and missionary of Albanian descent whose work to help the poor of Calcutta (now Kolkata), India, and ease their suffering earned her numerous honors, including the Nobel Peace Prize. To many, Mother Teresa was a humble person with an unlimited capacity to offer unconditional love to people. “There are two kinds of poverty.

There is the poverty of material, for example, in some places like India, Ethiopia or some other places, where people are hungry for bread, real hunger. But there is much deeper hunger and that is hunger for love,” she once said. Giving comfort to the suffering, offering shelter to the homeless, and helping the poorest of the poor was Mother Teresa's life work. Mother Teresa was born Anjeza Gonxhe Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, the third child of Albanian parents, in Skopje, Macedonia. She was raised in a middle class family, and at 18 decided to become a nun. She joined the Loretta Order, first as a student and then as a teacher at a Roman Catholic girls’ school in Calcutta, India. FILE - In this Oct. 25, 1979, photo, Mother Teresa (L) talks with and blesses orphans at her Sishu Bhavan (Children's Home) in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India.

Blending with the poor Professor Gëzim Alpion says she later left her teaching post to devote her life to working among the poor in the slums of that city - and to start a new order, Missionaries of Charity. "What Mother Teresa put in practice was different from the European orders in Calcutta and India at that time. She believed she could serve the ‘human debris’ better by living like them, in the poorest areas of Calcutta. And she did this with that kind of integrity, which is impossible not to admire," Alpion says. Mother Teresa had to fight hard – first with the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church to get permission for her humanitarian work, and then with locals in India who thought her mission was to spread Christianity. But they soon realized she wanted nothing more than to live among the poor and ease their suffering. According to Alpion, Mother Teresa's work reflected a unique philosophy of life. “There are two sides of Mother Teresa - the religious aspect of her work, as well as the humanitarian aspect.

Both of them are linked together, and Mother Teresa had the ability to express her philosophy of life, her theology, through simple words that have a deep philosophical meaning.” FILE - A portrait of Mother Teresa is seen on her tomb in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India, Sept. 5, 2015. The Nobel Peace Prize winning Catholic nun who spent 45 years serving for the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, died in Kolkata Sept 5, 1997, at age 87. Tributes Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979. At the ceremony, she spoke of the joy of spreading peace, of loving one another, and of the joy in acknowledging that the poorest of the poor are "our brothers and sisters." In 2003, Mother Teresa was beatified by Pope John Paul II, marking her first step toward canonization or elevation to sainthood. The head of the Archdiocese Convention of Albania, Archbishop Engjëll Masafra, calls the canonization a great honor.

“That a small woman physically, but in fact a great person, who has been called the Mother of Humanity, of the World, becomes a saint - it’s a great honor, as well as an obligation for us Albanians, that in spite of the religion they belong to, to be like Mother Teresa - a model for the love of God and to help others,” the archbishop said. The Missionaries of Charity, the organization she launched with only 20 nuns, today is active in more than 130 countries, with more than 4,500 sisters offering free services to the poorest of the poor. Mother Teresa died in Calcutta in 1997. Simple Nun's Journey End - tribunedigital-chicagotribune Simple Nun's Journey End Dignitaries Join Poor For A Loving Farewell September 14, 1997|By Michael A. Lev, Tribune Staff Writer. CALCUTTA — Mother Teresa, the humble Roman Catholic missionary who became a symbol of saintliness for her work with the poorest of the world's poor, was laid to rest Saturday in an extraordinary display of tributes that included military pageantry, emotional crowds and the prayers of many faiths.

Thousands of Calcutta residents poured into the streets to bid farewell to the nun remembered as a selfless protector of the sick and needy who relied on faith in God as she built the Missionaries of Charity order she founded here into a worldwide network of homes and hospices. "Perhaps the greatest message she has given to the world is the value and dignity of human life," said Calcutta's Archbishop Henry D'Souza in his eulogy. In an unprecedented show of respect and affection, India's government gave its adopted daughter a full state funeral, even if the military trappings seemed incongruous in honor of a nun who won the Nobel Peace Prize. It was a day of troops in colorful regimental turbans and diplomats laying ceremonial wreaths, and a day that India's Catholic leaders had been apprehensive about because they recognized the pomp contrasted with her life and were certain she would have shunned such treatment. They accepted the ceremony, though, concluding that because Mother Teresa had touched so many lives, from paupers to presidents of every faith, there could be more than one way to say goodbye. "We appreciate this honor as a gesture of India's great love for her.

Mother would accept in the name of the poor," said Sister Nirmala, Mother Teresa's successor as head of the Missionaries of Charity, during the funeral service. "The best way to show this gratitude would be to pledge ourselves to carry on what God has begun through her so beautifully." The funeral at an indoor stadium reflected Mother Teresa's identity as an icon of faith and humanitarianism, but it was a spontaneous moment on the streets of Calcutta that exemplified her closeness to the people of India, where she lived for nearly 70 years. As the military funeral procession moved slowly toward the stadium, several hundred people watching from the sidewalks slipped through barricades to chase the cortege and run beside the garlanded gun carriage carrying her open casket. Army honor guards on foot tried to surround and protect the cortege. The soldiers pushed back a few members of the crowd, but the group, growing in size, continued to hustle alongside, although keeping its distance from the vehicles. Mother Teresa's connection to everyday people--especially the downtrodden to whom she dedicated her life--at times seemed difficult to keep in focus during the funeral, attended by 12,000 people.

Because it was a funeral usually reserved for heads of state, matters of protocol and security for dignitaries outweighed the desire by members of Mother Teresa's order to let the people she served join the official procession. India's military did not permit a representative group--including a dozen girls in white dresses from a Missionaries of Charity orphanage--to ride in the military cortege. These beneficiaries of Mother Teresa's care traveled separately by bus to the stadium, though some, including an orphan, a reformed female criminal, a leper and a handicapped boy participated in the service. After the funeral service, as Mother Teresa's body was carried toward its grave site by a military honor guard, tens of thousands of Calcutta residents jammed the sidewalks and climbed to roofs to offer a final farewell. In her final moment on the streets of the city where she lived and worked, a few hands in the crowd waved goodbye. Mother Teresa's relationship with India reflected her philosophy as a missionary and caregiver. She made no distinction between the impoverished Hindus, Muslims or Christians she served, and when a homeless person with tuberculosis or AIDS died in one of her centers, she made certain that Catholic last rites were given only at the request of the dying.

India, a country of 670 million Hindus, 130 million Muslims and only 20 million Christians, embraced Mother Teresa's humanitarian spirit and claimed the European-born nun as one of its own. In the week before her funeral, 300,000 Indians of all faiths paid last respects to Mother Teresa at St. Thomas Catholic Church, where she lay in state since last Sunday. She died Sept. 5 at age 87. On Saturday, large crowds gathered on the streets as the funeral cortege passed. People tossed flowers and clutched postcards of the tiny frail woman in the blue-fringed sari universally recognized as the "saint of the gutters." Saturday was declared a day of mourning in India. Flags flew at half-staff, and government offices were closed. The funeral was broadcast live on Indian television and radio and around the world. In a back alley of Calcutta a dozen men, most shirtless, gathered in front of a used furniture store to watch the funeral on a tiny beat-up black and white TV.

Question: Which Catholic missionary and Nobel laureate died in 1997?
Answer: MOTHER TERESA