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Mother Teresa Biography

Fast Fact

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxiu was born on August 27th, 1910

At the age of 18 she left her home in Albania and went to Ireland where she started her training to become a Loretto nun.

Sr. Teresa took her first vows in 1928. She completed her training and took her final religious vows in 1937.

Her first assignment in Calcutta was teaching in a wealthy all-girls high school and she also served as Principal there.

In 1946, after an encounter with Jesus on retreat from her job, she realized the next phase in her life meant leaving the Loretto order and pioneering her own order. It was time to move into the slums and be with the poorest of the poor...the rejected ones.

Missionaries of Charity is the only Catholic religious order still growing in membership. In 1979, for her work among the poor and dying of India, she won the Nobel Prize for Peace.  

Mother Teresa
Biography

"Before you speak it is necessary for you to listen, for God speaks in the silence of the heart"

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxiu was born on August 27th, 1910 in Skopje, Yugoslavia. During her formative years she became involved with a school organization that helped the missions in India. She felt a calling to serve God in the poor even as a young child and this calling took on a strong focus during her teenage years.

When she turned 18 she did one of the most difficult things she would ever have to do...leave her mother and family behind for a new life as a nun in a foreign land. Agnes was extremely close to her family and this was a great hardship for her. But she had a burning desire in her heart to serve those who were in the most need and she needed to be true to that inner voice.

 She went to be trained as a Loretto nun in Ireland. She chose this order of religious because they had a mission in Calcutta, India. She was transferred for further training as a Loretto nun in Darjeeling, India.  Agnes chose the name Sr. Teresa for her religious name and took her first vows in 1928. She completed her training and took her final religious vows in 1937.

Her first assignment was in Calcutta where she taught in a girls' high school and eventually took on the responsibility of being the principal. Even though many of the people in the area were very badly off, most of the girls who attended this high school were wealthy.

In 1946 Mother Teresa was on a train headed toward what was meant to be a retreat for her...a time of rest and relaxation, since she had been ill. On the ride she had a spiritual experience in which she says Jesus talked to her about what he wanted her to do for the second half of her life. He gave her instructions to work directly with the poor on the streets of Calcutta.

 It took some time to receive the blessing of the Vatican to move ahead into this unexpected new calling, but she persevered and with the help of a priest she received permission in 1948. This meant she would be leaving the Sisters of Loretto and actually starting her own work, creating a new order which she aptly named Missionaries of Charity. She was able to remain a nun since she was under obedience to the Archbishop of Calcutta.

She started off her new life by walking into the slums and gathering together unschooled children and teach them. She had prepared for this mission by going for intensive medical training so that she would be able to assist those who were sick and dying in the gutters.

As she persisted going into the slums and being a friend to the poorest of the poor and giving love to those people abandoned by society, her cause began to gain momentum. Girls began to join her in her work and a community was formed. She also was able to solicit financial support from society as her cause became known rather quickly.

In 1950 her Missionaries of Charity received official status as a religious community within the Archdiocese of Calcutta. Members took an fourth vow in addition to the traditional ones of poverty, chastity and obedience, which was to give free service to the most abjectly poor. Mother Teresa saw herself and her sisters ministering to Jesus in the suffering poor, those dying alone and abandoned children.

 In 1952, the Missionaries of Charity found a home for the people they found dying alone on the streets...they were given use of a beautiful temple that had previously been used to honour the Hindu goddess Kali. Here, the sisters could give to the dying ones the dignity of a loving, peaceful atmosphere and a caring touch as they passed over to the next life.

Visitors would comment on how moved they were by the visibility of care and concern shown to the patients in  the temple. It didn't matter to Mother Teresa that she couldn't help everyone who needed help, as there are tens of millions of desperately suffering people in India, because she felt it was more important to focus on the good that was being done for each person that was being helped.

She had an unshakeable belief in each individual being infinitely precious to God, and so she had the strength to help the poor, one by one.

  Mother Teresa: A Life of Devotion