- Born
- Died
- Birth nameAgnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu
- Height5′ (1.52 m)
- Mother Teresa also known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, was an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun who in 1950 founded and was an active member of the Missionaries of Charity. Although her passport name was Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, she was born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (Skopje, capital of North Macedonia. After living in Skopje for eighteen years, she moved to Ireland and then to India, where she lived for most of her life.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Bonitao
- As the daughter of a building contractor, Teresa grew up in wealthy circumstances. Her father Nikolle Bojaxhiu originally came from Mirdita, a region in northern Albania and lived in Prizren for many years, and her mother Drane from Novosella, a village in Gjakova County in Kosovo. She was raised very religiously by her parents. She received her education at a Catholic girls' school in Shkodra. When she was ten years old, her father died. At the age of twelve she decided to become a religious woman. At 18, she decided to become a nun and traveled to Ireland to join the Sisters of Loreto. She took her religious name in 1931 in honor of Saint Teresa of Avila. After studying in Dublin and Darjeeling, she took her religious vows in 1937. In the same year, Mother Teresa became head of the secondary school for Bengali girls in Calcutta.
In addition to this activity, she was also involved in combating need and misery in the country. She later worked as a teacher at a missionary school in Calcutta. In 1948, Teresa gave up her work to dedicate her life solely to the orphans, the dying, the sick, and above all the lepers. At the end of the 1940s she asked to live outside the monastery. In 1962, the leper colony "Shanti Nagar" (City of Peace) was founded under her leadership. In 1963 she founded the Missionaries of Charity order in Calcutta, where she served as Superior General until 1997. To date, the order runs more than 550 orphanages, clinics and schools in over a hundred countries. The members of the order must take four vows in which they commit themselves to a life of poverty and celibacy, to obedience and to service to those in need.
When she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, she condemned abortion as the "greatest threat to world peace." This attitude was controversially discussed in public. Liberal church representatives criticized her campaign against contraceptives and abortion. In 1985 she received the United States Peace Medal from US President Ronald Reagan. In 1995, Mother Teresa called for a no vote in the referendum on allowing divorce. In September 1996, the American Congress awarded her the title of honorary citizen.
Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997 in Calcutta at the age of 87. She was beatified by the Roman Catholic Church in 2003 and canonized in 2016.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Christian_Wolfgang_Barth
- Died nine days after her 87th birthday and just five days after the death of Princess Diana, who supported charity and once met her in India.
- First and only person to be featured on an Indian postage stamp while still alive.
- Diagnosed with heart problems in 1974, a fact which she tried to keep secret.
- Was made an honorary citizen of the USA by President Bill Clinton.
- While being a nun, she taught geography and basic literacy.
- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you live as you wish.
- The fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is peace. And peace begins with a smile.
- Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.
- If a Mother can kill a child growing in her womb, then what is to stop us killing each other?
- Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or sovereign.
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