Biography and Importance of Mother Teresa

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Mother Teresa
Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, famously known as Mother Teresa, was born on August 26, 1910, and baptized the following day. She was born and brought up in Skopje, the Ottoman Empire, now in the Republic of North Macedonia. Her parents, Dranafile and Nikola Bojaxhiu, were Albanians and staunch Catholics. Nikola Bojaxhiu was involved in the local church and vocal in the city politics, advocating for the independence of Albania. He later fell ill and died when Mother Teresa (then Agnes) was only eight years old. Agnes became fond of her mother after her father's death, who instilled compassion and kindness in her. Dranafile often invited the poor for meals, even though her family was not wealthy. It was at twelve years that.
Agnes left Skopje in 1928 for Ireland to commit herself to religious life by becoming a nun. She joined the Sisters of Loreto at the institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Dublin. At the institute, she picked the name Sister Mary Teresa after Saint Therese of Lisieux, the patron of saint missionaries. She learned the English language intending to become a missionary. In 1929, she moved to Darjeeling, India, for her novitiate period. She took her first religious vows in May 1931. She learned Hindi and Bengali and taught at St. Teresa's School, close to her convent. Later on, she taught at St. Mary's Girls' High School, run by the Loreto Sisters, to educate girls from poor Bengali families.
Upon taking her solemn vows in May 1937, she adopted 'Mother,' as was the norm for Loreto convent nuns. She dedicated herself to a life of obedience, chastity, and poverty. Mother Teresa continued teaching at St. Mary's and became the headmistress in 1944, after sixteen years of teaching. She enjoyed her work as a teacher, but the poverty in the surrounding areas of Calcutta disturbed her. The drought experienced in Bengali in 1943 caused anguish and death to city residents. In addition, the Muslim- Hindu war that broke out in August 1946 caused more suffering.
Mother Teresa felt a divine calling to serve the poor on a journey from Calcutta to Darjeeling by train. She was traveling for a retreat when she felt the urge to help the poor in the streets of Calcutta. Since she had taken a solemn oath of obedience, she could not just walk out of the convent without official permission. After a long period of lobbying, she was granted permission to pursue her new calling in 1948. She left Loreto convent wearing a white sari with a blue border in place of the usual Loreto habit. Furthermore, Mother Teresa adopted Indian citizenship and enrolled in medical training at Holy Family Hospital in Patna. She then set out for the slums of Calcutta to care for the sick and the poor. She also began an open-air school where she taught. During her first year, she would beg for food and supplies. However, she overcame the temptation to go back to the comfort of the covenant life.
The Indian officials noticed her effort and granted her a pilgrim hostel from where she would operate. In 1949, a young woman joined her as she began her religious mission. The Indian nuns who entered her donned white saris with blue borders as their official habit. In 1950, the Vatican permitted Mother Teresa to establish a new congregation named the Missionaries of Charity. She defined her establishment as one that would care for the unwanted, the hungry, the uncared for, the orphans, the disabled, and all those who had become a burden to society.
In 1952, she established a hospice named Nirmal Hriday, meaning a place for the pure of heart. Those brought to the hospice would receive medical treatment, and the terminally ill would die in dignity. She reached out to people with leprosy in Calcutta through her convention, offering them food, medication, and dressing their wounds. In addition, Mother Teresa opened a home for the homeless and orphans and named it the Children's Home of the Immaculate Heart. In the late 1950s, the congregation started receiving remarkable donations and volunteers from various parts of the world.
As the congregation grew, Mother Teresa opened other centers around the world. In the late 1960s, she opened a house in Venezuela with five nuns, then opened others in Italy, Tanzania, and Austria. In 1971, she went to New York City, where she opened her first charity center based i...