1910–1997
Albanian-Indian nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity, serving the dying and poorest in Calcutta and around the world.
Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu was born in Skopje (then Ottoman Empire, now North Macedonia) in 1910 to Albanian Catholic parents. She felt called to religious life at age 12 and joined the Sisters of Loreto at 18, taking the name Sister Teresa after Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. She was sent to India and spent twenty years teaching at the Loreto convent school in Calcutta, eventually becoming headmistress. On September 10, 1946 — a date she would call her 'call within a call' — she experienced a profound spiritual encounter on a train to Darjeeling. Christ asked her to leave the convent and serve the poorest of the poor in the slums. After two years of discernment and Vatican approval, she left Loreto in 1948, took up the white sari with blue border that became her order's habit, and began ministering in the slums of Calcutta. In 1950, the Vatican approved her new congregation, the Missionaries of Charity. Over the following decades, the order grew to more than 4,500 sisters in 133 countries, operating homes for the dying, orphanages, AIDS hospices, soup kitchens, and schools. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 — using the ceremony to reject the customary banquet and donate its cost to the poor. She died in Calcutta on September 5, 1997. Posthumously, the publication of her private letters revealed a remarkable spiritual struggle: for fifty years, she experienced what she called 'the dark night of the soul' — a profound sense of God's absence even while she served him daily. She continued faithfully despite the darkness, considering it her share in Christ's abandonment on the cross. She was canonized by Pope Francis on September 4, 2016.
Two miracles were officially verified for her canonization. The first (2002): the cure of Monica Besra, an Indian woman with a stomach tumor who reported a beam of light coming from a Mother Teresa photograph and the tumor disappearing the next day; medical investigation confirmed the disappearance. The second (2015): the cure of Marcilio Andrino, a Brazilian engineer with multiple brain abscesses considered medically incurable, whose wife and family prayed to Mother Teresa for his intercession; he recovered fully. Beyond these official miracles, the Missionaries of Charity continue to receive accounts of healings and answered prayers attributed to her intercession.
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
“I have found the paradox that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”
“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”
“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”
Mother Teresa, beloved spouse of the crucified Christ, your love for Jesus, the bread of life, made you a courageous bearer of his light and love to the world. Open my heart to your love, that I may carry the light of Christ to those I meet, especially the poor, the sick, the lonely, and the dying. Help me to recognize Christ in the distressing disguise of the poor and to love them with the same love with which Christ loves me. Through your prayers and example, may I learn that genuine love means small acts of kindness done with great love. Amen.
Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) was an Albanian-Indian Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. She dedicated her life to serving the dying, sick, orphaned, and poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta and eventually around the world. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and was canonized by Pope Francis in 2016. Her order now has over 4,500 sisters in 133 countries.
Saint Mother Teresa's feast day is September 5, the date of her death in 1997 in Calcutta. The day is observed with special Masses, devotions, and acts of charity — particularly serving the poor, sick, or lonely, in keeping with her ministry.
Mother Teresa's private letters, published after her death, revealed that for nearly 50 years she experienced a profound sense of God's absence — what mystical theology calls 'the dark night of the soul.' She continued faithfully serving despite feeling no spiritual consolation, considering it her share in Christ's abandonment on the cross. The revelation shocked many but is consistent with mystical experience throughout Christian history (Saint John of the Cross, Thérèse of Lisieux, others). She kept serving in the darkness rather than because of any felt presence.
The exact number is impossible to calculate, but the Missionaries of Charity now operates over 600 missions, schools, hospices, and shelters in 133 countries. The original Calcutta home for the dying alone served tens of thousands during Mother Teresa's lifetime. Her direct legacy continues through the sisters of the order, who today serve people with AIDS, the elderly poor, abandoned children, refugees, and the dying around the world.