Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, more commonly known as Mother Teresa, is one of the most revered figures in modern history. Driven by her love and devotion to Jesus Christ, her unwavering commitment to the poor and destitute, the sick and the marginalized gained her unprecedented global admiration. Canonized a Saint by Pope Francis on September 4, 2016, Mother Teresa was a Catholic nun who lived her selfless life of service advocating humility, compassion, and dignity for every human being. A venerated servant of God, her life was a multifaceted testament to the power of love in creating a more just and peaceful world.
Mother Teresa saw her work and her religious congregation, the Missionaries of Charity, as a way of bringing God’s love into the world, which she believed was essential for true peace. She inspired purpose, energized the indifferent, and influenced the powerful by seeing Jesus in the distressed disguise of anyone suffering.
Although an ethnic Albanian, Mother Teresa lived and worked in India for nearly seven decades and became a citizen of India. In 1948, she ventured alone into the slums of Calcutta (now Kolkata) as a white Catholic nun, where she proved her humanity and value to India’s political, civic, and spiritual leaders, but above all, to the people of India. Historically, from Buddha to Gandhi, India has had a deep reverence and appreciation for those who devote themselves to others. Despite being a predominately Hindu culture, Mother Teresa loved India, and India, for the most part, loved her. In 1950, she established her first religious order in Calcutta and the headquarters of the International Religious Congregation, the Missionaries of Charity, soon followed in February 1953. Mother Teresa, who visited and worked all over the world, died in her beloved India in her room at the Mother House on September 5, 1997. Described by her sisters: “It is here that Mother lived, prayed, worked, and guided her religious family spread across the world. It is here that she went home to God, and it is here that her body was laid to rest with the words ‘Love one another as I have loved you on her tombstone.’”
When asked to write an article about Mother Teresa, I immediately remembered seeing her in 1995 at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in downtown Atlanta. Mother Teresa was visiting her sisters at the Missionaries of Charity “Gift of Grace” House for women with AIDS, and a celebratory mass at Sacred Heart was being held in her honor. I made some excuse to leave work that Monday morning, motivated by reasons more significant than what I was about to write. Still, I remember thinking: What are the chances of seeing a living Saint in my lifetime, let alone at my church?
It turns out my chances were better than I realized. Mother Teresa, as a moral and spiritual role model with global notoriety, inspired countless individuals to engage in acts of charity and compassion. Whether to pursue a religious vocation, a career in service, or to experience charity work short-term, seeking peace through volunteerism is one of Mother Teresa’s most significant and enduring contributions to the world.
I spoke with former volunteers and sisters with the Missionaries of Charity who had worked, prayed, and even laughed with Mother Teresa. Their experiences from Kolkata, India, to Brooklyn, NY, have brought a personal connection for me to Mother Teresa. Through the lens of their stories, I could see Mother Teresa clearer than I did 39 years ago amongst the crowds at Sacred Heart.
Regarding her global notoriety, I remember being surprised by the immense crowd waiting at Sacred Heart to see Mother Teresa. When the church doors opened, and an 85-year-old Mother Teresa emerged, there was an explosion of emotion that rivaled the excitement for any popular celebrity or global public figure. It is because, for decades, Mother Teresa had been a constant presence in the public eye: filmed and photographed, quoted and written about, awarded, honored, and criticized. From Pope John Paul II to Princess Diana, world leaders and business icons to celebrities—all doors were open to Mother Teresa. Tiny in frame only, this unpretentious nun became a media icon, a symbol of love and peace, and the most famous religious celebrity in the last quarter of the 20th Century, with the exception of perhaps Pope John Paul II.
When I looked up Mother Teresa at my local NYC Public Library, over 500 books and audio/visual materials were available. A Google search of the name Mother Teresa? That produced millions of internet hits. The number of books, biographies, pictorial histories, television programs, films (documentary, feature, and animated), plays, novels, poems, musicals, and exhibits by and about Mother Teresa was not only overwhelming but ironic for a woman who is known to have disliked media attention. However, Mother Teresa and others understood the value of her story in raising awareness about global poverty and humanitarian issues. Most profoundly, she was the personification of her beliefs, and they fascinated, challenged, and inspired leaders, movements, and people across different cultures and religions. In Malcom Muggeridge’s Something Beautiful for God, he emphasizes the impact one person can have on the world. He writes about how Mother Teresa’s single-minded dedication to her mission created a ripple effect that inspired countless others to take up the cause of peace and charity. Muggeridge’s account is a powerful reminder that peace can begin with the actions of a single individual whose example can inspire global change.
Some attribute Mother Teresa’s success to being shaped by the overwhelming media attention. Portrayed often as a saintly figure, her story of profound transformation and a life dedicated to alleviating human suffering was not only inspirational; it is said to have served an invaluable purpose to others. Whatever the political, religious, nationalist, or business motives of others, Mother Teresa’s motivation was her vocation, not herself. If the publicity she received helped her achieve her purpose in life, it was a means to an end. Let’s not forget that she worked as a humble servant of God in a materialist, media-centric world. Despite the demands and scrutiny, Mother Teresa, who worked into her 80s, viewed the media and anyone interested in her work as useful tools that enabled her to accomplish her calling. In “Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity,” Gëzim Alpion says, “Despite being constantly under media surveillance, Mother Teresa stood apart and was unique among twentieth-century celebrities in that she could be in public what she was in private. Reporters’ veneration for Mother Teresa, yet another proof of her saintliness . . . have you ever been in a room of reporters . . . was skillful of her handling of the media.” Alpion says she became a seasoned public figure.
Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia, to Drane and Nikolle Bojaxhiu, she was the youngest of three children. As documented in Alpion’s book and other biographies on Mother Teresa, her mother was a strict Catholic, and her father was a successful businessman and prominent civic figure who, in word and deed, taught and inspired their children to show empathy, compassion, and generosity to others. Her father, Nikolle, who allowed Agnes and her older sister to go to school, was not only a benefactor of the church but also sponsored important projects that improved Skopje’s cultural life and infrastructure. His popularity was enhanced primarily because of his generosity towards those experiencing poverty and older people who had either been abandoned by their own children or were forsaken by relatives and neighbors. Agnes and her siblings grew up in a comfortable home, and in a thriving multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multi-cultural community, where she attended a youth group called the Sodality. Through the activities there, guided by a Jesuit priest, Agnes became interested in the world of missionaries. At the young age of nine, Agnes’s father was tragically murdered during a time of political strife, and her family life changed dramatically.
At 17, Agnes left her home to join the Sisters of Loreto in Dublin, Ireland. She would not return to her native city for almost half a century, but she carried with her much of the teachings of her childhood, most especially from her mother. Agnes took the name Teresa and became Sister Teresa, in honor of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux-the little flower. Agnes saw many parallels in their lives, such as a short-lived happy childhood and a strong attachment to Jesus.
The founder of the Sisters of Loreto, Frances Teresa Ball, was an early role model to Agnes. She is said to have advised the sisters, before their departure to overseas convents, “Go and set the world on fire with the love of God;” she perhaps also influenced Agne’s decision to choose the name of Teresa.
Catholic News explained that Agnes, like St Thérèse of Lisieux, thought of devoting herself to God at a young age, and both saw Asia as the place to serve Jesus Christ: Thérèse wanted to travel as a missionary to French Indochina and Agnes to India. Poor health meant Thérèse would never be able to achieve her ambition to spread the Gospel by traveling; Agnes, on the other hand, spent all her adult life as an active missionary.
Sister Teresa made her first trip to Calcutta, India, in 1929. After making her first profession of vows in May 1931, she began her ministry as a teacher at St. Mary’s School for Girls. Following her final profession of vows, becoming, as Sister Teresa explained, “the spouse of Jesus for all eternity” in 1937, advancing from Sister to Mother Teresa, she became Principal of St. Mary’s in 1944 for eighteen years.
Some sources report that in 1946, Mother Teresa contracted tuberculosis and was sent to rest in Darjeeling. It was on the train to Darjeeling on September 10 that Mother Teresa experienced a calling, defined by Mother Teresa as “a call within a call” from God to leave the convent and “help the poor while living amongst them.” At this point, “she did not know that she was to establish an order of nuns, or even exactly where she was to serve. “I knew where I belonged, but I did not know how to get there,” Mother Teresa once explained, recalling the moment on the train.
Mother Teresa was granted permission by the Vatican to leave the Sisters of Loretto and fulfill her calling under the Archbishop of Calcutta to serve “the poorest of the poor.” On August 17, 1948, Mother Teresa dressed for the first time in a white sari with three blue borders and left her home, this time after 20 years at the Loreta Convent, to live amongst the poor in the slums of Calcutta. Mother Teresa started working in the slums, teaching poor children and treating the sick in their homes. Although she struggled to find supplies, housing, and even food, Teresa did not give up. She was joined later by some of her former students, and together, they cared for men, women, and children who were dying in the gutters along the streets.
In 1950, Mother Teresa received permission from the Vatican to become the Mother Superior of her own order, which she called the Missionaries of Charity, a new congregation of the Diocese of Calcutta devoted to the service of the poorest of the poor. In 1952, the government granted them a house from which to continue their service among Calcutta’s forgotten and poor. The congregation expanded rapidly. Growing from thirteen initial members to thousands of sisters as well as brothers, there are over one hundred congregations located across the world today, and they perform a variety of services for the poor and helpless, including meals, shelter, childcare, hospice, and education, meeting the needs of the communities they serve.
The growth and success of the Missionaries of Charity and Mother Teresa’s impact on the global Christian community cannot be overstated. Neither can the international attention she brought to issues of poverty, disease, and human suffering, or how she inspired countless individuals to engage in acts of charity and compassion. While Mother Teresa’s work has been the subject of criticism, defenders argue that her mission was never about perfection or ideology. As researched by biographer Kathryn Spink, it was about serving the poorest and most vulnerable with love and dignity. Mother Teresa was a woman of immense faith whose actions were driven by a profound sense of duty to God and humanity. She believed true peace comes from serving others with love and compassion and that even small acts of kindness can contribute to a more peaceful world. In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which she accepted not for herself but on behalf of the poor and suffering. In her acceptance speech, she spoke about the need for peace and the role of love in achieving it. “What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family,” she said, underscoring her belief that peace begins at home and within the heart.”
Mother Teresa was asked to “Go and set the world on fire with the love of God,” and she did just that.