Mother Teresa
1910 – 1997 · India
Known for: Humanitarian work, Missionaries of Charity, Nobel Peace Prize, Served the poorest
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love”
Biography
Mother Teresa, born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic nun who dedicated her life to serving the poorest of the poor. Born in Skopje (now in North Macedonia), she felt called to religious life from a young age and joined the Sisters of Loreto at age 18, taking the name Sister Mary Teresa after Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. She was sent to India, where she taught at a school in Calcutta for nearly 20 years. In 1946, Mother Teresa experienced what she described as "a call within a call" during a train ride to Darjeeling, instructing her to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them. In 1950, she founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation that began with just 13 members in Calcutta. Today, it has over 4,500 sisters and operates in 133 countries, running hospices, homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, dispensaries, mobile clinics, children's and family counseling programs, orphanages, and schools. Mother Teresa's work among the dying and destitute of Calcutta brought her international recognition. She opened the Kalighat Home for the Dying, a free hospice where the terminally ill could die with dignity. Her philosophy was simple: "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love." Mother Teresa received numerous honors, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, which she accepted "in the name of the hungry, of the naked, of the homeless, of the crippled, of the blind, of the lepers, of all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared-for throughout society." She was canonized as Saint Teresa of Calcutta by Pope Francis in 2016. Despite criticism regarding the quality of medical care in her facilities and her views on suffering, Mother Teresa remains an icon of compassion and selfless service.