Teresa of Calcutta

Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910–1997), born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in Üsküb (now Skopje, North Macedonia), was an Albanian-Indian Catholic nun and missionary whose work among the 'poorest of the poor' in the slums of Calcutta made her a global symbol of selfless Christian charity and earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Born into a devout Albanian Catholic family in the Ottoman Empire, Agnes (as she was baptized) felt called to religious life from age twelve. At eighteen, she left home for Ireland to join the Sisters of Loreto, taking the name Teresa after Thérèse of Lisieux. She was sent to India in 1929 and spent nearly twenty years teaching geography at a convent school in Calcutta, eventually becoming headmistress. On September 10, 1946, during a train ride to Darjeeling, Teresa received what she described as 'a call within a call' — a divine inspiration to leave her comfortable convent and serve Christ among the destitute and dying on the streets. With papal permission, she left the Loreto convent in 1948, traded her religious habit for a simple white cotton sari with blue border, and began working directly among the poorest residents of Calcutta's slums. In 1950, Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity, beginning with just thirteen members. The congregation grew to over 4,500 sisters operating 610 missions in 123 countries, running hospices, homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy, and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, schools, and orphanages. Her first and most famous establishment, Nirmal Hriday (Pure Heart) — a home for the dying — was established in a former Hindu temple near the Kali temple in Kalighat, where those who had lived their lives abandoned on the streets could die with dignity. After Mother Teresa's death, the publication of her private letters revealed a profound and prolonged 'dark night of the soul' — decades of interior spiritual darkness during which she felt no consolation or sense of God's presence, even as she continued her work with unwavering dedication. This revelation, rather than diminishing her reputation, has deepened appreciation for the heroic nature of her faith. She was canonized by Pope Francis on September 4, 2016.