2. August 26,1910 – Sept. 5, 1997
“By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an
Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my
calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I
belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus.”
--Mother Teresa
3. Biography
● Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born in Skopje,
Macedonia, on August 26, 1910
● Her family was of Albanian descent
● At the age of 12, she strongly felt the call of
God
● She knew she had to be a missionary to
spread the love of Christ
● At 18, she left her home in Skopje and joined
the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of
nuns with missions in India
4.
5. ● For a few months she trained in Dublin
● Was sent to India, where she took her initial
vows as a nun in 1931
● From 1931-1948 she taught at St. Mary's High
School in Calcutta, but the suffering and
poverty she saw outside the convent walls
made such a deep impression on her that in
1948 she received permission from her
superiors to leave the convent school and
devote herself to working among the poorest
of the poor in the slums of Calcutta
6. ● She had no funds but she depended on God
and started an open-air school for slum
children
● She was joined by voluntary helpers and
financial support
● These made it possible for her to extend the
scope of her work
7. ● In 1950, Mother Teresa received permission to
start her own order, "The Missionaries of
Charity"
● Its primary task was to love and care for the
people that nobody was prepared to look after
● In 1965 the society became an International
Religious Family by a decree of Pope Paul VI
8.
9. ● The Society of Missionaries has spread all over
the world, including the former Soviet Union and
Eastern European countries
● They provide help to the poorest of the poor in a
number of countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin
America, and they undertake relief work in the
wake of natural catastrophes such as floods,
epidemics, and famine
● The order also has houses in North America,
Europe and Australia, where they take care of the
alcoholics, homeless, and people who suffer from
AIDS
10. ● Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity at the
time of her death had 610 missions in 123
countries including hospices and homes for
people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and
tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and
family counseling programs, orphanages and
schools
11. Awards
● Mother Teresa's work has been recognized
throughout the world and she has received a
number of awards and distinctions
● Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (1971)
● Nehru Prize for her promotion of international
peace and understanding (1972)
● Balzan Prize (1979)
● Templeton and Magsaysay awards
● The Nobel Peace Prize 1979
12.
13. Film and Literature
● 1969 documentary film and 1972
book Something Beautiful for God
● 1997 Art Film Festival award winning film
starring Geraldine Chaplin called Mother
Teresa: In the Name of God's Poor
14. ● 2003 Italian mini-series titled Mother Teresa of
Calcutta, (which was re-released in 2007 and
received a CAMIE award)
● Hitchen's 1994 documentary about her, "Hell's
Angel", claims that she urged the poor to
accept their fate, while the rich are portrayed
as being favored by God
