Blessed Mother Teresa
of Calcutta,born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu and commonly known as Mother
Teresa of Calcutta (26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), was an
Albanian-born Indian Roman Catholic nun.
Mother Teresa founded the
Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation, which
in 2012 consisted of over 4,500 sisters and is active in 133 countries.
Members of the order must
adhere to the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, and the fourth
vow, to give "Wholehearted and Free service to the poorest of the poor".
The 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 counselling
programmes, orphanages and schools.
For over 45 years, she
ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the
Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in
other countries.
She was the recipient of numerous honours including the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize.
She refused the
conventional ceremonial banquet given to laureates, and asked that the
$192,000 funds be given to the poor in India.
Her awards include the
first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize, the Philippines-based Ramon Magsaysay
Award, the Pacem in Terris Award, an honorary Companion of the Order of
Australia, the Order of Merit from both the United Kingdom and the
United States, Albania's Golden Honour of the Nation, honorary degrees,
the Balzan Prize, and the Albert Schweitzer International Prize amongst
many others.
Mother Teresa stated that earthly rewards were important only if they helped her help the world's needy.
When Mother Teresa
received the Nobel Peace Prize, she was asked, "What can we do to
promote world peace?" She answered "Go home and love your family." In
her Nobel Lecture, she said: "Around the world, not only in the poor
countries, but I found the poverty of the West so much more difficult to
remove. When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a
plate of rice, a piece of bread, I have satisfied. I have removed that
hunger. But a person that is shut out, that feels unwanted, unloved,
terrified, the person that has been thrown out from society—that poverty
is so hurtable and so much, and I find that very difficult."
She also singled out abortion as 'the greatest destroyer of peace in the world'.
During her lifetime,
Mother Teresa was named 18 times in the yearly Gallup's most admired man
and woman poll as one of the ten women around the world that Americans
admired most.
In 1999, a poll of
Americans ranked her first in Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired
People of the 20th Century. In that survey, she out-polled all other
volunteered answers by a wide margin, and was in first place in all
major demographic categories except the very young.
In late 2003, she was
beatified, the third step toward possible sainthood. Her beatification
by Pope John Paul II following her death gave her the title "Blessed
Teresa of Calcutta".
"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."
She refused the
conventional ceremonial banquet given to laureates, and asked that the
$192,000 funds be given to the poor in India.Her awards include the
first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize, the Philippines-based Ramon Magsaysay
Award, the Pacem in Terris Award, an honorary Companion of the Order of
Australia, the Order of Merit from both the United Kingdom and the
United States, Albania's Golden Honour of the Nation, honorary degrees,
the Balzan Prize, and the Albert Schweitzer International Prize amongst
many others.Mother Teresa stated that earthly rewards were important only if they helped her help the world's needy.When Mother Teresa
received the Nobel Peace Prize, she was asked, "What can we do to
promote world peace?" She answered "Go home and love your family." In
her Nobel Lecture, she said: "Around the world, not only in the poor
countries, but I found the poverty of the West so much more difficult to
remove. When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a
plate of rice, a piece of bread, I have satisfied. I have removed that
hunger. But a person that is shut out, that feels unwanted, unloved,
terrified, the person that has been thrown out from society—that poverty
is so hurtable and so much, and I find that very difficult."She also singled out abortion as 'the greatest destroyer of peace in the world'.During her lifetime,
Mother Teresa was named 18 times in the yearly Gallup's most admired man
and woman poll as one of the ten women around the world that Americans
admired most.In 1999, a poll of
Americans ranked her first in Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired
People of the 20th Century. In that survey, she out-polled all other
volunteered answers by a wide margin, and was in first place in all
major demographic categories except the very young.In late 2003, she was
beatified, the third step toward possible sainthood. Her beatification
by Pope John Paul II following her death gave her the title "Blessed
Teresa of Calcutta"."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."
SOURCE:IN.COM
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