St Teresa of Calcutta

Virgin, Nun, Missionary, Founder - Missionaries of Charity (1910 - 1997)
Feast / Memorial: September 5
Patronage: World Youth Day, Missionaries of Charity, Archdiocese of Calcutta
Also known as Mother Teresa, Teresa of Kolkatta, Mother Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, aˈɲɛzə ˈɡɔndʒɛ bɔjaˈdʒiu, Saint of the Gutters

+ SHORT BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE:

Teresa of Calcutta, who was beatified by Pope St John Paul II on 19 October 2003, was born on 27 August 1910 in Skopje, Yugoslavia. Christened Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, the youngest of three children born to an Albanian couple Nikolle and Drandafille Bojaxhiu, she lost her father when she was not even a decade old. At 18, having completed her studies, she joined Loreto Abbey in Ireland on 25 September 1928 and took the name "Teresa," choosing St Therese of Lisieux as her patron. It was at Loreto that she received her initial training in religious life and in the English language. Five months later, in 1929, she came to Calcutta where she taught for 16 long years at St Mary's School at Entally and mastered the local language, Bengali.

On 10 September 1946, she was traveling by train to Darjeeling for rest and recuperation from a long illness, when she got what she referred to as "the call within a call... to be God's love in action to the poorest of the poor." She realized that she was called "to take care of the sick and the dying, the hungry, the naked, the homeless." Having sought and obtained due permission from her Congregation, from the then Archbishop of Calcutta, and from the Vatican, she abandoned the comfort and security of the Loreto Convent on 16 August 1948 to go out into the world and face the harsh realities of the slums of Calcutta.

Clad in a coarse blue-bordered white sari, a crucifix pinned at her shoulder, a Bible in hand and with less than five rupees in her pocket, but with boundless faith and courage, she set about in right earnest serving Jesus in the poorest of the poor. To quip herself the better for the task she took a 6-month intensive training course in nursing at Patna. And then there was no turning back! She nursed the sick and the dying with the utmost tender care and, lovingly cleansing their maggot-infested wounds, washing their naked bodies, cradled them into the Lord's peace the way only someone divinely possessed could. Strangely, no segment of suffering humanity escaped Mother's attention as she went about with characteristic zeal, doing "something beautiful for God," seeing as she did only Jesus in every human being she encountered.

On 21 December 1948, Mother Teresa started her first slum school. In 1949, some of her former pupils joined her in her mission to the dregs of society. In 1950, she adopted Indian nationality, and on the Feast of the Holy Rosary in October that year, she established the Missionaries of Charity. In 1952, a dharamshala adjacent to the famous Kali temple became her Home for the Dying Destitutes named Nirmal Hriday which means 'pure heart.' Next, her arms outstretched to receive unwanted and uncared for children, she opened Shishu Bhavan, a home for children. In 1957, she started Shanti Nagar, a colony of peace for lepers. In 1963, she founded a parallel institute for men, the Missionary Brothers of Charity that has some 500 priests and brothers today carrying on her mission in some 30 countries. Later she also founded a contemplative Order for Nuns.

In time, the life of this "Saint of the Gutters" as she came to be known, inspired her Sisters and Brothers to live frugal but disciplined lives like her, voluntarily foregoing all kinds of modern-day comfort and recreation. In time, too, Mother came to be bestowed with innumerable awards in recognition of her work, the most notable being the Nobel Peace Prize (1979) and the Bharat Ratna (1980).

A universal celebrity in her own right, she walked with kings and queens without losing the common touch and was comfortable with the Pope, politician and pauper alike. The esteem in which she was held both nationally and internationally was evident from the turnout at the State Funeral accorded to her on 13 September 1997 consequent to her death on 5 September. The Prime Minister, Mr. I K Gujral himself led the vast gathering of Heads of State and Government and their envoys in mourning and salutation, with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican Secretary of State officiating. The Gun Carriage used for the funerals of Gandhiji and Nehruji was brought all the way from Delhi to Calcutta for the purpose - a rare gesture.