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Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje,
Macedonia, on August 27, 1910. Her family was of
Albanian descent. At the age of twelve, she felt
strongly the call of God. She knew she had to be a
missionary to spread the love of Christ. At the age of
eighteen she left her parental home in Skopje and joined
the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with
missions in India. After a few months' training in
Dublin she was sent to India, where on May 24, 1931, she
took her initial vows as a nun. From 1931 to 1948 Mother
Teresa taught at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, but
the suffering and poverty she glimpsed 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.
Although she had no funds, she depended on Divine
Providence, and started an open-air school for slum
children. Soon she was joined by voluntary helpers, and
financial support was also forthcoming. This made it
possible for her to extend the scope of her work.
On October 7, 1950, Mother Teresa received permission
from the Holy See to start her own order, "The
Missionaries of Charity", whose primary task was to love
and care for those persons nobody was prepared to look
after. In 1965 the Society became an International
Religious Family by a decree of Pope Paul VI.
Today the order comprises Active and Contemplative
branches of Sisters and Brothers in many countries. In
1963 both the Contemplative branch of the Sisters and
the Active branch of the Brothers was founded. In 1979
the Contemplative branch of the Brothers was added, and
in 1984 the Priest branch was established.
The Society of Missionaries has spread all over the
world, including the former Soviet Union and Eastern
European countries. They provide effective 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, and for refugees. The order also
has houses in North America, Europe and Australia, where
they take care of the shut-ins, alcoholics, homeless,
and AIDS sufferers.
The Missionaries of Charity throughout the world are
aided and assisted by Co-Workers who became an official
International Association on March 29, 1969. By the
1990s there were over one million Co-Workers in more
than 40 countries. Along with the Co-Workers, the lay
Missionaries of Charity try to follow Mother Teresa's
spirit and charism in their families.
Mother Teresa's work has been recognised and acclaimed
throughout the world and she has received a number of
awards and distinctions, including the Pope John XXIII
Peace Prize (1971) and the Nehru Prize for her promotion
of international peace and understanding (1972). She
also received the Balzan Prize (1979) and the Templeton
and Magsaysay awards.
From Nobel Lectures, Peace 1971-1980, Editor-in-Charge
Tore Frängsmyr, Editor Irwin Abrams, World Scientific
Publishing Co., Singapore, 1997
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of
the award and later published in the book series Les
Prix Nobel/Nobel Lectures. The information is sometimes
updated with an addendum submitted by the Laureate. To
cite this document, always state the source as shown
above.
Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997.
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