Born in Uskub, Ottoman Empire (now Skopje, Republic of Macedonia), Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu became an ethnic Albanian Catholic nun and an Indian citizen. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India and for over 45 years made it her mission in life to touch the hearts and minds of people around the world, as well as minister to the sick, poor, orphaned and dying throughout the world. the world. world. Her work was so well known and so great that after her death, Pope John Paul II beatified her and gave her the title of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.

During the 1970s, Mother Teresa was internationally known as a humanitarian and became a strong advocate for poor and defenseless people around the world. Her fame rose internationally after a documentary and a book titled “Something Beautiful for God” published by an author named Malcolm Muggeridge. For his work on humanitarian issues around the world, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, as well as India’s highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna in 1980. Thanks to his hard work, his missions expanded throughout throughout 123 countries around the world and operated in 600 different missions. These included hospices, homes for people with HIV/AIDS, homes for people with leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, child and family counseling programs, schools, and orphanages.

He began his long journey to become one of the most recognized figures in humanitarian issues and aid in 1946 while traveling to the Loreto Nunnery in Darjeeling for his annual retreat. She felt that she was called to leave the convent and help the poor while she lived with them. She then began her missionary work in 1948. To do this, she replaced her traditional Loreto habit with a simple white cotton sari that was decorated only with a blue border, adopted Indian citizenship, and then ventured into the slums to help and minister. . the poor who lived among them. She experienced so many hardships during her first year, as she wrote in her diary that she had no income, no home, no food, and she was forced to beg for food and supplies. He said how hard things were for her and that he had the comfort of God to help her, so he felt even worse for those poor people he was ministering to who didn’t have that rock in her life.

In 1950, she obtained permission from the Vatican to start the diocesan congregation that would soon become her Missionaries of Charity. The mission was to take care of “the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, neglected in all of society, people who have become a burden to society and are rejected by all”. It started with just 13 members, while today it has more than 4,000 nuns operating different missionaries all over the world. In 1952 she opened her first home for the dying in Calcutta. Here, she enlisted the help of Indian officials to convert an abandoned Hindu temple into the Kalighat Home For The Dying, which was a free hospice for the poor. She ministered to all different religions, from Catholics to Muslims; her making sure everyone felt loved and cared for in their last hours on Earth.

But it wasn’t just those who were dying that touched Mother Teresa’s heart, she felt the need to create a home for all the lost children in the area and the world. She opened the Nirmala Shishu Bhavan, the Immaculate Heart Children’s Home, as a shelter for orphans and the homeless. For her works, she began to receive recruits and donations and by the 1960s she had opened several different venues throughout India. It was her love for people and children that captured the hearts of people all over the world and led her to dangerous places to rescue children. One of her best-known rescues was in 1982, during the siege of Beirut, where she negotiated a temporary ceasefire between the two sides in order to rescue 37 children who were trapped in a frontline hospital. With the help of the Red Cross, she traveled through the war-torn area to help young patients get to safety.

These kinds of acts made her a beloved international figure known for her goodwill toward people of all races, religions, and nationalities. Mother Teresa’s quotes and spirit live on in the many nuns and missions around the world who follow in her footsteps and help care for the poor who so desperately need help.