“By blood I am Albanian. By citizenship I am Indian. As far as faith is concerned, I am a Catholic nun. By my vocation, I belong to the world. As far as my heart is concerned, I belong totally to the Heart of Jesus,” she used to say. Saint Teresa of Calcutta.
Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhia, later known as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, was born on August 26, 1910 in Skopje (present-day Macedonia). Her parents were Nikola and Drane Bojaxhia.
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He made his First Communion when he was five and a half years old, and received Confirmation in 1916.
Since she was little she had a deep religious formation in the Sacred Heart Parish, which was run by the Jesuits.
Her father died when she was eight years old. This loss brought financial problems to her family. At age 18 she entered the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Sisters of Loreto, in Ireland. There she took the name Sister Maria Theresa in honor of Saint Therese of Lisieux.
She arrived in India on January 6, 1929. In May 1931, she took her first vows and was sent to the Loreto Entally community in Calcutta as a teacher at St. Mary’s School for Girls.
On May 24, 1937 she became “the wife of Jesus for all eternity” when she made her final vows. From then on she was called Mother Teresa.
She remained dedicated to teaching for 20 years, even becoming director of St. Mary’s School. At that time she was characterized by her deep piety, her love for her religious sisters and her students. She was also a great administrator and worker.
The call within the call
On September 10, 1946, during a trip to Darjeeling for her annual retreat, Mother Teresa received what she called “inspiration” or her “call within the call.”
That day the thirst for love and souls took over his heart. In the following weeks, through interior locutions and visions, Jesus himself revealed to him the desire to find “victims of love” who would “radiate his love to souls.” “Come and be my light. I can’t go alone.” He told her.
In response to that call, on August 17, 1948, she dressed for the first time in a white sari bordered with blue, and left the Loreto convent to enter the world of the poorest.
He toured the poor neighborhoods, visited families, washed children’s wounds and helped the forgotten. Every day she received the Eucharist and left her house with the rosary in her hand. Months later some of his former pupils joined her.
Christ asked her to found a religious congregation, which would later become the Missionaries of Charity, dedicated to serving the poorest of the poor.
In 1950 the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity was officially established. Some time later she sent her sisters to other parts of India and opened other houses in Venezuela, Rome, Tanzania and even in almost all the countries that were then part of the Soviet Union.
In addition, he founded the Missionary Brothers of Charity, the contemplative branch of the Sisters, the Contemplative Brothers, the Missionary Fathers of Charity, the Co-workers of Mother Teresa and the Sick and Suffering Co-workers. Later, the congregation of Lay Missionaries of Charity and the Corpus Christi Priestly Movement emerged.
He was attentive to his immense work. She rested little, hardly ate, prayed for hours and cared for the poor.
In 1979 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Since then the media closely followed his works, which bore witness to the joy of loving and the greatness and dignity of each human person.
Until the end of her life, and despite her health problems, Mother Teresa continued to serve the poor.
After meeting Saint John Paul II for the last time, he returned to Calcutta and on September 5, 1997 he left for the Father’s House.
During the Beatification Mass, on October 19, 2003, Saint John Paul II said of her: “Let us venerate this little woman in love with God, humble messenger of the Gospel and tireless benefactor of humanity. Let us honor in her one of the personalities most relevant of our time. Let us accept their message and follow their example.
She was canonized on September 4, 2016 by Pope Francis.
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