Today is the 115th anniversary of the birth of Mother Teresa.

2025-08-26 14:02:00, Aktualitet CNA

115 years ago today, Saint and missionary Mother Teresa was born. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, known as Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, was born on August 26, 1910.

Mother Teresa was an Indian Catholic nun and missionary. She was born in Skopje, to an Albanian family, then the capital of the Kosovo Vilayet in the Ottoman Empire. She lived in her homeland for eighteen years and then moved to Ireland and then to India, where she lived most of her life.

On October 19, 2003, she was beatified and named "Blessed Teresa of Calcutta." To be canonized as a saint, she had to be recognized with a second miracle, according to the rules of the Catholic Church.

To be canonized as a saint, she had to be recognized with a second miracle, according to the rules of the Catholic Church.

A second miracle was recognized by Pope Francis in December 2015, paving the way for her to be declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. Her canonization took place on September 4, 2016, the day before the 19th anniversary of her death on September 5, which is also known as her feast day, the Canonization Day of Mother Teresa.

Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Catholic congregation, which in 2012 had more than 4,500 sisters and was active in 133 countries.

They provided homes for people infected with HIV/AIDS, leprosy, and tuberculosis; they distributed food, mobile clinics, counseling programs for children and families, orphanages, and schools. Members had to adhere to vows of "chastity, poverty, and obedience," as well as a fourth condition, to provide "free and wholehearted service to the poorest of the poor."

Mother Teresa was a well-known businesswoman. She was the co-owner of a construction company in Skopje. Her company co-financed the project for the construction of Skopje's first theater. She participated in the development of the railway line connecting Kosovo with Skopje, a project that she had personally financed.

Mother Teresa always said that she was very proud that her family never left anyone empty-handed or empty-hearted. She also visited Kosovo several times. She was admired everywhere for her charitable works.

Mother Teresa has been honored with the highest awards and honors, including: the 1962 Ramon Magsaysay Peace Prize and the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize.

A controversial figure both during her lifetime and after her death, Mother Teresa was widely admired by many for her charitable works. She was praised and criticized for various causes, such as her views on abortion and contraception.

Her authorized biography was written by Navin Chawla and published in 1992, she has been the subject of other films and books. On 6 September 2017, Teresa and Saint Francis Xavier were named co-patrons of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Calcutta.

On September 10, 1946, Teresa experienced what she later described as a "call within a call" when she traveled by train to the Loreto convent in Darjeeling from Calcutta for her annual retreat.

Today is the 115th anniversary of the birth of Mother Teresa.

She began missionary work with the poor in 1948, replacing her traditional Loreto habit with a simple white cotton sari with a blue stripe. Teresa took Indian citizenship, spent several months in Patna receiving basic medical training at the Holy Family Hospital, and went into the slums.

She founded a school in Motijhil, Calcutta, before she began caring for the poor and hungry.

In early 1949 Teresa was joined in her efforts by a group of young women and laid the foundations for a new religious community helping "the poorest of the poor".

Her efforts quickly attracted the attention of Indian officials, including the prime minister.

On October 7, 1950, Teresa received Vatican permission for the diocesan congregation that would become the Missionaries of Charity. In her words, it would care for "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, for all those people who feel unwanted, unloved by all of society, people who have become a burden to society and are shamed by everyone."

In 1952, Teresa opened her first hospice with the help of Calcutta officials. She converted an abandoned Hindu temple into the Kalighat Home for the Dying, free for the poor, and called it Kalighat, the Home of the Pure Heart (Nirmal Hriday).

Mother Teresa said: "By blood, I am Albanian, by nationality, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As for my vocation, I belong to the world. As for my heart, I belong completely to the heart of Jesus." She spoke five languages ??fluently - Bengali, Albanian, Serbian, English and Hindi.

At the height of the Siege of Beirut in 1982, Teresa rescued 37 children trapped in a front-line hospital by brokering a temporary ceasefire between the Israeli army and Palestinian guerrillas. Accompanied by Red Cross workers, she traveled through the war zone to the hospital to evacuate the young patients.

As Eastern Europe experienced increased openness in the late 1980s, Mother Teresa expanded her efforts to communist countries that had rejected the Missionaries of Charity. She began dozens of projects, unsettled by criticism of her anti-abortion and anti-divorce stances.

Teresa traveled to help the hungry in Ethiopia, victims of radiation in Chernobyl, and earthquake victims in Armenia. In 1991 she returned to Albania for the first time, opening a Missionaries of Charity house in Tirana.

By 1996, Teresa had operated 517 missions in over 100 countries. Her Missionaries of Charity grew from twelve to thousands, serving the "poorest of the poor" in 450 centers around the world.

The first Missionaries of Charity home in the United States was established in the South Bronx area of ??New York City, and by 1984 the congregation operated 19 institutions across the country.

commemorations

Mother Teresa's name is commemorated and many important buildings bear her name. Her name is found on buildings, streets and complexes, including Albania's international airport. Mother Teresa Day (Dita e Nënë Terezës), 19 October, is a public holiday in Albania. In 2009 the Mother Teresa Memorial House was opened in her hometown, Skopje, North Macedonia.

The Roman Catholic Cathedral in Pristina, Kosovo, bears her name. Cathedral of Saint Mother Teresa in Pristina.

Mother Teresa Women's University, Kodaikanal, was established in 1984 as a public university by the Government of Tamil Nadu. Mother Teresa Postgraduate and Research Institute of Health Sciences, Pondicherry, was established in 1999 by the Government of Puducherry.

The charity Sevalaya runs the Mother Teresa Girls' Home, providing poor and orphaned girls near the village of Kasuva in Tamil Nadu with free food, clothing, shelter and education.

The Indian Railways launched the "Mother Express", a new train named after Mother Teresa, on 26 August 2010 to commemorate her birth anniversary. The Tamil Nadu government organised centenary celebrations to honour Teresa on 4 December 2010 in Chennai, presided over by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.

Starting from 5 September 2013, the anniversary of her death has been designated International Day of Charity by the United Nations General Assembly.

On September 5, 2017, the Cathedral of Saint Teresa, the first Roman Catholic cathedral named in honor of Teresa, was consecrated in Kosovo. The cathedral is also the first Roman Catholic cathedral in Kosovo./ CNA