Mother Teresa (1910 - 1997)
US President Reagan presents Mother Teresa with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985
Mother Teresa's funeral in 1997
September 10th 1946: Mother Teresa’s vision
On this day in 1910, Mother Teresa had the vision from God which inspired her to dedicate her life to helping the poor. She was born in 1910 as Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu to an Albanian family in Skopje, Macedonia which was then part of the Ottoman Empire. Bojaxhiu became a nun when she was eighteen, and joined the Sisters of Loreto. In 1946, while on a train to Darjeeling, she claimed that she had a vision of God telling her to “leave the convent and help the poor while living among them”. The young nun obeyed, and began to live among the poor in India, during which time that she transitioned from being known as Sister Teresa to Mother Teresa. In 1950, Mother Teresa established ‘Missionaries of Charity’, a Catholic congregation which helps the poor, the ill, and the homeless. Members of the order, which still continues to do good works, make four vows, the last of which is to give “Wholehearted and Free service to the poorest of the poor”. Teresa’s work drew great international attention, receiving the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985. While being praised by many she was also a figure of controversy, partly due to her opposition to contraception and for her organisation’s acceptance of large donations from disreputable sources. Mother Teresa died in Calcutta on 5th September 1997, aged 87.
“I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them. It was an order. To fail would have been to break the faith.”
- Mother Teresa on her message from God
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