mother teresa

It took more than two years to become a Loreto nun. After spending six weeks in Ireland learning the history of the Loreto order and to study English, Mother Teresa then traveled to India, where she arrived on January 6, 1929. After two years as a novice, Mother Teresa took her first vows as a Loreto nun on May 24, 1931.As a new Loreto nun, Mother Teresa (known then only as Sister Teresa, a name she chose after St. Teresa of Lisieux) settled in to the Loreto Entally convent in Kolkata (previously called Calcutta) and began teaching history and geography at the convent schools. Usually, Loreto nuns were not allowed to leave the convent; however, in 1935, 25-year-old Mother Teresa was given a special exemption to teach at a school outside of the convent, St. Teresa's. After two years at St. Teresa's, Mother Teresa took her final vows on May 24, 1937 and officially became Mother Teresa.Almost immediately after taking her final vows, Mother Teresa became the principal of St. Mary's, one of the convent schools and was once again restricted to live within the convent's walls.

For nine years, Mother Teresa continued as the principal of St. Mary's. Then on September 10, 1946, a day now annually celebrated as Inspiration Day, Mother Teresa received what she described as a call within a call. She had been traveling on a train to Darjeeling when she received an inspiration, a message that told her to leave the convent and help the poor by living among them. For two years Mother Teresa patiently petitioned her superiors for permission to leave the convent in order to follow her call. It was a long and frustrating process. To her superiors, it seemed dangerous and futile to send a single woman out into the slums of Kolkata. However, in the end, Mother Teresa was granted permission to leave the convent for one year to help the poorest of the poor.

In preparation for leaving the convent, Mother Teresa purchased three cheap, white, cotton saris, each one lined with three blue stripes along its edge. (This later became the uniform for the nuns at Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity.) After 20 years with the Loreto order, Mother Teresa left the convent on August 16, 1948.Rather than going directly to the slums, Mother Teresa first spent several weeks in Patna with the Medical Mission Sisters to obtain some basic medical knowledge. Having learned the basics, 38-year-old Mother Teresa felt ready to venture out into the slums in December of 1948.

Mother Teresa started with what she knew. After walking around the slums for a while, she found some small children and began to teach them. She had no classroom, no desks, no chalkboard, and no paper, so she picked up a stick and began drawing letters in the dirt. Class had begun. Soon after, Mother Teresa found a small hut that she rented and turned it into a classroom. Mother Teresa also visited the children's families and others in the area, offering a smile and limited medical help. As people began to hear about her work, they gave donations.

In March 1949, Mother Teresa was joined by her first helper, a former pupil from Loreto. Soon she had ten former pupils helping her.At the end of Mother Teresa's provisionary year, she petitioned to form her own order of nuns, the Missionaries of Charity. Her request was granted by Pope Pius XII; the Missionaries of Charity was established on October 7, 1950.

There were literally millions of people in need in India. Droughts, the caste system, India's independence, and partition all contributed to the masses of people that lived on the streets. India's government was trying, but they could not handle the overwhelming multitudes that needed help. While the hospitals were overflowing with patients that had a chance to survive, Mother Teresa opened a home for the dying, called Nirmal Hriday (Place of the Immaculate Heart), on August 22, 1952. Each day, nuns would walk through the streets and bring people who were dying to Nirmal Hriday, located in a building donated by the city of Kolkata. The nuns would bathe and feed these people and then place them in a cot. These people were given the opportunity to die with dignity, with the rituals of their faith. In 1955, the Missionaries of Charity opened their first children's home (Shishu Bhavan), which cared for orphans. These children were housed and fed and given medical aid. When possible, the children were adopted out. Those not adopted were given an education, learned a trade skill, and found marriages.

In India's slums, huge numbers of people were infected with leprosy, a disease that can lead to major disfiguration. At the time, lepers (people infected with leprosy) were ostracized, often abandoned by their families. Because of the widespread fear of lepers, Mother Teresa struggled to find a way to help these neglected people. Mother Teresa eventually created a Leprosy Fund and a Leprosy Day to help educate the public about the disease and established a number of mobile leper clinics (the first opened in September 1957) to provide lepers with medicine and bandages near their homes. By the mid-1960s, Mother Teresa had established a leper colony called Shanti Nagar (The Place of Peace) where lepers could live and work.

Just before the Missionaries of Charity celebrated its 10th anniversary, they were given permission to establish houses outside of Calcutta, but still within India. Almost immediately, houses were established in Delhi, Ranchi, and Jhansi; more soon followed. For their 15th anniversary, the Missionaries of Charity was given permission to establish houses outside of India. The first house was established in Venezuela in 1965. Soon there were Missionaries of Charity houses all around the world.

As Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity expanded at an amazing rate, so did international recognition for her work. Although Mother Teresa was awarded numerous honors, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, she never took personal credit for her accomplishments. She said it was God's work and that she was just the tool used to facilitate it.

With international recognition also came critique. Some people complained that the houses for the sick and dying were not sanitary, that those treating the sick were not properly trained in medicine, that Mother Teresa was more interested in helping the dying go to God than in potentially helping cure them. Others claimed that she helped people just so she could convert them to Christianity.

Mother Teresa also caused much controversy when she openly spoke against abortion and birth control. Others critiqued her because they believed that with her new celebrity status, she could have worked to end the poverty rather than soften its symptoms.

Despite the controversy, Mother Teresa continued to be an advocate for those in need. In the 1980s, Mother Teresa, already in her 70s, opened Gift of Love homes in New York, San Francisco, Denver, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for AIDS sufferers. Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, Mother Teresa's health deteriorated, but she still traveled the world, spreading her message. When Mother Teresa, age 87, died of heart failure on September 5, 1997, the world mourned her passing. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets to see her body, while millions more watched her state funeral on television. After the funeral, Mother Teresa's body was laid to rest at the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata.

When Mother Teresa passed away, she left behind over 4,000 Missionary of Charity Sisters, in 610 centers in 123 countries.After Mother Teresa's death, the Vatican began the lengthy process of canonization. On October 19, 2003, the third of the four steps to sainthood was completed when the Pope approved Mother Teresa's beatification, awarding Mother Teresa the title Blessed.

Mother Teresa is a household name for her good works, but many people don?t know much about her beyond ?nun who helped the poor.? On the anniversary of her being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, here are 20 facts about Mother Teresa.She was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in 1910 in Albania, to a financially comfortable family ? they lived in one of the two houses they owned. Her father died when she was 8 years old, which ended her family?s financial security. Agnes was fascinated with missionaries from an early age, and she knew by age 12 that she would commit herself to a religious vocation.When she was 18 years old, Agnes left home and joined the Sisters of Loreto in Rathfarnham, Ireland.Although she lived to be 87 years old, she never saw her mother or sister again after the day she left for Ireland.After a year learning English in Ireland, Agnes transferred to the Sisters of Loreto convent in Darjeeling, India.

She took her vows as a nun in 1931, and that?s when she chose the name Teresa ? to honor Saints Therese of Lisieux and Teresa of Avila. Therese of Lisieux is the patron saint of missionaries ? which attracted Agnes to her ? as well as the patron saint of florists, Australia, AIDS sufferers and others. Teresa of Avila is the patron saint of people in religious orders, lacemakers, Spain and more. Teresa began teaching history and geography in Calcutta at St. Mary?s, a high school for the daughters of the wealthy. She remained there for 15 years and enjoyed the work, but was distressed by the poverty she saw all around her. In 1946, Teresa traveled to Darjeeling for a retreat. It was on that journey that she realized what her true calling was: ?I heard the call to give up all and follow Christ into the slums to serve him among the poorest of the poor.? It took two years of preparation before she was able to begin doing the work she felt compelled to do. She needed to receive permission from the Sisters of Loreto to leave the order ? while retaining her vows ? as well as permission from the Archbishop of Calcutta to live and work among the poor. She also prepared by taking a nursing course. In 1948, Teresa set aside her nun?s habit ? adopting instead the simple sari and sandals worn by the women she would be living among ? and moved to a small rented hovel in the slums to begin her work.Teresa?s first year in the slums was particularly hard. She was used to a life of comparative comfort, and now she had no income and no way to obtain food and supplies other than begging. She was often tempted to return to convent life, and had to rely on her determination and faith to get herself through it.

In 1946, Mother Teresa received a divine message, possibly an intuition, after which she decided to devote her life to the betterment of society. In 1948, she started working with the poor. She soon became an Indian citizen and toured to different parts of India to uplift the downtrodden. In 1950, she was granted permission to establish the diocesan congregation, which would work for those, whom she described as the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers and all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone. The congregation extended far and wide and came to be known as the 'Missionaries of Charity', one of the very big organizations with centers all around the world.

In 1952, she founded the first Home for the Dying in India. Later, she converted an unused Hindu temple into Kalighat Home for the Dying. People from all religions were accepted into Kalighat, where they would receive medical attention and care. She soon opened a home for lepers in Shanti Nagar. In 1955, Mother Teresa went ahead to open the Nirmala Shishu Bhavan, a home for the orphan and homeless children.

The Missionaries of Charity established by Mother Teresa continued growing to reach different parts of India. It opened several orphanages and leper houses across India, and later, in different parts of the world. The first house of the Missionaries of Charity that was established outside India was the one in Venezuela, which was opened in 1965. By 2007, the Missionaries of Charity had established 600 missions, schools and homes in 120 nations and had thousands of nuns working for it.

In 1962, Mother Teresa was awarded the Padma Shri, followed by the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1972 and the Bharat Ratna in 1980. She was honored with the Philippines-based Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding in 1962. In 1971, she received the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize from Pope Paul VI. She was honored with the Pacem in Terris Award in 1976. In 1996, she received the honorary citizenship of the United States of America.For her struggle to overcome poverty and remove the sorrow and suffering from society, she was awarded the Noble Prize for Peace. She selflessly donated an amount of $192,000 to India to be used for the upliftment of the poor in the country. According to her, rewards were important only if they would help her work for the helpless. Mother Teresa left for heavenly abode on September 5, 1997. After death, she reached sainthood and has been beatified. She has always proved to be an epitome of humanity and continues to be admired by people the world over.

For her unwavering commitment and unflinching love and compassion that she devoutly shared, the Government of India honoured her with Padma Shri, Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding and Bharat Ratna, India?s highest civilian award.In 1962, she was honoured with Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding, for her merciful cognizance of the abject poor of a foreign land, in whose service she led a new congregation.In 1971, she was awarded the first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize for her work with the poor, display of Christian charity and efforts for peace.1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace.