Many Christians in the Catholic Church are found of talking about Mother Teresa of Calcutta, but who was she? Mother Teresa of Calcutta is
recognized throughout the Catholic Church world wide.
Her work among the poor people was beatified
on October 19, 2003. The Archbishop of Kampala Catholic Archdiocese Lwanga Kizito says that the people who were present at this function were hundreds of Missionaries of Charity among others.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta founded the missionaries of charity in 1950 as a diocesan religious community. The charity brings together many
contemplative sisters and brothers and an order of priests.
She was born to Albanian
parents in what is now Skopje, Macedonia (then part of the Ottoman Empire).
Mother Teresa of Calcutta original names Gonxha (Agnes) Bojaxhiu
was the youngest of the three children of her parents. Her parents’ family was well off for sometime but life changed overnight following the death of her father.
During her years in school Agnes participated in a
Catholic sodality and she showed strong interests in foreign missions. That was at the age of 18. She later entered the
Loreto Sisters of Dublin. It was in 1928 when she said goodbye to her mother for the final time and she
made her way to a new land and a new life. In 1929, she was sent to the Loreto novitiate
in Darjeeling, India, where she chose the name Teresa and prepared for a life of service. She was
assigned to a high school for girls in Calcutta, where she taught history and geography to the daughters of the wealthy.
In 1946, while riding a train to Darjeeling to make a retreat, Sister Teresa heard what she later explained as a call within a call. The message was clear. The message required her to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them.
She also heard another call to give up her life with the Sisters of Loreto and follow Christ into the slums to serve him among the poor people.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta when she left Loreto, establish a new
religious community and undertaken her new work. Sister Teresa took a nursing course for several months and again returned to Calcutta, where she lived in the slums and opened up a school for poor children.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta used to dress in a white sari and sandals (the ordinary dress of an Indian woman) and she began treating the poor sick people and got to know their needs through visits. In a nutshell Mother Teresa of Calcutta worked tirelessly on behalf of the poor and her love knew no bounds. In 1979 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize but on September 5th 1997 she died.
Written by Walakira Nyanzi
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