Eduardo Ocón

MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA

BIOGRAPHY

Agnes Gonxa Bojaxhin, known as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, was born on August 26, 1910 in Skopje (Macedonia) and died of a heart attack on September 5, 1997.

Agnes was the youngest of three children born to Nicola and Drane. When Agnes was nine years old, her father died. Drane raised her children and influenced Agnes character and vocation.

Gonxha attended public school in Skopje where she was moved by a desire to become a missionary. In September 1928, she left her home to join the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Sisters of Loreto, in Ireland. There, Agnes Gonxha received the name of Sister Mary Teresa. In 1929 she was assigned to the Loreto Entally community in Calcutta and taught at St Mary’s School for girls. 

Although the school was close to the slums, the students were wealthy. So, in 1946 Mother Teresa felt she had to leave the convent life and work directly with the poor. Her first task was to teach unschooled children from the slums. After that, in 1948, Mother Teresa established a religious community Missionaries of Charity dedicated to the service of the poorest among the poor. Nine years later, her group began to work with lepers and they also opened nine elementary schools in Calcutta and a home for orphans and abandoned children. She was always wearing a white and blue-bordered sari. 

Mother Teresa was awarded the Prize of Peace by the Pope John Paul II in 1971 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She said “for the glory of God and in the name of the poor”. In 1997 Mother Teresa’s Sisters numbered nearly 4000 members and established 610 foundations in 123 countries in the world.

I admire Mother Teresa because in my opinion her simplicity is based in six ideas:

The fruit of silence is the prayer.

The fruit of prayer is the faith.

The fruit of the faith is love.

The fruit of love is service.

The fruit of service is peace.

The whole of Mother Teresa’s life and labour is loved by every human person.

She said “the value of little things done faithfully and with love” and “the surpassing worth of friendship with God”. 

I think that Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Mother to the poor is a symbol of compassion to the world.

Pope John II opened Cause for her Canonization in 2002.