St. Teresa of Calcutta: ‘Mother to the poor’

Feast day: Sept. 5

Mother Teresa opened the first convent for the Missionaries of Charity in Charlotte during her visit to the city in 1995, accompanied by then-Bishop William Curlin. (File, Catholic News Herald)Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the tiny woman recognized throughout the world for her work among the poorest of the poor, was beatified Oct. 19, 2003. Among those present were hundreds of Missionaries of Charity, the order she founded in 1950 as a diocesan religious community. Today the congregation also includes contemplative sisters and brothers, and an order of priests.

Born to Albanian parents in what is now Skopje, Macedonia, Gonxha (Agnes) Bojaxhiu was the youngest of the three children who survived. For a time, the family lived comfortably, and her father’s construction business thrived. But life changed overnight following his unexpected death.

During her years in public school, Agnes participated in a Catholic sodality (confraternity) and showed a strong interest in the foreign missions. At age 18, she entered the Loreto Sisters of Dublin. It was 1928 when she said goodbye to her mother for the final time and made her way to a new land and a new life. The following year she was sent to the Loreto novitiate in Darjeeling, India. There 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. But she could not escape the realities around her – the poverty, the suffering, the overwhelming numbers of destitute people.

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. I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them.” She also heard a call to give up her life with the Sisters of Loreto and instead, to “follow Christ into the slums to serve him among the poorest of the poor.”

After receiving permission to leave Loreto, establish a new religious community, and undertake her new work, Sister Teresa took a nursing course for several months. She returned to Calcutta, where she lived in the slums and opened a school for poor children. Dressed in a white sari and sandals – the ordinary dress of an Indian woman – she soon began getting to know her neighbors – especially the poor and sick – and getting to know their needs through visits.

The work was exhausting, but she was not alone for long. Volunteers who came to join her in the work, some of them former students, became the core of the Missionaries of Charity. Others helped by donating food, clothing, supplies and the use of buildings. In 1952, the city of Calcutta gave Mother Teresa a former hostel, which became a home for the dying and the destitute. As the Missionaries of Charity expanded their reach, services were extended to help orphans, abandoned children, alcoholics, the aging and street people.

For the next four decades, Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity worked tirelessly on behalf of the poor and forgotten. Her love knew no bounds. Nor did her energy, as she crisscrossed the globe pleading for support and inviting others to see the face of Jesus in the poorest of the poor. In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1995, Mother Teresa visited Charlotte at the invitation of then Bishop William Curlin, who was a close friend and her confessor. She spoke to a crowd of thousands at Bojangles’ Coliseum, and she officially opened a convent for the Missionaries of Charity to serve the poor and vulnerable women in the city.

Mother Teresa died Sept. 5, 1997, and she was canonized by Pope Francis on Sept. 4, 2016.

She left a testament of unshakable faith, invincible hope and extraordinary charity. Her response to God’s call made her a “mother to the poor,” a symbol of compassion to the world, and a living witness to the thirsting love of God.

— Spencer K.M. Brown, Franciscan Media and catholic.org

Prayer for the intercession of St. Teresa of Calcutta

St. Teresa of Calcutta, you allowed the thirsting love of Jesus on the Cross to become a living flame within you, and so became the light of His love to all. Obtain from the Heart of Jesus (make your request here). Teach me to allow Jesus to penetrate and possess my whole being so completely that my life, too, may radiate His light and love to others. Amen.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, Cause of Our Joy, pray for us.
St. Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us.