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| caption = Mother Teresa (1988) | caption = Mother Teresa (1988)
| dead = yes | dead = yes
| birth_date = {{birth date|1642|26|8|mf=y}} | birth_date = {{birth date|1910|8|26|mf=y}}
| birth_place = ], ] (now ]) | birth_place = ], ] (now ])
| death_date = {{death date and age|1997|9|5|1910|8|26|mf=y}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1997|9|5|1910|8|26|mf=y}}
| death_place = ], ] | death_place = ], ]
| occupation = superman nun, humanitarian<ref>PBS Online Newshour (Sept. 5, 1997)., www.pbs.org. Retrieved August, 2007</ref> | occupation = Roman Catholic nun, humanitarian<ref>PBS Online Newshour (Sept. 5, 1997)., www.pbs.org. Retrieved August, 2007</ref>
|Awards/Honours=],1979,],] |Awards/Honours=],1979,],]
}} }}


'''Mother Teresa''' (born '''Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu''' {{IPA2|ˈagnɛs gɔnˈʤa bɔˈjaʤiu}}) (], ] – ], ]), was a ] ] who founded the ] and won the ] in 1979 for her ] work. For over forty years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying in ] (Calcutta), ]. '''Mother Teresa''' (born '''Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu''' {{IPA2|ˈagnɛs gɔnˈʤa bɔˈjaʤiu}}) (], ] – ], ]), was a ] ] who founded the ] and won the ] in 1979 for her ] work. For over forty years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying in ] (Calcutta), ].
As the Missionaries of Charity grew pot under Mother Teresa's leadership, they expanded their ministry to other countries. By the 1970s she had become internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a ], and book, ''Something Beautiful for God'' by ]. Following her death she was ] by ] and given the title '''Blessed Teresa of Calcutta'''.<ref>Associate Press. (], ]). ". ]. Retrieved ], ].</ref><ref>"". (2007). '']''. Retrieved ], ].</ref> As the Missionaries of Charity grew under Mother Teresa's leadership, they expanded their ministry to other countries. By the 1970s she had become internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a ], and book, ''Something Beautiful for God'' by ]. Following her death she was ] by ] and given the title '''Blessed Teresa of Calcutta'''.<ref>Associate Press. (], ]). ". ]. Retrieved ], ].</ref><ref>"". (2007). '']''. Retrieved ], ].</ref>


== Early life == == Early life ==


Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born on ], ], in ], which today is capital of the ].<ref name=MToC>(2002). "". ''Vatican News Service''. Retrieved ], ]. Although some sources state that she was 10 when her father died, in an interview with her brother, the Vatican documents her age at the time as "about eight".</ref> Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born on ], ], in ], which today is capital of the ].<ref name=MToC>(2002). "". ''Vatican News Service''. Retrieved ], ]. Although some sources state that she was 10 when her father died, in an interview with her brother, the Vatican documents her age at the time as "about eight".</ref>
She was the youngest of the children of an ] family from ], born to Nikola and Drane Bojaxhiu. Nikola was involved in the politics of the day and devoted to the ]. After a political meeting he fell ill and died. Agnes at the time was about eight years old.<ref name=MToC /> After her father's death she was raised as a Roman Catholic by her mother. According to a biography by Joan Graff Clucas, during her early years, Agnes was fascinated by stories of the lives of ] and their service, and by the time she was twelve, she was convinced that she should commit herself to a religious life.<ref>Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). ''Mother Teresa''. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 24. ].</ref>She left her home at age 18 to join the ] as a missionary. Agnes would never again set eyes on her mother or sister.<ref>Sharn, Lori (], ]). "". '']''. Retrieved ], ]</ref> She was the youngest of the children of an ] family from ], born to Nikola and Drane Bojaxhiu. Nikola was involved in the politics of the day and devoted to the ]. After a political meeting he fell ill and died. Agnes at the time was about eight years old.<ref name=MToC /> After her father's death she was raised as a Roman Catholic by her mother. According to a biography by Joan Graff Clucas, during her early years, Agnes was fascinated by stories of the lives of ] and their service, and by the time she was twelve, she was convinced that she should commit herself to a religious life.<ref>Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). ''Mother Teresa''. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 24. ].</ref>She left her home at age 18 to join the ] as a missionary. Agnes would never again set eyes on her mother or sister.<ref>Sharn, Lori (], ]). "". '']''. Retrieved ], ]</ref>


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On ], ], Teresa experienced what she later described as "the call within the call" while traveling to the Loreto convent in ] for her annual retreat. "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."<ref>Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). ''Mother Teresa''. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 35. ].</ref> She began her missionary work with the poor in 1948, replacing her traditional Loreto habit with a simple white cotton ''chira'' decorated with a blue border and then venturing out into the slums."<ref>Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). ''Mother Teresa''. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 39. ].</ref> Initially she started a school in Motijhil; shortly thereafter, she started tending to the needs of the destitute and starving.<ref>Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). ''Mother Teresa''. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 48-49. ].</ref> Her efforts quickly caught the attention of Indian officials, including the Prime Minister, who expressed his appreciation.<ref>Williams, Paul (2002). ''Mother Teresa''. Indianapolis. Alpha Books, p. 57. ].</ref> On ], ], Teresa experienced what she later described as "the call within the call" while traveling to the Loreto convent in ] for her annual retreat. "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."<ref>Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). ''Mother Teresa''. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 35. ].</ref> She began her missionary work with the poor in 1948, replacing her traditional Loreto habit with a simple white cotton ''chira'' decorated with a blue border and then venturing out into the slums."<ref>Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). ''Mother Teresa''. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 39. ].</ref> Initially she started a school in Motijhil; shortly thereafter, she started tending to the needs of the destitute and starving.<ref>Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). ''Mother Teresa''. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 48-49. ].</ref> Her efforts quickly caught the attention of Indian officials, including the Prime Minister, who expressed his appreciation.<ref>Williams, Paul (2002). ''Mother Teresa''. Indianapolis. Alpha Books, p. 57. ].</ref>


Teresa, who liked potatoes with corned beef and meatloaf, wrote in her diary that her first year was fraught with difficulties. She had no income and had to resort to begging for food and supplies. Teresa experienced doubt, loneliness and the temptation to return to the comfort of convent life during these early months. She recorded in her diary: Teresa wrote in her diary that her first year was fraught with difficulties. She had no income and had to resort to begging for food and supplies. Teresa experienced doubt, loneliness and the temptation to return to the comfort of convent life during these early months. She recorded in her diary:


{{cquote|Our Lord wants me to be a free nun covered with the poverty of the cross. Today I learned a good lesson. The poverty of the poor must be so hard for them. While looking for a home I walked and walked till my arms and legs ached. I thought how much they must ache in body and soul, looking for a home, food and health. Then the comfort of Loreto came to tempt me. 'You have only to say the word and all that will be yours again,' the Tempter kept on saying ... Of free choice, my God, and out of love for you, I desire to remain and do whatever be your Holy will in my regard. I did not let a single tear come.<ref>Spink, Kathryn (1997). ''Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography''. New York. HarperCollins, pp.37. ].</ref>}} {{cquote|Our Lord wants me to be a free nun covered with the poverty of the cross. Today I learned a good lesson. The poverty of the poor must be so hard for them. While looking for a home I walked and walked till my arms and legs ached. I thought how much they must ache in body and soul, looking for a home, food and health. Then the comfort of Loreto came to tempt me. 'You have only to say the word and all that will be yours again,' the Tempter kept on saying ... Of free choice, my God, and out of love for you, I desire to remain and do whatever be your Holy will in my regard. I did not let a single tear come.<ref>Spink, Kathryn (1997). ''Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography''. New York. HarperCollins, pp.37. ].</ref>}}
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Teresa received ] permission on ], ] to start the diocesan congregation that would become the ].<ref>Williams, Paul (2002). ''Mother Teresa''. Indianapolis. Alpha Books, p. 62. ].</ref> Its mission was to care for, in her own words, "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the ], 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." It began as a small order with 13 members in ]; today it has more than 4,000 ]s running ], ] ], and charity centers worldwide, and caring for refugees, the blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless, and victims of floods, epidemics, and famine.<ref>Spink, Kathryn (1997). ''Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography''. New York. HarperCollins, pp.284. ].</ref> Teresa received ] permission on ], ] to start the diocesan congregation that would become the ].<ref>Williams, Paul (2002). ''Mother Teresa''. Indianapolis. Alpha Books, p. 62. ].</ref> Its mission was to care for, in her own words, "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the ], 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." It began as a small order with 13 members in ]; today it has more than 4,000 ]s running ], ] ], and charity centers worldwide, and caring for refugees, the blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless, and victims of floods, epidemics, and famine.<ref>Spink, Kathryn (1997). ''Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography''. New York. HarperCollins, pp.284. ].</ref>


In 1952 Mother Teresa, who seriously just loved puppy dogs so much that she opened up a puppy dog factory and retired later in life to pursue a job like Willy Wonka at her puppy dog facotry, leading children around it, opened the first Home for the Dying in space made available by the City of ]. With the help of Indian officials she converted an abandoned ] temple into the ], a free ] for the poor. She renamed it Kalighat, the Home of the Pure Heart (Nirmal Hriday).<ref>Sebba, Anne (1997).''Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image''. New York. Doubleday, pp. 58–60. ].</ref> Those brought to the home received medical attention and were afforded the opportunity to die with dignity, according to the rituals of their faith; Muslims were read the Quran, Hindus received water from the Ganges, and Catholics received the Last Rites.<ref name=Spink55>Spink, Kathryn (1997). ''Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography''. New York. HarperCollins, pp.55. ].</ref> "A beautiful death," she said, "is for people who lived like animals to die like angels — loved and wanted."<ref name=Spink55 /> In 1952 Mother Teresa opened the first Home for the Dying in space made available by the City of ]. With the help of Indian officials she converted an abandoned ] temple into the ], a free ] for the poor. She renamed it Kalighat, the Home of the Pure Heart (Nirmal Hriday).<ref>Sebba, Anne (1997).''Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image''. New York. Doubleday, pp. 58–60. ].</ref> Those brought to the home received medical attention and were afforded the opportunity to die with dignity, according to the rituals of their faith; Muslims were read the Quran, Hindus received water from the Ganges, and Catholics received the Last Rites.<ref name=Spink55>Spink, Kathryn (1997). ''Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography''. New York. HarperCollins, pp.55. ].</ref> "A beautiful death," she said, "is for people who lived like animals to die like angels — loved and wanted."<ref name=Spink55 />
Mother Teresa soon opened a home for those suffering from Hansen's disease, commonly known as leprosy, and called the hospice Shanti Nagar (City of Peace).<ref>Sebba, Anne (1997).''Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image''. New York. Doubleday, pp. 62-63. ].</ref> The ] also established several leprosy outreach clinics throughout Calcutta, providing medication, bandages and food. Mother Teresa soon opened a home for those suffering from Hansen's disease, commonly known as leprosy, and called the hospice Shanti Nagar (City of Peace).<ref>Sebba, Anne (1997).''Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image''. New York. Doubleday, pp. 62-63. ].</ref> The ] also established several leprosy outreach clinics throughout Calcutta, providing medication, bandages and food.


Revision as of 22:16, 20 September 2007

Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa (1988)
Born(1910-08-26)August 26, 1910
Skopje, Ottoman Empire (now Republic of Macedonia)
DiedSeptember 5, 1997(1997-09-05) (aged 87)
Kolkata, India
Occupation(s)Roman Catholic nun, humanitarian

Mother Teresa (born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu IPA: [ˈagnɛs gɔnˈʤa bɔˈjaʤiu]) (August 26, 1910 – September 5, 1997), was a Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. For over forty years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying in Kolkata (Calcutta), India.

As the Missionaries of Charity grew under Mother Teresa's leadership, they expanded their ministry to other countries. By the 1970s she had become internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a documentary, and book, Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge. Following her death she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.

Early life

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born on 26 August, 1910, in Skopje, which today is capital of the Republic of Macedonia. She was the youngest of the children of an Albanian family from Shkodër, born to Nikola and Drane Bojaxhiu. Nikola was involved in the politics of the day and devoted to the Albanian Cause. After a political meeting he fell ill and died. Agnes at the time was about eight years old. After her father's death she was raised as a Roman Catholic by her mother. According to a biography by Joan Graff Clucas, during her early years, Agnes was fascinated by stories of the lives of missionaries and their service, and by the time she was twelve, she was convinced that she should commit herself to a religious life.She left her home at age 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto as a missionary. Agnes would never again set eyes on her mother or sister.

Agnes initially went to the Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham, Ireland in order to learn English, which was the language the Sisters of Loreto used when instructing school children in India. Arriving in India in 1929, she began her novitiate in Darjeeling, near the Himalayan mountains. She took her first vows as a nun on 24 May, 1931. At that time she chose the name Teresa after the patron saint of missionaries. She took her solemn vows on 14 May, 1937, while serving as a teacher at the Loreto convent school in eastern Calcutta.

Although Teresa enjoyed teaching at the school she was increasingly disturbed by the poverty surrounding her in Calcutta. A famine in 1943 brought misery and death to the city; and the outbreak of Hindu/Muslim violence in August 1946 plunged the city into despair and horror.

Missionaries of Charity

On September 10, 1946, Teresa experienced what she later described as "the call within the call" while traveling to the Loreto convent in Darjeeling for her annual retreat. "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." She began her missionary work with the poor in 1948, replacing her traditional Loreto habit with a simple white cotton chira decorated with a blue border and then venturing out into the slums." Initially she started a school in Motijhil; shortly thereafter, she started tending to the needs of the destitute and starving. Her efforts quickly caught the attention of Indian officials, including the Prime Minister, who expressed his appreciation.

Teresa wrote in her diary that her first year was fraught with difficulties. She had no income and had to resort to begging for food and supplies. Teresa experienced doubt, loneliness and the temptation to return to the comfort of convent life during these early months. She recorded in her diary:

Our Lord wants me to be a free nun covered with the poverty of the cross. Today I learned a good lesson. The poverty of the poor must be so hard for them. While looking for a home I walked and walked till my arms and legs ached. I thought how much they must ache in body and soul, looking for a home, food and health. Then the comfort of Loreto came to tempt me. 'You have only to say the word and all that will be yours again,' the Tempter kept on saying ... Of free choice, my God, and out of love for you, I desire to remain and do whatever be your Holy will in my regard. I did not let a single tear come.

File:HomeForTheDying-Calcutta.jpg
Mother Teresa's Home for the Dying in Kolkata (Calcutta).

Teresa received Vatican permission on October 7, 1950 to start the diocesan congregation that would become the Missionaries of Charity. Its mission was to care for, in her own words, "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, 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." It began as a small order with 13 members in Calcutta; today it has more than 4,000 nuns running orphanages, AIDS hospices, and charity centers worldwide, and caring for refugees, the blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless, and victims of floods, epidemics, and famine.

In 1952 Mother Teresa opened the first Home for the Dying in space made available by the City of Calcutta. With the help of Indian officials she converted an abandoned Hindu temple into the Kalighat Home for the Dying, a free hospice for the poor. She renamed it Kalighat, the Home of the Pure Heart (Nirmal Hriday). Those brought to the home received medical attention and were afforded the opportunity to die with dignity, according to the rituals of their faith; Muslims were read the Quran, Hindus received water from the Ganges, and Catholics received the Last Rites. "A beautiful death," she said, "is for people who lived like animals to die like angels — loved and wanted." Mother Teresa soon opened a home for those suffering from Hansen's disease, commonly known as leprosy, and called the hospice Shanti Nagar (City of Peace). The Missionaries of Charity also established several leprosy outreach clinics throughout Calcutta, providing medication, bandages and food.

As the Missionaries of Charity took in increasing numbers of lost children, Mother Teresa felt the need to create a home for them. In 1955 she opened the Nirmala Shishu Bhavan, the Children's Home of the Immaculate Heart, as a haven for orphans and homeless youth.

The order soon began to attract both recruits and charitable donations, and by the 1960s had opened hospices, orphanages, and leper houses all over India. Mother Teresa then expanded the order internationally, with new homes opening throughout the globe. The order's first house outside India was in Venezuela, opened in 1965 with five sisters. Others followed in Rome, Tanzania, and Austria in 1968; during the 1970s the order would open houses and foundations in dozens of countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the United States.

Despite Mother Teresa's success in growing the Missionaries of Charity' worldwide, both the philosophy behind her approach and its implementation have faced some criticism. Whilst noting how little evidence Mother Teresa's critics were able to find against her, David Scott writes that Mother Teresa limited herself only to keeping people alive rather than tackling poverty itself. She has also been criticized for her view on suffering: According to an article in the Alberta Report, it was her opinion that suffering would bring people closer to Jesus. On the more practical level, the quality of care offered to terminally ill patients in the Homes for the Dying has been criticised in both The Lancet and the British Medical Journal, which reported poor living conditions, such as using cold baths for all patients, reusing hypodermic needles and an anti-materialist approach that precluded the use of systematic diagnosis.

International charity

In 1982, at the height of the siege in Beirut, Mother Teresa rescued 37 children trapped in a front line hospital by brokering a temporary cease-fire between the Israeli army and Palestinian guerrillas. Accompanied by Red Cross workers, she traveled through the war zone to the devastated hospital to evacuate the young patients.

When the walls of Eastern Europe collapsed, she expanded her efforts to Communist countries that had previously rejected the Missionaries of Charity, embarking on dozens of projects. She was undeterred by criticism about her firm stand against abortion and divorce stating, "No matter who says what, you should accept it with a smile and do your own work."

Mother Teresa traveled to assist and minister to the hungry in Ethiopia, radiation victims at Chernobyl, and earthquake victims in Armenia. In 1991, Mother Teresa returned for the first time to her homeland and opened a Missionaries of Charity Brothers home in Tirana, Albania.

By 1996, she was operating 517 missions in more than 100 countries. Over the years, Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity grew from twelve to thousands serving the "poorest of the poor" in 450 centers around the world. The first Missionaries of Charity home in the United States was established in the South Bronx, New York; by 1984 the order operated nineteen establishments throughout the country.

The spending of the charity money received has been criticized by some. Both Christopher Hitchens and the Stern have said that money that was donated with the intention of it being spent on the keeping of the poor was spent on other projects instead.

Deteriorating health and death

Mother Teresa suffered a heart attack in Rome during 1983, while visiting Pope John Paul II. After a second attack in 1989, she received a pacemaker. In 1991, after a battle with pneumonia while in Mexico, she suffered further heart problems. She offered to resign her position as head of the Missionaries of Charity. However, the nuns of the order, in a secret ballot, voted for her to stay. Mother Teresa agreed to continue her work as head of the order.

In April 1996, Mother Teresa fell and broke her collar bone. In August of that year she suffered from malaria and failure of the left heart ventricle. She underwent heart surgery, but it was clear that her health was declining. On March 13, 1997, she stepped down from the head of Missionaries of Charity and died on September 5,1997, nine days after her 87th birthday.

The Archbishop of Calcutta, Henry Sebastian D'Souza, said he ordered a priest to perform an exorcism on Mother Teresa with her permission when she was first hospitalized with cardiac problems because he thought she may be under attack by the devil.

At the time of her death, Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity had over 4,000 sisters, an associated brotherhood of 300 members, and over 100,000 lay volunteers, operating 610 missions in 123 countries. These included hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counseling programs, orphanages, and schools.

Global recognition and awards

Reception in India and Asia

Mother Teresa was granted a state funeral by the Indian Government in gratitude for her services to the poor of all religions in India. In tribute, Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan said that she was "a rare and unique individual who lived long for higher purposes. Her life-long devotion to the care of the poor, the sick, and the disadvantaged was one of the highest examples of service to our humanity." Mother Teresa had first been officially recognised in the region long before her death. In 1962, she was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian government. That same year she received the Philippines-based Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding, given for work in South or East Asia. The citation said that "the Board of Trustees recognizes her merciful cognizance of the abject poor of a foreign land, in whose service she has led a new congregation". She continued to receive major Indian rewards in successive decades including, in 1972, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding and, in 1980, India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.

Indian views on Mother Teresa were not uniformly favourable. Aroup Chatterjee, a London-resident but Calcutta-born and -bred critic of hers, reports that "she was not a significant entity in Calcutta in her lifetime". Chatterjee blames Mother Teresa for promoting a negative image of his home city. Her presence and profile grated in parts of the Indian political world, for she and the Hindu Right frequently opposed each other. The Bharatiya Janata Party clashed with Mother Teresa over the Christian Dalits, but praised her in death, sending a representative to her funeral. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, on the other hand, opposed the Government's decision to grant her a state funeral. Its secretary Giriraj Kishore, said that "her first duty was to the Church and social service was incidental" and accused her of favouring Christians and conducting "secret baptisms" of the dying. Parvathi Menon, writing the front page tribute for the Indian fortnightly Frontline, dismissed these charges as "patently false" and said that they had "made no impact on the public perception of her work, especially in Calcutta". Although praising her "selfless caring", energy and bravery, Menon was critical of Mother Teresa's public campaigning against abortion and that she claimed to be non-political when doing so. More recently, The Telegraph, an Indian daily, has referred to her as "the Saint of the Gutters", also mentioning calls for "Rome to investigate whether she did anything to alleviate the condition of the poor or just took care of the sick and dying and needed them to further a sentimentally-moral cause".

Reception in the rest of the world

By the early 1970s, Mother Teresa had become an international celebrity. Her fame can be in large part attributed to the 1969 documentary Something Beautiful for God, which was filmed by Malcolm Muggeridge and his 1971 book of the same title. Muggeridge was undergoing a spiritual journey of his own at the time. During the filming of the documentary, footage taken in poor lighting conditions, particularly the Home for the Dying, was thought unlikely to be of usable quality by the crew. After returning from India, however, the footage was found to be extremely well lit. Muggeridge claimed this was a miracle of "divine light" from Mother Teresa herself. Others in the crew thought it was due to a new type of ultra-sensitive Kodak film. Muggeridge later converted to Catholicism.

President Ronald Reagan presents Mother Teresa with the Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony, 1985.

Around this time, the Catholic world began to honour Mother Teresa publicly. In 1971, Paul VI awarded her the first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize, commending her for her work with the poor, display of Christian charity and efforts for peace. She later received the Pacem in Terris Award (1976). Since her death, Mother Teresa has progressed rapidly along the steps towards sainthood, currently having reached the stage of having been beatified.

Mother Teresa was honored by both governments and civilian organisations. The United Kingdom and the United States each repeatedly granted awards, culminating in the Order of Merit in 1983, and honorary citizenship of the United States received on November 16, 1996. Mother Teresa's Albanian homeland granted her the Golden Honour of the Nation in 1994. Her acceptance of this and another honour granted by the Haitian government proved controversial. Mother Teresa attracted criticism, particularly from the left, for implicitly giving support to the Duvaliers, to corrupt businessmen such as Charles Keating and Robert Maxwell and even to mainstream politicians on the right wing of Western politics, such as Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. In Keating's case she wrote to the judge of his trial asking for clemency to be shown.

Universities in both the West and in India granted her honorary degrees. Other civilian awards include the Balzan Prize for promoting humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples (1978), and the Albert Schweitzer International Prize (1975).

File:MotherTeresaTimeMag.jpg
Mother Teresa received great attention from the media, such as Time Magazine.

In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace." She refused the conventional ceremonial banquet given to laureates, and asked that the $192,000 funds be given to the poor in India, stating that earthly rewards were important only if they helped her help the world's needy. When Mother Teresa received the prize, she was asked, "What can we do to promote world peace?" Her answer was "Go home and love your family." Building upon this theme in her Nobel Lecture, she said: "Around the world, not only in the poor countries, but I found the poverty of the West so much more difficult to remove. When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread, I have satisfied. I have removed that hunger. But a person that is shut out, that feels unwanted, unloved, terrified, the person that has been thrown out from society - that poverty is so hurtable and so much, and I find that very difficult." More specifically, she singled out abortion as 'the greatest destroyer of peace in the world'.

Her death was mourned in both secular and religious communities. The former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, for example, said: "She is the United Nations. She is peace in the world." During her lifetime and after her death, Mother Teresa was consistently found by Gallup to be the single most widely admired person in the U.S., and in 1999 was ranked as the "most admired person of the 20th century" by a poll in the U.S. Notably, Mother Teresa out-polled all other volunteered answers by a wide margin, and was in first place in all major demographic categories except the very young.

Towards the end of her life, Mother Teresa attracted some negative attention in the Western media. The self-described antitheist Christopher Hitchens has been one of her most active critics in both the United Kingdom and the United States. He was commissioned to co-write and narrate the documentary Hell's Angel about her for Channel 4 after Aroup Chatterjee encouraged the making of such a program, although Chatterjee was unhappy with the "sensationalist approach" of the final product. Hitchens expanded his criticism in a 1995 book, The Missionary Position.

Chatterjee writes that while she was alive Mother Teresa and her official biographers refused to collaborate with his own investigations and that she also failed to defend herself against critical coverage in the Western press. He gives as examples a report in The Guardian in Britain whose "stringent (and quite detailed) attack on conditions in her orphanages ... charges of gross neglect and physical and emotional abuse", and another documentary Mother Teresa: Time for Change? broadcast in several European countries. Both Chatterjee and Hitchens have themselves been subject to criticism for their stance, the conservative Catholic campaigner Brent Bozell describing them as "notoriously vicious anti-Catholics" after one particularly provocative program.

These two are not Mother Teresa's only critics. The German magazine Stern published a hostile article on the first anniversary of Mother Teresa's death. The medical press has also published criticism of her, arising from very different outlooks and priorities on patients' needs. Other critics include Tariq Ali, a member of the editorial committee of the New Left Review, and the Irish-born investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre.

Spiritual life

Analyzing her deeds and achievements, John Paul II asked: "Where did Mother Teresa find the strength and perseverance to place herself completely at the service of others? She found it in prayer and in the silent contemplation of Jesus Christ, his Holy Face, his Sacred Heart."

In his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est, Benedict XVI mentioned Teresa of Calcutta three times and he also used her life to clarify one of his main points of the encyclical. "In the example of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta we have a clear illustration of the fact that time devoted to God in prayer not only does not detract from effective and loving service to our neighbour but is in fact the inexhaustible source of that service." Mother Teresa specified that "It is only by mental prayer and spiritual reading that we can cultivate the gift of prayer.""

Although there was no direct connection between Mother Teresa's order and the Franciscan orders, she was known as a great admirer of St. Francis of Assisi. Accordingly, her influence and life show influences of Franciscan spirituality. The Sisters of Charity recite the peace prayer of St. Francis every morning during thanksgiving after Communion and many of the vows and emphasis of her ministry are similar. St. Francis emphasized poverty, chastity, obedience and submission to Christ. He also devoted much of his own life to service of the poor, especially lepers in the area where he lived.

Mother Teresa wrote numerous letters to her confessors and superiors over a 66-year period. She had asked that her letters be destroyed, concerned that "people will think more of me -- less of Jesus." However, despite this request, the correspondences have been compiled in "Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light" (Doubleday). In one publicly released letter to a spiritual confidant, the Rev. Michael van der Peet, she wrote, "Jesus has a very special love for you. as for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see, — Listen and do not hear — the tongue moves but does not speak ... I want you to pray for me — that I let Him have free hand." Many news outlets have referred to Mother Teresa's writings as an indication of a "crisis of faith." However, others have drawn comparisons to the 16th century mystic St. John of the Cross who coined the term the "dark night" of the soul to describe a particular stage in the growth of some spiritual masters. The Vatican has indicated that the letters would not affect her path to sainthood. In fact, the book is edited by the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, her postulator, the official responsible for gathering the evidence for her sanctification.

Influence in the world

The Missionaries of Charity Brothers was founded in 1963, and a contemplative branch of the Sisters followed in 1976. Lay Catholics and non-Catholics were enrolled in the Co-Workers of Mother Teresa, the Sick and Suffering Co-Workers, and the Lay Missionaries of Charity. In answer to the requests of many priests, in 1981 Mother Teresa also began the Corpus Christi Movement for Priests, and in 1984 founded with Fr. Joseph Langford the Missionaries of Charity Fathers to combine the beauty of the vocation of the Missionaries of Charity with the resources of the ministerial priesthood. Today, over one million workers worldwide volunteer for the Missionaries of Charity.

Miracle and beatification

Following Mother Teresa's death in 1997, the Holy See began the process of beatification, the second step towards possible canonization. This process requires the documentation of a miracle performed from the intercession of Mother Teresa. In 2002, the Vatican recognized as a miracle the healing of a tumor in the abdomen of an Indian woman, Monica Besra, following the application of a locket containing Mother Teresa's picture. Monica Besra said that a beam of light emanated from the picture, curing the cancerous tumor. Some of Besra's medical staff and, initially, Besra's husband insist that conventional medical treatment eradicated the tumor. Unless dispensed by the Pope, a second miracle is required for her to proceed to canonization.

Christopher Hitchens, a British-born American author, journalist and literary critic, was the only witness called by the Vatican to give evidence against Mother Teresa's beatification and canonization process, as the Vatican had abolished the traditional "devil's advocate" role that filled a similar purpose. Hitchens has written that Mother Teresa's own words on poverty proved that "her intention was not to help people", and he alleged that she lied to donors about the use of their contributions. “It was by talking to her that I discovered, and she assured me, that she wasn't working to alleviate poverty,” says Hitchens. “She was working to expand the number of Catholics. She said, ‘I'm not a social worker. I don't do it for this reason. I do it for Christ. I do it for the church.’" In the process of examining Teresa's suitability for beatification and canonization, the Roman Curia (the Vatican) pored over a great deal of documentation of published and unpublished criticisms against her life and work. Vatican officials say Hitchens' allegations have been investigated by the agency charged with such matters, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and they found no obstacle to Mother Teresa's beatification. Due to the attacks she has received, some Catholic writers have called her a sign of contradiction.

Commemoration

Memorial plaque dedicated to Mother Teresa at a building in Václavské náměstí in Olomouc, Czech Republic.
Main article: Commemorations of Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa inspired a variety of commemorations. She has been memorialized through museums, been named patroness of various churches, and had various structures and roads named after her.

10th anniversary of her death

On September 5, 2007, Mother Teresa's feast day, Calcutta's Archbishop Lucas Sirkar said Mass for thousands of devotees to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa (attended by nuns and volunteers at Mother House, the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity).

See also

Notes

  1. PBS Online Newshour (Sept. 5, 1997).Mother Teresa Dies, www.pbs.org. Retrieved August, 2007
  2. Associate Press. (October 14, 2003). "Full house for Mother Teresa ceremony". CNN. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
  3. "Blessed Mother Teresa". (2007). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
  4. ^ (2002). "Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)". Vatican News Service. Retrieved May 30, 2007. Although some sources state that she was 10 when her father died, in an interview with her brother, the Vatican documents her age at the time as "about eight".
  5. Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 24. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
  6. Sharn, Lori (September 5, 1997). "Mother Teresa dies at 87". USA Today. Retrieved May 30, 2007
  7. Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 28-29. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
  8. Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 31. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
  9. Sebba, Anne (1997).Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image. New York. Doubleday, p.35. ISBN 0-385-48952-8.
  10. Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 32. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
  11. Spink, Kathryn (1997). Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography. New York. HarperCollins, pp.16. ISBN 0-06-250825-3.
  12. Spink, Kathryn (1997). Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography. New York. HarperCollins, pp.18-21. ISBN 0-06-250825-3.
  13. Spink, Kathryn (1997). Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography. New York. HarperCollins, pp.18, 21-22. ISBN 0-06-250825-3.
  14. Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 35. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
  15. Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 39. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
  16. Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 48-49. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
  17. Williams, Paul (2002). Mother Teresa. Indianapolis. Alpha Books, p. 57. ISBN 0-02-864278-3.
  18. Spink, Kathryn (1997). Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography. New York. HarperCollins, pp.37. ISBN 0-06-250825-3.
  19. Williams, Paul (2002). Mother Teresa. Indianapolis. Alpha Books, p. 62. ISBN 0-02-864278-3.
  20. Spink, Kathryn (1997). Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography. New York. HarperCollins, pp.284. ISBN 0-06-250825-3.
  21. Sebba, Anne (1997).Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image. New York. Doubleday, pp. 58–60. ISBN 0-385-48952-8.
  22. ^ Spink, Kathryn (1997). Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography. New York. HarperCollins, pp.55. ISBN 0-06-250825-3.
  23. Sebba, Anne (1997).Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image. New York. Doubleday, pp. 62-63. ISBN 0-385-48952-8.
  24. Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 58-59. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
  25. Spink, Kathryn (1997). Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography. New York. HarperCollins, pp.82. ISBN 0-06-250825-3.
  26. Spink, Kathryn (1997). Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography. New York. HarperCollins, pp.286-287. ISBN 0-06-250825-3.
  27. Scott, David A Revolution of Love: The Meaning of Mother Teresa Chicago, Loyola Press, 2005. ISBN 0829420312 "She deals only with the disease (of poverty), but not with preventing it, but people in the West continue to give her money"
  28. Byfield, Ted (October 20, 1997), "If the real world knew the real Mother Teresa there would be a lot less adulation", Alberta Report/Newsmagazine, vol. 24, no. 45
  29. ^ Loudon, Mary. (1996)The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, Book Review, BMJ vol.312, no.7022, 6 January 2006, pp.64-5. Retrieved August 2 2007
  30. CNN Staff, "Mother Teresa: A Profile", retrieved from CNN online on May 30, 2007
  31. Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 17. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
  32. Cooper, Kenneth J. (September 14, 1997). "Mother Teresa Laid to Rest After Multi-Faith Tribute". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 30, 2007
  33. (May 30, 2007) "A Vocation of Service". Eternal Word Television Network. Retrieved August 2 2007.
  34. Embassy of India in Armenia Official Website. Describes how Mother Teresa journeyed to Armenia in December 1988 following the great earthquake. She and her order established an orphanage there. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
  35. Williams, Paul (2002).Mother Teresa. Indianapolis. Alpha Books, pp. 199–204. ISBN 0-02-864278-3.
  36. Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 104. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
  37. Hitchens, Christopher (20 October, 2003). "Mommie Dearest". Slate Magazine. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
  38. Bindra, Satinder (September 7, 2001). "Archbishop: Mother Teresa underwent exorcism". CNN Retrieved May 30, 2007.
  39. Associated Press (September 14, 1997). "India honors nun with state funeral". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
  40. ^ (October 16 2006) Online Memorial Tribute to Mother Teresa. ChristianMemorials.com. Retrieved August 2 2007.
  41. Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (1962) Citation for Mother Teresa.
  42. ^ Parvathi Menon Cover story: A life of selfless caring, Frontline, Vol.14 :: No. 19 :: Sept.20 - Oct. 3,1997
  43. ^ Chatterjee, Aroup, Introduction to The Final Verdict
  44. Victor Banerjee A Canopy most fatal, The Telegraph, Sunday, September 08, 2002.
  45. ^ "Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith". Time. Retrieved 2007-08-24.
  46. Sebba, Anne (1997). Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image. New York. Doubleday, pp. 80–84. ISBN 0-385-48952-8.
  47. Alpion, Gezmin (2007). Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity?. Routledge Press, pp. 9. ISBN 0415392462.
  48. Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa. New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 81-82. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
  49. Quad City Times staff (October 17, 2005). "Habitat official to receive Pacem in Terris honor". Peace Corps. Retrieved 26 May, 2007.
  50. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Fondazione Internazionale Balzan, 1978 Balzan Prize for Humanity, Peace and Brotherhood among Peoples. Retrieved 26 May 2007.
  51. Jones, Alice & Brown, Jonathan (07 March 2007). "attract? When Robert Maxwell met Mother Teresa". The Independent. Retrieved 26 May, 2007.
  52. Locke, Michelle for the Associated Press (March 22, 2007). "Berkeley Nobel laureates donate prize money to charity". San Franscisco Gate. Retrieved May 26, 2007
  53. Mother Teresa (11 December, 1979). "Nobel Prize Lecture". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 25 May, 2007.
  54. ^ MacIntyre, Donal (August 22, 2005), New Statesman, vol. 134, no. 4754, p. 24-25 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Text "The Squalid Truth Behind the Legacy of Mother Teresa" ignored (help)
  55. Brent Bozell III Penn and Teller trash Mother Teresa, Townhall.com, Friday, June 3, 2005, retrieved 24 August 2007.
  56. John Paul II (October 20, 2003). "Address Of John Paul II To The Pilgrims Who Had Come To Rome For The Beatification Of Mother Teresa". Vatican.va. Retrieved 2007-03-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  57. Pope Benedict XVI (December 25, 2005). . (PDF). Vatican City, pp.10. Retrieved August 2 2007.
  58. Mother Teresa (197). "No Greater Love". Google Books. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
  59. ^ "Mother Teresa of Calcutta Pays Tribute to St. Francis of Assisi" on the American Catholic website, retrieved May 30, 2007.
  60. "Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith". Sun Times. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  61. Brian Kolodiejchuk, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, Doubleday, 2007
  62. "Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  63. "Mother Teresa's canonisation not at risk". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  64. God's People Yearn For Holy Priests, Founded by Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Corpus Christi Movement for Priests. Retrieved August 2 2007.
  65. The Religious Community of priests founded by Mother Teresa. Missionaries of Charity Fathers. Retrieved August 2 2007.
  66. Orr, David (May 10. 2003). "Medicine cured 'miracle' woman - not Mother Teresa, say doctors". The Telegraph. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
  67. Hitchens, Christopher (January 6 1996). "Less than Miraculous". Free Inquiry Magazine. Volume 24, Number 2.
  68. The Debate Over Sainthood. (9 October 2003). CBS News. Retrieved 26 May 2007.
  69. Shaw, Russell. (September 1 2005). Attacking a Saint, Catholic Herald. Retrieved May 1 2007.
  70. Yahoo.com,10 years later, Mother Teresa remembered

Further reading

  • Alpion, Gezim. Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity?. London: Routledge Press, 2007. ISBN 0-415-39247-0
  • Benenate, Becky and Joseph Durepos (eds). Mother Teresa: No Greater Love (Fine Communications, 2000) ISBN 1-56731-401-5
  • Bindra, Satinder (2001-09-07). "Archbishop: Mother Teresa underwent exorcism". CNN.com World. Retrieved 2006-10-23.
  • Chatterjee, Aroup. Mother Teresa: The Final Verdict (Meteor Books, 2003). ISBN 81-88248-00-2, introduction and first three chapters on fourteen (without pictures). Critical examination of Agnes Bojaxhiu's life and work.
  • Chawla, Navin. Mother Teresa.Rockport, Mass: Element Books, 1996. ISBN 1-85230-911-3
  • Clucas, Joan. Mother Teresa. New York: Chelsea House, 1988. ISBN 1-55546-855-1
  • Dwivedi, Brijal. Mother Teresa: Woman of the Century
  • Hitchens. Christopher. The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice. London: Verso, 1996. ISBN 1-85984-054-X
  • Le Joly, Edward. Mother Teresa of Calcutta. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983. ISBN 0-06-065217-9
  • Muggeridge, Malcolm Something Beautiful for God. ISBN 0-06-066043-0
  • Muntaykkal, T.T. Blessed Mother Teresa: Her Journey to Your Heart. ISBN 1-903650-61-5. ISBN 0-7648-1110-X. Book Review.
  • Scott, David. A Revolution of Love: The Meaning of Mother Teresa. Chicago: Loyola Press, 2005. ISBN 0829420312
  • Sebba, Anne. Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image. New York: Doubleday, 1997. ISBN 0-385-48952-8
  • Spink, Kathryn. Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography. New York: HarperCollins, 1997. ISBN 0-06-250825-3
  • Teresa, Mother et al, Mother Teresa: In My Own Words. Gramercy Books, 1997. ISBN 0-517-20169-0
  • Teresa, Mother & Kolodiejchuk, Brian, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, New York: Doubleday, 2007. ISBN 0385520379
  • Williams, Paul. Mother Teresa. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 0-02-864278-3
  • Wüllenweber, Walter. "Nehmen ist seliger denn geben. Mutter Teresa — wo sind ihre Millionen?" Stern (illustrated German weekly), September 10, 1998. English translation.

External links

General

Criticism


Preceded by— Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity
1950–1997 		Succeeded byNirmala Joshi
Laureates of the Nobel Peace Prize
1901–1925
1926–1950
1951–1975
1976–2000
2001–present


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