Pope Francis announced that the Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta will be canonized on September 4th of this year, 19 years after her death. The leader of the Catholic Church, whose own mission is to help better the lives of the world’s poor, has been adamant about making Mother Teresa a saint this year.
The sainthood can be seen as more than a religious accolade. In this case it is a recognition of a life lived to serve the world’s poor. Easing their suffering and empowering them to lift themselves out of extreme poverty. A life lived for that mission is something all global citizens can celebrate, regardless of religious preference.
Mother Teresa began her spiritual work in India in 1928 at the age of 18, after working with Catholic missionaries in Macedonia and Ireland. Her life’s work spanned over 69 years and resulted in the creation of hundreds of orphanages, hospitals, hospices, health clinics, homeless shelters, youth shelters and soup kitchens around the world.
Mother Teresa, known as ‘saint of the gutters’, is a beloved figure in the Catholic Church and in popular culture. Her work with the people as diverse as the lepers of India to the poor in New York City’s South Bronx shows the impact one person can have in bettering the lives of others.
Here is a historical look back at her life.
1928 to 1948: The early work of Agnes
After three years of helping missionaries, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu traveled to India to become a nun. After taking her vows, she takes the name Teresa. As a fully vested nun, she starts her journey as a teacher and principal in the Loreto community in Eastern Calcutta. It is there that she received another spiritual calling and writes a letter to the church asking to leave the convent.
1957 to 1979: Mother Teresa leaves the convent
Upon leaving the convent, Mother Teresa began working with the lepers of Calcutta. From there she established a series of charities: The Missionaries of Charity (1948); The Missionaries of Charity Brothers (1963); and The Place of Peace (Shanti Nagar) (1965). In 1969, the documentarySomething Beautiful for God, featured Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying, a place for the terminally ill.
In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress.” She refused to attend the banquet and gave the monetary prize that comes with the award to the poor of India.
1983 to 1987: Mother Teresa’s worldwide reach
While Teresa was already an international icon, she began extending her reach even while suffering from a series of health problems (she suffered massive heart attacks in 1983 and 1989). In the United States she created the first hospice in Greenwich Village for AIDS patients and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom as well as the Congressional Medal of Freedom.
1997 to 2016: Mother Teresa’s legacy:
#India Grateful MotherTeresa Came #Jan6 1929 RT https://t.co/VLw8Ttq4qm#ccot#tlot#ycotpic.twitter.com/zcyvTjHBvt
— Susan Fox (@testisfidelis) March 4, 2016
"It's not how much we give but how much we put love into giving." ~Mother Teresa #quotepic.twitter.com/ohQNiSqwJo
— Melissa Rapoport (@MelissaRapoport) March 2, 2016
Mother Teresa died on September 5th, 1997. She suffered from cardiac arrest while administering services in a convent in Calcutta.
In total, Mother Teresa received 124 awards; and in 2012 it was documented that her Missionaries of Charity existed in 133 countries and consisted of over 4,500 sisters. Mother Teresa, while is at times a controversial figure in her adamancy in converting others to Christianity and her stance on birth control, she will always be remembered for her strength and compassion for the world’s poor. She was tiny at only five feet tall, but she was a mighty human being.