Peace Begins with a Smile – Mother Terasa
Who Was Mother Teresa?
Nun and missionary Mother Teresa, known in the Catholic church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, devoted her life to caring for the sick and poor. Born in Macedonia to parents of Albanian-descent and having taught in India for 17 years. Mother Teresa experienced her “call within a call” in 1946. Her order established a hospice; centers for the blind, aged and disabled; and a leper colony.
Mother Teresa was born on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia to Agnes Konsha Bojakshi. His family was of Albanian descent. At the age of twelve, she felt strongly the call of God. She knew she had to be a missionary to spread the love of Christ. At the age of eighteen, he left his parents’ home in Skopje and joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns working in India. After a few months of training in Dublin she was sent to India, where she took her early vows as a nun on May 24, 1931.
Activities Of Mother Teresa
From 1931 to 1948 Mother Teresa taught at St. Mary’s High School in Calcutta. But the misery and poverty he saw outside the convent walls gave her a deep look. With the commitment to leave the convent school in 1948, he obtained permission from his superiors to engage himself in working among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. Although she had no finances, she relied on divine providence. She started an open school for slum children. Soon he joined the volunteer assistants. More financial aid was to come. This made it possible to expand the scope of her work.
His first attempt in Calcutta was to collect unaccompanied children from slums and begin teaching them. He quickly attracted financial aid and volunteers. In 1950, his group, known as the Missionaries of Charity, gained official status as a religious community within the Diocese of Calcutta. Members took the traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. But they added a fourth vow — to provide free service to the very poor.
Activities Over Countries
They opened a home for orphans and abandoned children. Long ago they were in more than twenty-two Indian cities. Mother Teresa traveled to other countries, such as Sri Lanka, Australia, Tanzania, Venezuela, and Italy, and laid new foundations.
Awards given to Mother Teresa
The first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize. (1971)
Kennedy Prize (1971)
The Nehru Prize –“for the promotion of international peace and understanding”(1972)
Albert Schweitzer International Prize (1975)
The Nobel Peace Prize (1979)
States Presidential Medal of Freedom (1985)
Congressional Gold Medal (1994)
U Thant Peace Award 1994
Honorary citizenship of the United States (November 16, 1996)
