Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa - the Saint of the Gutters "The other day I dreamed that I was at the gates of heaven. And St. Peter said, 'Go back to Earth. There are no slums up here." - Quoted as telling Prince Michael of Greece in 1996. These words, once spoken by Mother Teresa, vividly recall the life of the late Roman Catholic nun and missionary known as "the Saint of the Gutters." For Mother Teresa, who devoted her life to the succor of the sick and the outcast, earthly sufferers were nothing less than Christ in "distressing disguise." From an early age, the girl who would become Mother Teresa felt the call to help others. Born August 26, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was the daughter of Albanian parents - a grocer and his wife. As a public school student she developed a special interest in overseas missions and, by age 12, realized her vocation was aiding the poor. She was inspired to work in India by reports sent home from Jesuit missionaries in Bengal. And at 18, she left home to join a community of Irish nuns with a mission in Calcutta. Here, she took the name "Sister Teresa," after Saint Teresa of Lisieux, the patroness of missionaries. She spent 17 years teaching and being principal of St. Mary's high school in Calcutta. However, in 1946, her life changed forever. After falling ill with suspected tuberculosis she was sent to the town of Darjeeling to recover.

Mother Teresa in the last Mother Teresa praying years of her life "It was in the train I heard the call to give up all and follow him to the slums to serve him among the poorest of the poor," she remembered. Two years later, Pope Pius XII granted permission for her to leave her order. After taking a medical training course to prepare for her new mission, she went into the slums of Calcutta to start a school for children. They called her "Mother Teresa." Through the years, Mother Teresa's fame grew, as did the magnitude of her deeds ... In 1950, the community she founded, the Missionaries of Charity, was officially recognized by the Archdiocese of Calcutta. The Vatican recognized the organization as a pontifical congregation the same year. What began as an order with 12 members has grown to more than 4,000 nuns running orphanages, AIDS hospices and other charity centers worldwide. In 1952, she established a home for the dying poor - the Nirmal Hriday (or "Pure Heart") Home for Dying Destitutes. There, homeless people - uncared for and unacceptable at other institutions - were

washed, fed and allowed to die with dignity. 1962 brought the first prize for Mother Teresa'a humanitarian work: the Padma Shri award for distinguished service. Over the years, she uses the money from such prizes to found dozens of new homes. Regarding poverty, she said: "I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?"

Mother Teresa receiving the Nobel Peace Prize

Mother Teresa with a Bundle of Joy

In 1979, she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in the name of the "unwanted, unloved and uncared for," Mother Teresa. "I choose the poverty of our poor people. But I am grateful to receive [the Nobel] in the name of the hungry, the naked, the homeless, of the crippled, of the blind, of the lepers, of 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." On that occasion, she wore the same $1 white sari she had adopted when she founded her order, as a way to identify herself with the poor. When Pope Paul VI gave her a white Lincoln Continental, she auctioned the car, using the money to establish a leper colony in West Bengal. In 1982, during the siege of Beirut, she convinced the Israeli army and Palestinian guerillas to stop shooting long enough for her to rescue 37 children trapped in a front-line hospital. After her success, she stated the following: "I have never been in a war before, but I have seen famine and death. I was asking [myself], 'What do they feel when they do this?' I don't understand it. They are all children of God. Why do they do it? I don't understand." 1985 was the year she was awarded Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian award. November 16, 1996 she received honorary U.S. citizenship. When the walls of Eastern Europe collapsed, she expanded her efforts to communist countries that had shunned her, embarking on dozens of projects. Though Mother Teresa's good deeds were indisputable, her life was not without controversy. A 1994 British television documentary, "Hell's Angel: Mother Teresa of Calcutta," accused her of taking donations without questioning the sources, including the likes of Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier. She also received some criticism for her strong views against abortion and divorce. Regarding abortion, she said: Abortion "is murder in the womb ... A child is a gift of God. If you do not want him, give him to me."

Mother Teresa's funeral

The Children of Calcutta expressing their sadness over Mother Teresa's death

Mother Teresa was undeterred by criticism, having a short response to such allegations, "No matter who says what, you should accept it with a smile and do your own work." And she did ... returning to work time and again after serious health setbacks. Following a nearly fatal heart attack in 1989, Mother Teresa announced her intention to resign as head of her order, and a conclave of sisters was called to choose successor. After announcing her intention to retire, she said: "God will find another person, more humble, more devoted, more obedient to him, and the society will go on." During a secret ballot of her sisters, she was re-elected almost unanimously. The only dissenting vote? Her own. When the sisters of her order persuaded her to withdraw her resignation, she said: "I was expecting to be free, but God has his own plans." In January 1991, prior to US operation Desert Storm, she wrote in a letter to U.S. President George Bush and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein: "Please choose the way of peace. ... In the short term there may be winners and losers in this war that we all dread. But that never can, nor never will justify the suffering, pain and loss of life your weapons will cause." Under Mother Teresa's guidance, the order focused much of its attention on giving comfort to the dying, a task the sisters continue. In an abandoned temple to the Hindu goddess Kali, Mother Teresa founded the Kalighat Home for the Dying. The order established Shanti Nagar (Town of Peace), a leper colony, in the mid-1950s on land granted from the Indian government. In India and beyond, Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity devoted their time to the blind, the disabled, the aged, and the poor. She opened schools, orphanages and homes for the needy, and turned her attention to the victims of AIDS as that disease increased in prevalence. By 1996, she was operating 517 missions in more than 100 countries.

Mother Teresa in peace Perhaps, French President Jacques Chirac summed up Mother Teresa's legacy best when he said after her death: "This evening, there is less love, less compassion, less light in the world." After her death in September, 1997, Mother Teresa's Order of the Volunteering Sisters continues to work in Skopje, Macedonia. The Presidents of the Republic of Macedonia stated that Macedonia feels a great pride giving the world a person having performed such great humane deeds such as Mother Teresa. The Local Government of the City of Skopje, the city of Human Solidarity and Mother Teresa's

birthplace, stated that it will do everything within its power to keep the humane spirit of the Saint of the Gutters alive in its birthplace. The Government of the Republic of Macedonia placed a memorial plaque on the place of the birthhouse of Mother Teresa in Skopje. In addition to that, the humane home for elderly people will proudly bear the name of Mother Teresa.