Mother Teresa 112th birth anniversary: Remembering an inspirational Humanitarian

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New
Delhi,
Aug
26:
Born
in
Skopje,
Macedonia,
on
August
26,
1910,
Mother
Teresa
was
a
symbol
of
humanity
and
devoted
her
entire
life
to
the
service
of
the
poor.
She
would
not
only
feed
the
hungry
but
treat
everyone
with
equal
respect.
Also
known
as
Saint
Teresa
of
Calcutta
(now
Kolkata),
Mother
received
Nobel
Peace
Prize
for
her
charity
work.
Today,
on
the
occasion
of
her
112th
birth
anniversary,
we
will
discuss
some
lesser-known
facts
about
the
mother
of
the
needy.

She
was
canonised
(recognised
by
the
church
as
a
saint)
on
4
September
2016
for
her
contribution
to
the
humanity.
She
was
born
Agnes
Gonxha
Bojaxhiu.
At
the
age
of
eighteen
she
left
her
parental
home
in
Skopje
and
joined
the
Sisters
of
Loreto,
a
community
of
nuns
with
missions
in
India.
She
arrived
in
India
in
1929.
She
was
a
teacher
at
the
Loreto
convent
school
in
Entally,
Kolkata.
Mother
was
said
to
have
been
moved
and
deeply
pained
to
see
poverty
and
suffering
around
her
on
the
streets.
On
October
7,
1950,
Mother
Teresa
received
permission
from
the
Holy
See
to
start
her
own
order,
“The
Missionaries
of
Charity”,
whose
primary
task
was
to
love,
care
and
those
suffering,
especially
children.

New
documentary
reveals
the
dark
side
of
Mother
Teresa

Mother
Teresa’s
life:

• 1910:
  Born
  Agnes
  Gonxha
  Bojaxhiu
  in
  Skopje,
  present-day
  Macedonia,
  on
  August
  26;
  Baptised
  on
  August
  27

• 1928:
  Leaves
  home
  on
  Sep
  25
  to
  become
  a
  Roman
  Catholic
  Loreto
  nun
  and
  begins
  novitiate
  training
  in
  Dublin.

• 1929:
  Arrives
  in
  Kolkata,
  becomes
  a
  teacher
  at
  St
  Mary’s
  School

• 1931:
  Takes
  her
  first
  vows
  as
  a
  nun

• 1937:
  Takes
  final
  vows
  as
  a
  nun,
  becomes
  known
  as
  Mother
  Teresa

• 1946:
  On
  Sep
  10,
  she
  received
  “the
  call
  within
  the
  call”
  to
  serve
  the
  poor

• 1948:
  Starts
  teaching
  poor
  children,
  opens
  her
  first
  slum
  school.

• 1950:
  Founds
  the
  Missionaries
  of
  Charity
  on
  Oct
  7
  with
  12
  sisters
  after
  getting
  the
  green
  signal
  from
  the
  Vatican

• 1951:
  Receives
  Indian
  Citizenship

• 1952:
  Opens
  first
  home
  for
  dying
  at
  Kalighat
  in
  South
  Kolkata.
  Names
  it
  Nirmal
  Hriday
  (Pure
  Heart)

• 1953:
  Shifts
  to
  a
  two-storeyed
  building
  on
  Lower
  Circular
  Road;
  it’s
  now
  called
  Mother
  House,
  the
  global
  headquarters
  of
  the
  Missionaries
  of
  Charity

• 1957:
  Begins
  her
  work
  with
  lepers
  for
  which
  her
  Order
  becomes
  well
  known
  around
  the
  world
  *
  1962:
  Receives
  Padma
  Shri
  from
  the
  President
  for
  her
  humanitarian
  work

• 1965:
  Catholic
  Church
  grants
  permission
  for
  setting
  up
  missions
  outside
  India;
  the
  first
  opens
  that
  year
  in
  Venezuela

• 1971:
  Receives
  Pope
  John
  XXIII
  Peace
  Prize
  and
  uses
  money
  to
  build
  a
  leper
  colony

• 1979:
  Receives
  Nobel
  Peace
  Prize
  for
  work
  with
  the
  destitute
  and
  dying
  .

• 1980:
  Conferred
  India’s
  highest
  civilian
  honour,
  the
  Bharat
  Ratna.

• 1982:
  Rescues
  37
  mentally
  disabled
  children
  from
  a
  hospital
  in
  besieged
  Beirut.

• 1983:
  Visits
  Pope
  John
  Paul
  II.
  Hospitalized
  with
  heart
  attack,
  first
  of
  several.

• 1985:
  Awarded
  Medal
  of
  Freedom,
  highest
  US
  civilian
  honour

• 1997:
  Steps
  down
  as
  head
  of
  her
  order.

• 1997:
  Dies
  of
  heart
  failure
  in
  Kolkata
  on
  Sep
  5,
  aged
  87.

• 2003:
  Beatified
  by
  Pope
  John
  Paul
  II
  —
  placing
  her
  a
  step
  from
  sainthood

• 2016:
  Declared
  a
  saint
  by
  Pope
  Francis
  on
  Sep
  4

This
international
airport
was
named
in
honour
of
Mother
Teresa

Mother
Teresa
Top
Quotes:

• “If
  you
  judge
  people,
  you
  have
  no
  time
  to
  love
  them.”

• “Peace
  begins
  with
  a
  smile.”

• “We
  fear
  the
  future
  because
  we
  are
  wasting
  today.”

• “Not
  all
  of
  us
  can
  do
  great
  things.
  But
  we
  can
  do
  small
  things
  with
  great
  love.”

• “Yesterday
  is
  gone.
  Tomorrow
  has
  not
  yet
  come.
  We
  have
  only
  today.
  Let
  us
  begin.”

• “Every
  time
  you
  smile
  at
  someone,
  it
  is
  an
  action
  of
  love,
  a
  gift
  to
  that
  person,
  a
  beautiful
  thing.”

• ”We
  ourselves
  feel
  that
  what
  we
  are
  doing
  is
  just
  a
  drop
  in
  the
  ocean.
  But
  the
  ocean
  would
  be
  less
  because
  of
  that
  missing
  drop”