Mother Teresa Of Calcutta

spider web Children's Web Magazine

Home

Mother Teresa Of Calcutta

Mother Teresa became the world famous nun of Calcutta because her sole purpose in life was to care for the poor. She was born 100 years ago on the 26th August 1910 in Skopje Macedonia. There has been some
confusion as to whether it was the 26th or 27th. But it was discovered that she was christened on the 27th the date of her christening being the more important of the 2 dates for her. She was christened Gonxha Agnes and was the youngest child of Nikola and Drane Bojaxhiu. After her father died suddenly her mother was her biggest influence on her religious education.
When she was just 18 years - old she went to Ireland to become a nun joining the
sisters of Loreto as they were known. They had missions in India. After a few months
she was sent to Calcutta, India. There she taught in a school for girls, Saint Mary's becoming principal in 1944. In 1937 she took her final vows.
Her desire to help the poor meant that in 1948 she was allowed to leave the convent
and go and look after the poor living in the slums. On a journey to go on retreat in Darjeeling a few years earlier she had what she described as a calling from God to
help the poor. This is what would start her on her road to looking after the poorest people. In 1950 she was given permission to start her own order the Missionaries of Charity. As it grew the order was established in various countries around the world giving much needed help to the very poor.
In 1979 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She suffered from terrible problems to her health in the final years of her life. But this did not prevent her from continuing her work. She died on the 5th September 1997.

© Children's Web Magazine 2010