Early Life and Family in Skopje
Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu was born on 26 August 1910 in Skopje to Nikola and Drana Bojaxhiu as the youngest of five children, two of whom died young. Her father, a merchant, died suddenly in 1918, leaving her mother to raise the surviving children alone. Drana provided a strict yet loving Catholic formation that deeply shaped Gonxha's faith and character. The girl received First Communion at five and a half and Confirmation in 1916. She later recalled that the family had been a beautiful united family, and the fervent parish community, especially the Sodality of Mary and the missionary group, nurtured her early growth in faith.
Vocation and Journey to India
At the age of twelve Gonxha felt called to religious life under the guidance of her Jesuit spiritual director. She resolved to become a missionary to spend herself for Jesus. In September 1928, at eighteen, she left home for Ireland to join the Sisters of Loreto, receiving the religious name Sister Teresa after Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. Her mother's farewell words were to place her hand in His, walk alone with Him, and never look back. She arrived in Calcutta on 6 January 1929.
Years with Loreto
After two years of formation in the Darjeeling novitiate, Sister Teresa made first vows in May 1931 and was sent to teach at St. Mary's School in Calcutta. She later took charge of another Bengali school and made her daily journeys by rickshaw, which allowed her to observe closely the poverty around her. She professed perpetual vows in the Loreto order in May 1937 and became headmistress of St. Mary's in 1944. Throughout these years she was noted for charity, generosity, courage, and joyful endurance despite fragile health.
The Call Within a Call
On 10 September 1946, while traveling by train to Darjeeling for her annual retreat, Sister Teresa received what she described as the call within a call. Over the following months interior locutions and visions directed her to found a community dedicated to serving the poorest of the poor in order to quench Jesus' thirst for love and souls. She submitted the inspiration to her spiritual director and to Archbishop Périer of Calcutta, who guided her with prudence through extended prayer and discernment.
Departure from Loreto and First Works
On 16 August 1948 Mother Teresa left the Loreto convent with an indult of exclaustration. After brief medical training in Patna she returned to Calcutta and began visiting the sick and gathering street children. Her personal diary records the hardships of those first months. An entry from February 1949 reads: Today I learned a beautiful lesson: the poverty of the poor must be really hard for them… For my free choice, my God, and for love of You, I want to remain and do whatever Your will is for me.
Foundation of the Missionaries of Charity
On 7 October 1950 the Missionaries of Charity were erected as a diocesan religious institute. On 22 August 1952, the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, she opened Nirmal Hriday, the home for the dying. In 1955 she founded Shishu Bhavan for abandoned children, and in 1957 the first leprosy refuge. Each patient was seen as Jesus in his distressing disguise.
Expansion and Later Foundations
From the 1960s onward Mother Teresa established the Missionaries of Charity Brothers in 1963, contemplative branches for sisters in 1976 and brothers in 1979, and a priestly movement in 1984. International expansion began with a house in Venezuela in 1965, followed by foundations in Europe, Africa, Australia, the Middle East, and North America. By 1979 the congregation operated 165 houses across continents, including in communist countries, and she received the Nobel Peace Prize that year. An AIDS hospice opened in New York on Christmas Eve 1985.
Final Years and Death
Despite advancing age and declining health, Mother Teresa continued traveling to open new houses, attend professions, and serve victims of disasters until her final years. She died in Calcutta on 5 September 1997. Her congregation and the fourth vow of wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor remain her enduring legacy.
Pidamos la intercesión de Mother Teresa e imitemos hoy la santidad de esta Vida.
