Cool Facts About Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa has been beatified by the Catholic Church. This is a step on the way to becoming a Saint. She is now called Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
She never saw her mother or sister again after leaving home to become a missionary.
Albania's international airport is named after her, the Aeroporti Nene Tereza.
She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Rather than have the traditional Nobel honor banquet, she asked that the money for the banquet be donated to the poor of India.
She once traveled through a war zone to rescue 37 children from the front lines. She received numerous awards for all her charity work including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Ronald Reagan.
It takes around 9 years of service to become a full member of the Missionaries of Charity.
She refused the traditional Nobel honor banquet, instead requesting that the $192,000 budget be given to help the poor of India.
Mother Teresa was honored with many awards throughout her life, from the Indian Padma Shri in 1962 to the inaugural Pope John XXIII Peace Prize in 1971 to Albania’s Golden Honour of the Nation in 1994… and, most famously, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979
She went on to open a hospice for the poor, a home for sufferers of leprosy, and a home for orphans and homeless youths.
In addition to promoting literacy, Teresa taught the children basic hygiene. She visited their families, inquiring about their needs and helping provide for them when she could.
Mother Teresa was born to ethnic Albanian parents on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, now the capital of Macedonia, and named Gonxha Agnes Bojaxhiu
In 1952, Mother Teresa opened her first home for the dying, and in 1957 her first mobile leprosy clinic. She worked for three decades in India before leaving for the first time in 1960, going to the United States to address the National Council of Catholic Women
In 1979 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work for the world's destitute. "I am unworthy," she said.
In March 1997 Sister Nirmala, a former Hindu who converted to Roman Catholicism, succeeded Mother Teresa as leader of the Missionaries of Charity.
On September 5, 1997, Mother Teresa died of a heart attack at her order's headquarters in Kolkata. An array of world dignitaries attended her funeral.
In 1965, Pope Paul VI granted the Decree of Praise to Mother Teresa's religious order, bringing it directly under Vatican jurisdiction. That same year the first Missionaries of Charity house outside India was founded, in Venezuela. Others later opened in Italy, Tanzania, Australia and the United States.
Before the age of 18 she had no intention of becoming a nun, but she was extremely fascinated with mission work.
In 1928, at the age of 18, Mother Teresa joined the Sisters of Loreto and moved to Dublin, Ireland so that she might learn English.
She was the principal of St. Mary's School for girls and was well loved by all of her students.
In September of 1946 on a train ride to Darjeeling, Mother Teresa received what she described as “a call within a call.”
“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”