Mother Teresa, also known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, was a Catholic nun who devoted her life to serving the poor and sick. Born in 1910 in what is now Skopje, North Macedonia, as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, she felt a call to religious life from a young age and joined the Sisters of Loreto in Dublin, Ireland, when she was just 18 years old. After completing her novitiate, she was sent to India, where she taught at St. Mary's High School for Girls in Calcutta (now Kolkata).
In 1946, Mother Teresa experienced what she described as a "call within a call" during a train ride from Calcutta to Darjeeling. She later explained that she felt a strong inner prompting to leave the Loreto Sisters and start a new religious community that would work directly with the poor and sick on the streets of Calcutta. She received permission from the Vatican to do so, and in 1950 she founded the Missionaries of Charity, a religious congregation of Catholic sisters who vowed to give "wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor."
Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity quickly gained a reputation for their selfless dedication to the most marginalized and neglected members of society. They provided food, shelter, and medical care to those who had none, and they showed unconditional love and compassion to all who came to them for help. Mother Teresa herself spent countless hours on the streets of Calcutta, tending to the sick and dying, and she was known for her tireless energy and unwavering commitment to her work.
Over the years, Mother Teresa's work gained international recognition, and she received numerous awards and accolades for her humanitarian efforts. In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace." In 2003, Pope John Paul II beatified her, the first step towards sainthood in the Catholic Church. She was canonized as a saint by Pope Francis in 2016.
Despite her many accolades, Mother Teresa remained humble and dedicated to her work until the end of her life. She died in 1997 at the age of 87, leaving behind a powerful legacy of selfless service and compassion that continues to inspire people around the world.