Saint Mother Teresa

A young woman from Skopje leaves for India

Mother Teresa was born on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, to an Albanian Catholic family. Her childhood was shaped by religious education, family life, and concern for people in need. At a very young age, she discovered accounts of distant missions and became interested in the possibility of devoting her life to teaching and prayer. This calling led her to join the Sisters of Loreto in 1928 and then to leave for India.

She taught at a school in Calcutta, took her final vows in 1937, and held responsibilities among the students. This period, less well known than her later work among the poor, constituted genuine training. Teresa learned to lead, teach, work in community, and respond to concrete needs. She chose her religious name in reference to Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, whose contemplative life and missionary spirit shaped her commitment.

The call of 1946 and a new foundation

On September 10, 1946, during a train journey to Darjeeling, Teresa identified a decisive spiritual experience. She recognized in it a call to serve Jesus in the poorest people. This conviction led her to request permission to leave her teaching work and live in direct contact with the disadvantaged inhabitants of Calcutta. The change required ecclesiastical procedures and material preparation.

From 1948 onward, she lived as close as possible to people without resources. She adopted the white sari edged in blue that would become the habit of her community. In 1950, the Missionaries of Charity received diocesan recognition. Her first companions joined her. Gradually, their work expanded to welcoming people living on the streets, accompanying the dying, and providing assistance to families in difficulty.

The history of this work is collective. Behind the founder were nuns, collaborators, volunteers, and people who were welcomed. The life of each establishment depended on repeated tasks involving organization, logistics, and the responsibility of the communities. Teresa located the spiritual dimension of her commitment in these ordinary acts.

Charity and the dignity of neglected people

Mother Teresa's spirituality is based in particular on Matthew 25, where Christ identifies himself with people who lack food, clothing, or welcome. She saw service to the poorest as an encounter with him. This reading of the Gospels gave religious meaning to the activities of the Missionaries of Charity and explains the importance placed on an attentive presence among those who no longer had support.

The aim was not merely to provide occasional material assistance. Teresa emphasized the value of a person regardless of their state of health, social background, or family situation. The congregation's homes became places where people sought to meet immediate needs, break isolation, and accompany the dying. Human dignity was the guiding thread of this ideal.

The activities of the institutions founded by Teresa also prompted debates about care practices and reception conditions. These questions call for a historical and health-care assessment distinct from the Church's religious judgment concerning her holiness. Examining them rigorously makes it possible to understand the achievements, limitations, and demands associated with working with vulnerable people.

A long spiritual trial revealed through her letters

The publication of her correspondence after her death revealed a discreet aspect of Mother Teresa's life. In letters addressed to her spiritual advisers, she spoke of a felt absence of God and of an inner experience marked by silence. The public image of a nun who was constantly comforted therefore does not correspond to everything she experienced.

This trial belongs within the language of the Christian faith and can be compared with the spiritual night described in the contemplative tradition. It should not be turned into a medical diagnosis. Rather, the letters testify to the way a woman continued her work and prayer even when she did not find in her emotions the assurance she hoped for.

This dimension gives greater depth to her commitment. Teresa did not base fidelity on a succession of reassuring experiences. Her life shows the possible gap between a highly visible public mission and personal questions kept out of the public eye.

Worldwide fame and the final years

During the second half of the 20th century, Teresa's work received extensive media coverage. Her congregation expanded beyond India and attracted the attention of numerous religious leaders, journalists, and donors. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. This recognition increased the visibility of the work, but also exposed its institutions more fully to public scrutiny.

Mother Teresa died in Calcutta on September 5, 1997. The community she founded survived her and continued its activities in various countries. Her memory now belongs at once to the history of women's religious life, humanitarian aid, and discussions about how to care for people living in extreme poverty.

Pope John Paul II beatified her in 2003, and Pope Francis canonized her on September 4, 2016. These steps express recognition of her holiness within the Catholic Church. They do not replace the study of the foundation and development of the Missionaries of Charity, which remain essential to understanding her life.

The white sari and devotion to Mother Teresa

Her iconography has a distinctive character because Mother Teresa lived in an era when photographs and films were abundant. The white sari with three blue stripes, clasped hands, and face marked by age became the most recognizable elements of her portraits. These are not attributes invented several centuries after her death, but images directly connected to her public work.

Her liturgical feast day is set for September 5. The faithful entrust to her, in particular, intentions concerning the sick, isolated people, and those seeking the strength to serve others. Reading her correspondence and the history of the Missionaries of Charity helps explain how a personal vocation gave rise to an international religious institution.