God’s most precious gift , a girl child was born as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu to an Albanian parents Nikola and Drane Bojaxhiu  in 1910 on 26th August and was baptized on 27th ,August at Skopje in Macedonia. She had a brother and a sister.

She was the youngest child of her parents. She received her first communion at the age of five. From childhood, she attended prayers in the worship of the Almighty. At the age of eight she lost her father due to which her family had to face financial crisis. Drane Bojaxhiu then assumed the dual role of both a mother and father-and helped her children develop a good character. Under the influence and guidance of her mother and a priest, Agnes decided to carry out missionary work. Though, she was by birth an Albanian citizen, but she became the citizen of the whole world due to her selfless work for the mankind.

By the age of 17, she had joined the Sisters of Loretto, an Irish order of sisters and was eventually assigned to Calcutta, India at St. Mary’s High School. Then she moved to India in the year 1929 and became a teacher at St. Mary’s at KOLKATA.

In 1931, she changed her name, to Teressa. In 1944, she became the Principal of St. Mary’s .Soon after she was contracted with tuberculosis and was sent to Darjeeling for rest and recuperation.

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During the travel, she received the call of the God and decided to serve the poor and destitute of the society.  In 1949, Teressa and her group of pupils rented a room so that they could take care of the helpless people otherwise condemned to die in the gutter .This house was called the ‘MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY’ which runs even today.

The charity was founded in 1950. It has two divisions-the ‘NIRMAL HRIDAY and the SISHU BHAVAN.’ The NIRMAL HRIDAY is an old age home while the SISHU BHAVAN is an orphanage. The organization began with twelve followers and rose to 4,000 plus. There was not a group of downtrodden individuals whom Mother didn’t try to help. Much  of her  early work was focused on the homeless and dying of Calcutta, the so called  untouchable class .But not satisfied with that, she helped lepers, AIDS(ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY  SYNDROME) victims, victims of  natural disasters ,refugees ,orphans ,the handicapped and just anyone who needed help. By 1963, Teressa was granted permission to expand her ministry outside India. More than 500 orphanages and other institutions were founded and started operation for the benefits of millions of people by the end of the 20th century. It is estimated that for charitable work, nearly one million workers were employed by the Missionaries of Charity.

As her fame increased, so too did the awards and accolades heaped upon her. She received various accolades including the Noble Peace Prize and Presidential Medal of Freedom.

BUT the world conferred upon her its highest honor and she became “MOTHER TERESSA”.

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But the honors and accolades had very little effect on her work and her views of the world and the church she served. She refused to compromise in her beliefs.

By any measure, Mother Teressa has fascinated the world by being a complete and utter contrarian. No modern day view of the church and its mission for her; rather a strong, simplistic approach to charity and religious work was her life’s passion. Based on the belief of dignity of the individual, no matter how poor, how sick or how low on the social pecking order he or she might be Mother Teressa’s heroism was founded beyond all. While not everyone can and will agree with the particulars of her actions and programs, she remains far and away the most admired individual of the late 20th century. Her life’s teachings and good works represent a call to all of us to come to the aid of those neglected by the world or simply ignored and forgotten. She is and will remain a Mother, a hero for her respect, love, affection and care for anyone and everyone with unparalleled personal and spiritual appeal, in our hearts forever.

Mother Teressa loved the poor as a mother would love her children.

She cared for anyone and everyone who was in need, beyond any categorical peculiarity created by human beings like cast, creed as sex, religion and nationality. Love, humanity and helping others selflessly were her reasons to stay on earth. She became the mother of the sick, destitute as well as the impoverished people on the earth.

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By the time Mother was 73,she had started enduring several health problems such as several heart attacks . Following her death, she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title of ‘BLESSED TERESSA OF CALCUTTA. She was beatified on 19th October, 2003 by Pope John Paul II which marked her first step to saint hood .On 13th March, 1997 she stepped down as the head of her order and was succeeded by Sister Nirmala Joshi. After accomplishing her life’s mission, She left for her heavenly abode on 5th of September, 1997 due to a massive heart attack at the age of 87, but She still remains and will remain as the immortal mother in the hearts of the poor and destitute of the world forever.

Declaration: The above work and the Title is an original one except some data extracts from various books, magazines, publications, documentaries and internet.

By

Anannya Chakra

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Email: anannya30-at-gmail.com