Early life

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu /ˈagnɛs gɔnˈʤa bɔˈjadʒju/ (Albanian Gonxha for "rosebud") was born on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, now the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. Although she was born on August 26, she considered August 27, the day she was baptized, to be her "true birthday." Although some sources state that she was 10 when her father died, in an interview with her brother, the Vatican documents her age at the time as "about eight". She was the youngest of the children of a family from Shkodër, Albania, born to Nikolle and Drana Bojaxhiu. Her father was involved in Albanian politics. In 1919, after a political meeting, which left Skopje out of Albania, he fell ill and died when Agnes was about eight years old. After her father's death, her mother raised her as a Roman Catholic. According to a biography by Joan Graff Clucas, in her early years Agnes was fascinated by stories of the lives of missionaries and their service, and by age 12 was convinced that she should commit herself to a religious life. She left home at age 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto as a missionary. She never again saw her mother or sister.

Agnes initially went to the Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham, Ireland, to learn English, the language the Sisters of Loreto used to teach school children in India. She arrived in India in 1929, and began her novitiate in Darjeeling, near the Himalayan mountains. She took her first religious vows as a nun on May 24, 1931. At that time she chose the name Teresa after Thérèse de Lisieux, the patron saint of missionaries. She took her solemn vows on May 14, 1937, while serving as a teacher at the Loreto convent school in eastern Calcutta.

Although Teresa enjoyed teaching at the school, she was increasingly disturbed by the poverty surrounding her in Calcutta. A famine in 1943 brought misery and death to the city; and the outbreak of Hindu/Muslim violence in August 1946 plunged the city into despair and horror.

Missionaries of Charity

On September 10, 1946, Teresa experienced what she later described as "the call within the call" while traveling to the Loreto convent in Darjeeling from Calcutta for her annual retreat. "I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them. It was an order. To fail would have been to break the faith." She began her missionary work with the poor in 1948, replacing her traditional Loreto habit with a simple white cotton sari decorated with a blue border, adopted Indian citizenship, and ventured out into the slums. Initially she started a school in Motijhil; soon she started tending to the needs of the destitute and starving. Her efforts quickly caught the attention of Indian officials, including the Prime Minister, who expressed his appreciation.

Teresa wrote in her diary that her first year was fraught with difficulties. She had no income and had to resort to begging for food and supplies. Teresa experienced doubt, loneliness and the temptation to return to the comfort of convent life during these early months. She wrote in her diary:

• Missionaries of Charity
• Kalighat Home for the Dying

Notes

1. ^ PBS Online Newshour (September 5, 1997). Mother Teresa Dies, www.pbs.org. Retrieved August, 2007
2. ^ Spink, Kathryn (1997). Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography . New York. HarperCollins, pp.16. ISBN 0-06-250825-3.
3. ^ http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20031019_madre-teresa_en.html
4. ^ Mother Teresa | Humanitarian
5. ^ Associate Press. (October 14, 2003). "Full house for Mother Teresa ceremony". CNN. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
6. ^ "Blessed Mother Teresa". (2007). Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved May 30, 2007.
7. ^ "Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)". Vatican News Service . Retrieved May 30, 2007.
8. ^ Lester, Meera (2004). Saints' Blessings By Meera Lester Saints' Blessing . Fair Winds. pp. 138. ISBN 1592330452 . http://books.google.com/books?id=HSg6f3JaN1IC&pg=PA139&lpg=PA139&dq=Nikolle+bojaxhiu&source=web&ots=bCgwkpbTe7&sig=sIXUKONOEt1BcY9DtqkJcg_NQfM&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result Saints' Blessings By Meera Lester . Retrieved on 14 December 2008 .  
9. ^ , at the time in the Ottoman Empire. Although she was born on August 26, 1910, she considered August 27, 1910, the day she was baptized, to be her "true birthday." (2002). "Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)". Vatican News Service . Retrieved May 30, 2007. Although some sources state that she was 10 when her father died, in an interview with her brother, the Vatican documents her age at the time as "about eight".
10. ^ Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa . New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 24. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
11. ^ Sharn, Lori (September 5, 1997). "Mother Teresa dies at 87". USA Today . Retrieved May 30, 2007
12. ^ Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa . New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 28-29. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
13. ^ Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa . New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 31. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
14. ^ Sebba, Anne (1997). Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image . New York. Doubleday, p.35. ISBN 0-385-48952-8.
15. ^ Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa . New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 32. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
16. ^ Spink, Kathryn (1997). Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography . New York. HarperCollins, pp.16. ISBN 0-06-250825-3.
17. ^ Spink, Kathryn (1997). Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography . New York. HarperCollins, pp.18-21. ISBN 0-06-250825-3.
18. ^ Spink, Kathryn (1997). Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography . New York. HarperCollins, pp.18, 21-22. ISBN 0-06-250825-3.
19. ^ Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa . New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 35. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
20. ^ Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa . New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 39. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
21. ^ "Blessed Mother Teresa". Encyclopædia Britannica Online . Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved on 2007-12-20.
22. ^ Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa . New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 48-49. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
23. ^ Williams, Paul (2002). Mother Teresa . Indianapolis. Alpha Books, p. 57. ISBN 0-02-864278-3.
24. ^ Spink, Kathryn (1997). Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography . New York. HarperCollins, pp.37. ISBN 0-06-250825-3.
25. ^ Williams, Paul (2002). Mother Teresa . Indianapolis. Alpha Books, p. 62. ISBN 0-02-864278-3.
26. ^ Spink, Kathryn (1997). Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography . New York. HarperCollins, pp.284. ISBN 0-06-250825-3.
27. ^ Sebba, Anne (1997). Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image . New York. Doubleday, pp. 58–60. ISBN 0-385-48952-8.
28. ^ ^{a b} Spink, Kathryn (1997). Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography . New York. HarperCollins, pp.55. ISBN 0-06-250825-3.
29. ^ Sebba, Anne (1997). Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image . New York. Doubleday, pp. 62-63. ISBN 0-385-48952-8.
30. ^ Clucas, Joan Graff. (1988). Mother Teresa . New York. Chelsea House Publications, pp. 58-59. ISBN 1-55546-855-1.
31. ^ Spink, Kathryn (1997). Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography . New York. HarperCollins, pp.82. ISBN 0-06-250825-3.
32. ^ Spink, Kathryn (1997). Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography . New York. HarperCollins, pp.286-287. ISBN 0-06-250825-3.
33. ^ Scott, David A Revolution of Love: The Meaning of Mother Teresa Chicago, Loyola Press, 2005. ISBN 0829420312 p.7ff "She deals only with the disease (of poverty), but not with preventing it, but people in the West continue to give her money"
34. ^ Byfield, Ted (October 20, 1997), "If the real world knew the real Mother Teresa there would be a lot less adulation", Alberta Report/Newsmagazine 24 (45)

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