(Blessed) Mother Teresa

September 5, 1997
OBITUARY

After spending her whole life dedicated to the poor in many cities throughout the world, Mother Teresa of Calcutta died today, September 5, 1997, at age 87 in Calcutta, India.

Agnes Bojaxhiu was born on August 26, 1910 to Nikollë and Drana Bojaxhiu in Üsküb, Ottoman Empire.  When she was very young, around age 8, her father died, leaving her mother to take care of her.  Her mother decided to raise her as a Roman Catholic, and she dedicated her life to the church soon after.  At age 18, she joined a missionary and became a nun at age 21.  Teresa served as a schoolteacher in eastern Calcutta for almost twenty years before moving on to serve the poor throughout the world.  In her time at Calcutta, she saw a vision from God that told her to help and serve the poor while living among them.  

Throughout her life she established schools in slums, health clinics, orphanages, Pure Heart Homes for sick and dying homeless people, centers for the malnourished, shelters for the homeless, rehabilitation hospices for lepers, homes for alcoholics and drug addicts, homes for abandoned children, a leper colony, and old people's homes.  

In her life, she received much recognition for all the work she had done.  Mother Teresa was given the Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding in 1962.  In 1971, she was awarded the first ever Pope John XXIII Peace Prize.  In 1979, Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize.  A year later, she was given the highest civilian recognition from India: Bharat Ratna.  In 1983, Mother Teresa was given the Order of Merit by the United States and United Kingdom, and a year before she died, she was given honorary citizenship of the United States in 1996.  

On October 19, 2003, Mother Teresa was beatified by Pope John Paul II.  Upon being beatified, she was given the name “Blessed” by the Catholic church.  Mother Teresa needs one more miracle in order to complete the process of becoming a saint in the Catholic church.

Mother Teresa was an advocate for love to every person.  “Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”  Peace to all.