 Mother Teresa

 August 26, 1910

 September 5, 1997
 On religious pilgrimage at the age of 12, Mother Teresa experienced her calling to
devote her life to Christ.
 Through her own letters, Mother Teresa expressed doubt and wrestled with her faith.
 Mother Teresa was canonized after the Vatican verified two people's claims of having
experienced miracles through her.
 Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary
 Skopje, Macedonia
 Calcutta, India
 Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu

Nun and missionary Mother Teresa, known in the Catholic church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta,
devoted her life to caring for the sick and poor. Born in Macedonia to parents of Albanian-
descent and having taught in India for 17 years, Mother Teresa experienced her "call within a
call" in 1946. Her order established a hospice; centers for the blind, aged and disabled; and a
leper colony.

In 1979, Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian work. She died in
September 1997 and was beatified in October 2003. In December 2015, Pope Francis
recognized a second miracle attributed to Mother Teresa, clearing the way for her to be
canonized on September 4, 2016. Mother Teresa’s parents, Nikola and Dranafile Bojaxhiu,
were of Albanian descent; her father was an entrepreneur who worked as a construction
contractor and a trader of medicines and other goods. The Bojaxhius were a devoutly Catholic
family, and Nikola was deeply involved in the local church as well as in city politics as a vocal
proponent of Albanian independence.

In 1919, when Mother Teresa — then Agnes — was only eight years old, her father suddenly
fell ill and died. While the cause of his death remains unknown, many have speculated that
political enemies poisoned him.

In the aftermath of her father's death, Agnes became extraordinarily close to her mother, a
pious and compassionate woman who instilled in her daughter a deep commitment to charity.
Although by no means wealthy, Drana Bojaxhiu extended an open invitation to the city's
destitute to dine with her family. "My child, never eat a single mouthful unless you are sharing
it with others," she counseled her daughter. When Agnes asked who the people eating with
them were, her mother uniformly responded, "Some of them are our relations, but all of them
are our people."