Mother Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu[6] (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, Albanian: [aˈɲɛzə ˈɡɔndʒɛ bɔjaˈdʒiu]; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), honoured in the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta,[7] was an Albanian-Indian[4] Roman Catholic nun and missionary.[8] She was born in Skopje (now the capital of North Macedonia), then part of the Kosovo Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire. After living in Skopje for eighteen years, she moved to Ireland and then to India, where she lived for most of her life.
Teresa of Calcutta
MCMother Teresa in June 1995Consecrated religious, nunBornAnjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu
26 August 1910
Üsküp, Kosovo Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
(present-day Skopje, North Macedonia)Died5 September 1997 (aged 87)
Calcutta, West Bengal, India (present-day Kolkata)Venerated inRoman Catholic ChurchBeatified19 October 2003, Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope John Paul IICanonized4 September 2016.
Mother Teresa
TitleSuperior generalPersonalReligionChristianityNationalityOttoman subject (1910–1912)
Serbian subject (1912–1915)
Bulgarian subject (1915–1918)
Yugoslavian subject (1918–1943)
Yugoslavian citizen (1943–1948)
Indian subject (1948–1950)
Indian citizen[4] (1950–1997)
Albanian citizen[5] (1991–1997)
United States, honorary citizenship (awarded 1996)
DenominationRoman CatholicismSignatureInstituteSisters of Loreto
(1928–1948)
Missionaries of Charity
(1950–1997)Senior postingPeriod in office1950–1997SuccessorSr. Nirmala Joshi, MC
In 1950, Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation that had over 4,500 nuns and was active in 133 countries in 2012. The congregation manages homes for people who are dying of HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis. It also runs soup kitchens, dispensaries, mobile clinics, children's and family counselling programmes, as well as orphanages and schools. Members take vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, and also profess a fourth vow – to give "wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor."[9]
Teresa received a number of honors, including the 1962 Ramon Magsaysay Peace Prize and 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. She was canonised on 4 September 2016, and the anniversary of her death (5 September) is her feast day. A controversial figure during her life and after her death, Teresa was admired by many for her charitable work. She was praised and criticized on various counts, such as for her views on abortion and contraception, and was criticized for poor conditions in her houses for the dying. Her authorized biography was written by Navin Chawla and published in 1992, and she has been the subject of films and other books. On 6 September 2017, Teresa and St. Francis Xavier were named co-patrons of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Calcutta.