Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Feast Day: September 5
Nun who served the world's poorest and most abandoned with radical compassion.
Patronage
Missionaries, poor people, the sick, the dying, Calcutta, abandoned children, marginal communities
Virtues & Traits
Biography
Mother Teresa, born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in 1910 in Macedonia, became an icon of Christian charity in the modern world. She joined the Sisters of Loreto teaching order, eventually working in Calcutta, India. In 1946, she experienced a divine calling to serve the poorest of the poor, leaving her teaching position to establish the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. This congregation dedicated itself to caring for those society abandoned: lepers, orphans, the destitute, and dying. Operating from Calcutta's slums, Mother Teresa and her sisters provided shelter, medical care, and human dignity to countless suffering individuals. Her work expanded globally, establishing homes on multiple continents. Despite personal darkness and spiritual struggles she documented privately, she maintained extraordinary commitment to serving Christ in the disguise of the suffering poor. Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. Her emphasis on finding Christ in the marginalized and serving without seeking recognition revolutionized modern Catholic charity and inspired millions. She died in 1997, beloved worldwide as an embodiment of Christian love transcending religious and cultural boundaries.