Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa – Life, Legacy, and Famous Quotes
Explore the extraordinary life of Mother Teresa (Saint Teresa of Calcutta) — born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (August 26, 1910 – September 5, 1997), an Albanian-born Catholic nun whose compassion for the poorest earned her sainthood. Dive into her early years, mission work, controversies, spiritual journey, and enduring impact.
Introduction
Mother Teresa, canonized as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, is one of the most iconic figures of 20th-century humanitarianism. Born of Albanian descent, she spent most of her life in India founding and leading the Missionaries of Charity, a religious order devoted to serving “the poorest of the poor.” Her selfless care for the sick, dying, orphaned, and marginalized has become a global symbol of compassion — earning her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and sainthood in 2016.
Yet her life was not without complexity: she struggled with spiritual darkness, faced criticism for institutional choices, and held controversial views on abortion and suffering. In studying her life, we find both deep inspiration and critical questions about how best to serve human dignity.
Early Life and Family
Mother Teresa was born on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, then part of the Ottoman Empire (now the capital of North Macedonia), into an ethnically Albanian Catholic family. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (often anglicized “Agnes Gonxha”).
Her father, Nikollë Bojaxhiu, was a businessman and civic leader active in Albanian nationalist causes.
From a young age, she was deeply influenced by faith and stories of missionary work. At age 12, she is said to have felt a calling toward religious life and service.
Youth and Education
At age 18, in 1928, Anjezë left home to join the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland, at Loreto Abbey, Rathfarnham, to learn English (so she could later serve as a missionary in India).
After a novitiate and theological preparation, she moved to India in 1929, to the Loreto convent in Darjeeling, and then to Calcutta (Kolkata), where she taught in a girls’ school.
For nearly two decades, she served as a teacher and headmistress in the Loreto schools in Calcutta, observing both privilege and extreme poverty around her.
“Call Within a Call” & Founding Missionaries of Charity
Though Mother Teresa was committed to her convent life, she later reported a pivotal experience in September 1946, during a train journey to Darjeeling for retreat, in which she received what she called a “call within a call” — a divine prompting to leave the convent and live among and serve the poorest of the poor in Calcutta.
By 1948, she had obtained permission from Church authorities to leave the Loreto order’s convent habit and wear a simple white sari with a blue border, and began working in the slums. Missionaries of Charity, a religious congregation dedicated to caring for “the poorest of the poor.”
The Missionaries of Charity began with only a few sisters, but over time expanded globally, operating homes for the dying, orphanages, leprosy clinics, soup kitchens, mobile clinics, and more.
Mother Teresa’s undertaking was motivated by her conviction that love, small acts, and presence among the suffering were powerful expressions of faith. She often emphasized that what matters is doing simple things with great love.
Ministry, Works, and Global Expansion
Over the decades, Mother Teresa and her order expanded operations beyond India to many countries. By the time of her death, Missionaries of Charity had missions in over 100 nations.
She and her sisters worked in the toughest places: slums, disaster zones, refugee camps, regions afflicted by war, famine, disease, and neglect.
She traveled to war zones — for instance, in 1982 during the Lebanese civil war she intervened to rescue children trapped in a front-line hospital, negotiating ceasefires to move them to safety.
She also reached into nations formerly closed to her order: in the 1980s and 1990s, she opened missions in communist countries (such as Albania, Cuba, Eastern Europe) even as those governments had resisted religious institutions.
Throughout, she accepted awards, diplomatic invitations, and attention — though she consistently directed funds or honoraria toward her charitable work. For example, after winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, she refused the banquet and asked that the money be used to help the poor.
Declining Health, Death & Canonization
Mother Teresa’s health began to decline in the 1980s: she suffered a heart attack in 1983 and later received a pacemaker in 1989.
In March 1997, she resigned as head of the Missionaries of Charity. September 5, 1997, she passed away in Calcutta.
Following her death, the process toward beatification and canonization proceeded. In 2003, the Vatican beatified her (declared Blessed). canonized on September 4, 2016, becoming Saint Teresa of Calcutta.
Today, her feast day is observed on September 5.
Legacy and Influence
Mother Teresa’s legacy is vast and multidimensional:
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A global emblem of compassion: Her image — a humble nun caring for dying people — became widely recognized as a symbol of selfless love and service.
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Missionaries of Charity: The religious order she founded continues to operate worldwide, caring for the marginalized, including those with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, leprosy, orphans, and the dying.
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Inspiration across faiths and cultures: Though a devout Catholic, her work resonated broadly. People of many religions regarded her as a moral exemplar.
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Controversy, criticism, and reflection: Her methods, institutional choices, handling of donations, embrace of suffering, and public stances (notably on abortion and contraception) have attracted critical scrutiny.
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Spiritual depth and struggle: Private writings revealed that she lived for decades with a profound sense of spiritual desolation — what some call “the dark night of the soul.” Her honesty about her inner spiritual struggles has fascinated theologians and believers alike.
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Cultural memorials: Her name adorns universities, hospitals, airport terminals (e.g. Tirana’s Mother Teresa International Airport in Albania), memorial houses in her birthplace, and many churches and institutions around the world. In Albania, 5 September is observed as Mother Teresa Day.
Personality, Spirituality & Paradoxes
Mother Teresa combined saintly humility with resolute conviction. She lived a life of extreme simplicity, wearing a basic sari, foregoing luxury, and often sleeping little. Yet she had a large, determined spirit — able to speak with political leaders, negotiate in war zones, and mobilize substantial resources for her mission.
Her spiritual life, however, was marked by long periods of inner darkness. In her private letters and documents released after her death (e.g. Come Be My Light), she confessed decades of spiritual doubt, desolation, and sense of divine absence. Yet she persisted in outward service, suggesting that faith is not always felt as consolation but can be lived through action.
She believed deeply in the dignity of each human being, often saying that in every face of a suffering person, one meets Christ. She emphasized doing small acts of love — feeding one starving person, caring for one bedridden patient — with great fidelity.
She was also unafraid to speak on moral issues: she opposed abortion and contraception, calling abortion “the greatest destroyer of peace.” These stances were controversial, especially in global debates over reproductive rights.
Some critics (notably Christopher Hitchens) challenged her approach, arguing that her clinics sometimes lacked adequate medical care, that she accepted donations from dubious sources, and that her theology valorized suffering rather than relieving it. These critiques invite nuanced engagement: while her example of devotion is powerful, her methods and priorities are not beyond scrutiny.
Famous Quotes by Mother Teresa
Here are a few of her best-known and deeply felt sayings:
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“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
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“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
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“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”
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“We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.”
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“It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.”
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“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.”
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“Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.”
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“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”
These quotations reflect her core values: compassion, humility, presence, and the transforming power of love in the ordinary.
Lessons from Mother Teresa
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Great impact springs from consistent small acts
Her life teaches that heroic service often arises from everyday kindness: feeding the hungry, visiting the dying, offering presence. -
Service rooted in solidarity, not condescension
She did not stay aloof — she lived among the poorest. Genuine helping requires humility and presence. -
Faith persists even without consolation
Her decades of spiritual struggle suggest that faith is not always joyous or assured — sometimes it is fidelity amid emptiness. -
Moral conviction carries cost and tension
Holding strong ethical beliefs (e.g. on abortion) may lead to controversy; serving human dignity often involves navigating moral complexities. -
Critique does not erase respect
One can examine institutional flaws or methodological mistakes without denying the profound value of her life’s intention and example. -
Universal resonance beyond creed
Her work crossed religious, cultural, and national boundaries — inspiring people of all faiths (and none) through the language of love and service.
Conclusion
Mother Teresa remains a luminous, though contested, figure of our era. Her journey from Skopje to Calcutta, from teacher to saint, maps a path of radical humility, sacrificial love, and expansive compassion. She challenges us to see suffering, not as distant, but as a call to action; to understand that even in darkness, one can persist; and to recognize that small, faithful acts done daily build a legacy far beyond ourselves.
Her life compels reflection: How might we serve more generously? How do we accompany, not merely aid? How do we hold conviction and compassion in balance? In remembering her, we are invited to live more lightly, love more deeply, and act more courageously.