by Anne Penny

Created on: June 28, 2011   Last Updated: June 30, 2011

The diminutive figure of Mother Teresa in her later years is instantly recognizable; tiny she may have been, but a great strength emanated from her, and her remarkable and selfless work has been acknowledged and acclaimed the world over.

She was born in Macedonia and named Gonxha on August 26, 1910, to a family of Albanian descent; she was the youngest of the three children. At the early age of 12 years, she realized that she wanted to become a missionary and to spread Christianity in the world. When she was 18 years of age she left her home, never again to see her mother, to go to Ireland, to the Loreto Sisters of Dublin. After spending a year there she left and arrived in India.

In Darjeeling, still with with the Sisters of Loreto, Gonxha made her first vows and became Sister Teresa in 1931. For a number of years, from 1931 until 1948, Sister Teresa was a teacher at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, where she advanced to become its principal. It was here, during her years of teaching, that she became aware of the squalor and terrible poverty that existed in the city. It was here, too, that Sister Teresa became Mother Teresa when she made her final vows in 1937. With no funds or support, Mother Teresa left the convent school and began, in 1948, to teach the children of the slums in an open-air school with no books or equipment, writing in the dust and teaching simple hygiene.

Before setting out to teach the poorest people of Calcutta, Mother Teresa did a short intensive nursing course in order to prepare herself for what she knew to be her future calling; she also discarded her Loreto Sister's habit and instead adopted the white sari and sandals of ordinary Indian women. The blue stripes on the sari are the color for the Virgin Mary.

Mother Teresa's teaching of the slum children in Calcutta quickly drew interest and gained both volunteer workers and financial aid. She called her new group of people "The Missionaries of Charity," and it was given official recognition within the Archdiocese of Calcutta in 1950 as a religious community; its members took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience but also an additional vow of giving service to the poor. The new order received welcome publicity, and donations were put to good use; in 1957, work began to assist the many lepers of Calcutta while the educational program for the poor was steadily expanded. An orphanage was opened, homeless children were taken in and other Indian cities began to receive the assistance

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