by Jon Hovland

Created on: June 17, 2007   Last Updated: September 18, 2007

Mother Teresa

In 1910 in the city of Skopje, now located in modern day Macedonia, Nikola and Dronda Bojaxhiu would give birth to the youngest of their five children, Agnes. Agnes, who was only the third one to survive, would later become known as Mother Teresa, who quite possibly is the most beloved woman of modern times.
When she was only seven years old Agnes lost her father and she and her two siblings where left to be raised by their mother. Agnes' spent much of her life surrounded by church activities, but it wasn't until she turned 18 that she discover her calling into nunnery. She left her previous life behind and joined the Loreto Sisters of Dublin. It was here that shoe would take her vows and change her name Teresa. She would spend the next fifteen years of her life working for this covenant teaching at a private school in Calcutta.

In 1948 Teresa would hear a different calling, one that would lead her away from the comfortable and sheltered environment that she was currently enjoying. That year she would find herself called to the streets, where God had decreed that she was to work with the poor. Teresa claimed that Christ himself visited her and proclaimed that she was to serve among the poorest of the poor. Over the next two years Teresa would toil through various technicalities and personal hurtles to get herself released from her covenant with the Sisters of Loreto and begin her life as an independent nun living on the streets of Calcutta. Teresa gave up her traditional garb and chose instead to wear a plain white sari and sandals, the normal clothes of Indian women. Teresa quickly turned to the forum she loved and knew well, teaching. She began to teach the children of the poor, often times writing in dirt to get her message out there. As the community began to slowly embrace Teresa the constant pouring out of needs from Calcutta's poor, often times became overwhelming. However, within the year she would begin receiving an outpouring of help, which she attributed to her devotion to her daily prayer. Young woman, many who where born in Calcutta, began to follow Teresa's example, and within this group laid the foundation of Teresa's charity group, the Missionaries of Charity.
What began as a modest hospice in the poorest districts of Calcutta, would eventually row into a charity of more then 4000 nuns and thousands of volunteers, spanning over 100 countries around the world, serving the poor, hungry, sick, and otherwise "degenerates" of society.

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