Teresa << tuh RAY suh, >> Mother (1910-1997), also known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. Mother Teresa was a Roman Catholic nun who received the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the poor. She became known as the saint of the gutters. In 1950, Mother Teresa founded a religious order (community) in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India, called the Missionaries of Charity. The order provides food for the needy. It also operates hospitals, schools, orphanages, youth centers, and shelters for lepers and the dying poor in dozens of Indian cities and in many other countries.
Mother Teresa’s original name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. She was born on Aug. 27, 1910, in what is now Skopje , Macedonia. In 1928, she joined a religious order, which sent her to India. She took the name Teresa after joining the order. A few years later, she began teaching in Calcutta. In 1948, the Catholic Church granted her permission to leave her convent and work among the city’s poor people. She became an Indian citizen that year.
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Mother Teresa received numerous awards for her work with the needy. These awards include the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize, which she received in 1971; India’s Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding, given to her in 1972; and honorary U.S. citizenship, given to her in 1996. However, her work sometimes was criticized. For example, some people claimed that her charity was not financially accountable and that her volunteers lacked sufficient medical training. Mother Teresa died on Sept. 5, 1997. In 2003, Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa. Beatification is an important step toward declaring an individual a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Mother Teresa was canonized (declared a saint) by Pope Francis on Sept. 4, 2016. Mother Teresa’s feast day is September 5.
