TIRANA, August 26 – Mother Teresa, one of the world’s best-known humanitarian figures, was born 116 years ago today as Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in Skopje, then part of the Ottoman Empire and now the capital of North Macedonia. She came from an Albanian family. Her Albanian origins remained an important part of her identity throughout her life.
Her family raised her in a Catholic household. At the age of 18, Gonxhe left home and joined the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland. She later travelled to India, where she began teaching in Calcutta in 1929.
The poverty she encountered in India gradually drew her towards direct service to the poorest. In 1948, she received permission to leave her school and work among people living in extreme poverty. Two years later, she founded the Missionaries of Charity.
The order expanded its work internationally. It established homes for poor, sick, abandoned and dying people. Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work.
She died in Calcutta on September 5, 1997, aged 87. The Holy See beatified her in 2003. Thirteen years later, Pope Francis canonized her in St Peter’s Square on September 4, 2016. The Holy See thus formally declared Mother Teresa a saint of the Catholic Church.
Today, the Vatican officially refers to her as Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Her life and work remain closely associated with service to the poorest and most vulnerable.
/a.p./
The post Mother Teresa, the Albanian-born saint who devoted her life to the poorest appeared first on RTSH English.
