1910
Agnes Gonxe Bojaxhiu is born on Aug. 26 in Skopje,Macedonia, the youngest of three children of an Albanian builder.
Mother Theresa
The Nun who became a Saint
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
Who was Mother Theresa?
She was a Roman Catholic nun who devoted her life to serving the poor and destitute around the world. She spent many years in Calcutta, India where she founded the Missionaries of Charity, a religious congregation devoted to helping those in great need.
- In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and became a symbol of charitable, selfless work.
- In 2016, Mother Teresa was canonised by the Roman Catholic Church as Saint Teresa.
Major Life Events
1929
Arrives in Kolkata to teach at St. Mary’s High School.
1937
Takes final vows and the name Mother Teresa.
1946
She receives a “call within a call” from Jesus “to serve him among the poorest of the poor.”
1948
Permitted to leave her order and moves to Kolkata’s slums to set up her first school.
1950
Missionaries of Charity officially founded on Oct. 7 as a religious congregation.
1952
Opens Nirmal Hriday (“Pure Heart”), a home for the dying, followed next year by her first orphanage.
1962
Opens Nirmal Hriday (“Pure Heart”), a home for the dying, followed next year by her first orphanage.
1979
Wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
1982
Persuades Israelis and Palestinians to stop shooting long enough to rescue 37 children from a hospital in besieged Beirut.
1983
Has a heart attack while in Rome visiting St. John Paul II.
1985
Awarded Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian award.
1989
Has a second and nearly fatal attack. Doctors implant pacemaker.
1990
Suffers pneumonia in Tijuana, Mexico, leading to congestive heart failure, and is hospitalized in La Jolla, California.
1996
Nov. 16, receives honorary U.S. citizenship.
1997
Dies Sept. 5 in Kolkata and is given a state funeral.
2003
Beatified before a crowd of 300,000 by St. John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square.
2015
Is cleared for canonization after Pope Francis declares that the cure of a Brazilian man suffering from brain abscesses was miraculous.
2016
Is declared a saint on Sept. 4.