Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa, also known as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, was a renowned Albanian Roman Catholic religious sister and missionary. She was born as Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, then part of the Kosovo Vilayet in the Ottoman Empire, now the capital of North Macedonia. Mother Teresa lived in Skopje for eighteen years before moving to Ireland and then to India, where she lived for most of her life.\n \n In 1950, Mother Teresa established the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation that has over 4,500 nuns and is active in 133 countries. The congregation manages homes for people who are dying of HIV/AIDS, leprosy, and tuberculosis, as well as soup kitchens, dispensaries, mobile clinics, children's and family counselling programs, orphanages, and schools. Members of the congregation take vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, and also profess a fourth vow to give "wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor."

Mother Teresa received numerous honors during her lifetime, including the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. After her death on September 5, 1997, she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and canonized by Pope Francis. Mother Teresa was known for her charitable works and pro-life views, but she also received criticism for the conditions in the hospices for which she was responsible. Despite the controversy, Mother Teresa remains widely admired for her dedication to serving the poor and marginalized. Her official biography was written by an Indian civil servant, Navin Chawla, and published in 1992.