St. Teresa of Calcutta

St. Teresa of Calcutta, born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, then part of the Ottoman Empire (now North Macedonia), was of Albanian descent. From a young age, she felt a deep calling to serve God and humanity. At 18, she joined the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland, where she took the name Sister Mary Teresa after St. Thérèse of Lisieux. In 1929, she was sent to India, where she taught at a girls" school in Calcutta (now Kolkata) for nearly two decades. In 1946, during a train ride to Darjeeling, she experienced what she described as a "call within a call" from Jesus, urging her to serve the poorest of the poor. After receiving permission from her superiors, she left the convent in 1948 and founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. The order grew rapidly, establishing homes for the dying, orphanages, leper colonies, and centers for the destitute across the globe. St. Teresa, affectionately known as Mother Teresa, dedicated her life to serving "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society." She passed away on September 5, 1997, in Kolkata, India, leaving behind a legacy of compassion and selfless service.