Narvilnews Hindi News Channel
Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu) was born on 26 August 1910 at Uskup, Ottoman Empire (now Skopje at Republic of Macedonia. It is said that at 12, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu – the Catholic Albanian girl dreamed that God is asking her to devote her life in service to the humanity and dedicate it to the God. When she was 18, she left Skopje and joined an Irish community of nuns “THE SISTERS OF LORETO” in Dublin. Later she was sent to India on a mission of that community after a short training at the age of 21.
She was a Roman Catholic nun who sacrificed her entire life in service to the humanity and looking after poor and destitute all over the world. She started the Missionaries of Charity – an organization that look after the abandoned people and taking care of them who were sick. Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work and service to humanity. In 2016, she was recognized as a canon by the Roman Catholic Church as Saint Teresa.
Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa) took her formal religious oath in 1931 and chosen to be named after St Therese of Lisieux – the patron saint of missionaries. After taking oath she opted for teaching and for over 17 years from 1931 to 1948 she has been teaching at St. Mary’s High School in Calcutta. She was a kind hearted person and emotional to others’ grief and destitute. Seeing the sufferings and poverty during her work at St. Mary’s High School as a teacher in Kolkata, she was much inclined towards its.
The grief and helpless conditions of the poor people made such a deep impression on her that she decided to dedicate her life to them. Her experiences of grief and sufferings during first Bengal famine of 1943 and the Hindu/Muslim violence in 1946, before the partition of India jolted her much. In 1948 she decided to leave the service of teaching children and dedicate her life to this noble cause of service to others and left the convent school after the permission of her seniors. Rest is the history in service to humanity as she devoted herself among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta.
The continuous service to humanity lad her to start The Missionaries of Charity in 1952- her first home for the dying. The Missionaries of Charity allowed people to die with dignity. The primary objective of these missionaries was to look after alone and those who had nobody were behind them to look after. She used to spent time with those who were dying. For this activity many people criticized her as well as the organization for the lack of proper medical attention, and their refusal to give painkillers to those who were suffering at death bed. While other appreciated in a way that it afforded many neglected people the opportunity to die knowing that someone care for him/her.
Their work also looked after the person who were hospitalized and orphan and needed their help. Under the missionaries they were giving services to orphanages and hospitals for those who were suffering with incurable illnesses. She was observing their service as a fundamental principal of Jesus Christ and often used to mention that it is in service to God. Their services under Missionaries of Charity expanded to other countries as well. By 2013, over 700 missionaries were operating in 130 countries including USSR – Soviet Union (now it has divided into different countries after dissolving of the union) and Eastern European countries.
They offer help to the poorest of the poor in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and provide relief work in natural calamities as floods, epidemics, famine, and for refugees. Besides, in North America, Europe and Australia they observe rehabilitation program taking care of the shut-ins, alcoholics, homeless, and AIDS sufferers. Their services are being offered, aided and assisted by co-workers through the world. By the 1990s there were over one million co-workers in more than 40 countries. Along with the co-workers, they lay Missionaries of Charity try to follow Mother Teresa’s spirit and charisma in their families.
There are several awards, accolades and recognitions to her names that included: The first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize and Kennedy Prize in 1971; The Nehru Prize –“for the promotion of international peace and understanding” in 1972. Albert Schweitzer International Prize in 1975; The Nobel Peace Prize in 1979; States Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985; Congressional Gold Medal in 1994; U Thant Peace Award in 1994; and Honorary citizenship of the United States in November 16, 1996.
Mr Malcolm Muggeridge writes in his book “Something Beautiful for God” producing her documentary that by 1960s, the life of Mother Teresa was brought to a wider public attention. And by 1970s she became internationally recognized personality for her service to the poor and helpless. She was so deeply concerned to life and its pain that she advocated against abortions and said women have no rights to it. In her words, “The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me?”
When the discussion about sex and abortion grew, people criticized Mother Teresa stating that instead of helping poor she encourage them to endure pain and continue suffer. In Christopher Hitchens’s book on Teresa “The Missionary Position” says she was against ending poverty and raising the social status of women. It also says she was not a friend of the poor but the poverty. It quoted, “She said that suffering was a gift from God.” After her death on 5 September 1997 at age of 87 in Calcutta, West Bengal, India (present-day Kolkata) she was beatified (the first stage of sainthood) by Pope John Paul II and given the title Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
She was serving them and meeting to various missionaries despite she was suffering from various health problems for over two decades. Till her last breath she was active in travelling around the world and meeting people. She met with Princess Diana in the Bronx, New York before her last breath and they died within a week one after another. Mother Teresa was a living legend and saint who set a great example and inspiration to the world in service to humanity.
