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Mother Teresa Facts

Mother Teresa Facts
Mother Teresa was a Roman Catholic nun who became well-known around the world for her work as a missionary. She was born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, an Albanian-Indian, on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, in the Ottoman Empire, to Nikollë and Dranafile Bojaxhiu. Her father died when she was eight and by the time she was 12 she had already convinced that she wanted to commit herself to religion. At 18 Teresa left home to join the Sisters of Loreto in Rathfarnham, Ireland, to become a missionary. On May 24th, 1931 Teresa took her first religious vows, being named after the patron saint of missionaries - Therese de Lisieux. She took her solemn vows on May 14, 1937. For the next 20 years Teresa served as a teacher at the Loreto convent school. In 1946 Teresa received 'the call' that led her to missionary work.
Interesting Mother Teresa Facts:
Mother Teresa worked in Calcutta for many years and became known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta.
Mother Teresa considered the day of her baptism to be her true birthday - August 27, 1910.
Although Mother Teresa spent her life helping the poor, the family she was born into was not poor itself.
When Mother Teresa moved to Ireland at 18 to learn English and become a missionary, she was never to see her mother or sisters ever again.
Mother Teresa's 'call' occurred in 1946, when she said Jesus spoke to her and instructed her to abandon her work as a teacher and help the poor and sick in Calcutta instead.
In 1950 Mother Teresa founded a religious congregation called 'the Missionaries of Charity'. By 2012 it was active in 133 countries and included more than 4,500 sisters.
When working as a teacher in Calcutta Mother Teresa used dirt and wooden sticks to teach children how to read and to write.
Mother Teresa rescued 37 children during the Siege of Beirut in 1982 when they were trapped in a hospital in a war zone.
Because Mother Teresa had no money when she worked in Calcutta caring for the sick and poor, she had to beg in order to eat.
Mother Teresa was given many awards throughout her life for the work she did to help the poor and the sick.
Mother Teresa was awarded the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. She asked that the budget of $192,000 set aside for the banquet be given to help India's poor instead.
Mother Teresa became famous for many of her quotes, including, "If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
While working as a missionary Mother Teresa became ill with a variety of illnesses including malaria, and pneumonia. She also experienced a broken collar bone and two heart attacks.
Mother Teresa's letters revealed that from 1948 until she died in 1997, she experienced a crisis of faith, at times doubting that God existed.
Mother Teresa was friends with Princess Diana. Weeks before they both died they were seen walking through New York City holding hands. Princess Diana died in a car crash and Mother Teresa died only 5 days later.


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