Mother Teresa, born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in 1910 in Skopje, joined the Sisters of Loreto at age 18 and moved to India soon after. She taught at a girls’ school in Calcutta for nearly twenty years before founding the Missionaries of Charity in 1950, a religious congregation dedicated to serving “the poorest of the poor”.
Wearing her simple white sari with blue borders, she and the sisters opened homes for the sick, the dying, orphans, and people abandoned on the streets. She became known for personally tending to those suffering from diseases like leprosy and tuberculosis at a time when many were avoided or ignored. Her work expanded beyond India to dozens of countries, addressing poverty, hunger, and care for the marginalized.
In 1979, she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian efforts. Despite global recognition, she continued to live modestly and insist that her mission was service rather than fame. Mother Teresa remained active until her health declined in the 1990s and passed away in 1997. She was canonized as Saint Teresa of Calcutta in 2016.