Mother Teresa (1986), photo by Túrelio · CC BY-SA 2.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons

Her story

Born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in Skopje to an Albanian family, she joined the Loreto Sisters and taught in India. In 1946, on a train to Darjeeling, she felt a "call within a call" to serve the poorest of the poor. In 1950 she founded the Missionaries of Charity, which cared for the dying, lepers and abandoned children in Kolkata and later around the world. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

Path to sainthood

Beatified on 19 October 2003 by Pope John Paul II, after the reported healing of an Indian woman, Monica Besra. Canonised on 4 September 2016 by Pope Francis, after the healing of a Brazilian man with brain abscesses was approved.

Patronages

Co-patron of the Archdiocese of Calcutta (declared 6 September 2017, alongside St Francis Xavier). Some lists also name her a patron of World Youth Day, though St John Paul II is its recognised patron.

Trivia

• She asked the Nobel Committee to cancel the celebratory banquet and give the money to the poor.
• Her private letters, published in 2007 as Come Be My Light, revealed that she felt spiritual darkness for nearly 50 years while she kept smiling and serving.
• Her white sari with its blue border was registered in India as a trademark of the Missionaries of Charity on 4 September 2016, the day she was canonised.

Sources

• Vatican News: St Teresa of Calcutta
• Vatican: Homily for the canonisation, 4 Sept 2016
• Nobel Prize: Mother Teresa, 1979
• AP: Vatican declares Mother Teresa a patron saint of Calcutta (2017)
• The Hindu: the blue-bordered sari trademark

Fact-checked on October 15, 2026 against New Advent (Catholic Encyclopedia), Vatican documents and news reports. Britannica links are given for further reading. Feast days follow the General Roman Calendar.

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