St. Teresa of Calcutta

Nun, Foundress, Confessor

Feast Day: September 5

Biography:    

Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, she was the daughter of an Albanian merchant and lost her father at the age of nine. She became a Loreto nun and served as a teacher in Calcutta, India, starting in 1928. In 1946, after hearing "the call within a call" from God, she left her convent to serve the poorest of the poor. In 1950, she founded the Missionaries of Charity. An epitome of humility and compassion, she and her sisters devoted themselves selflessly to comforting the poor and the marginalized. She established homes for the dying, orphanages, and clinics to care for those abandoned by society, serving them as if serving Jesus Himself.    

The Missionaries of Charity serve all people without distinction of race or religion, extending the same divine love of Christ to everyone.    

She received numerous awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Today, the Missionaries of Charity serve in over 130 countries worldwide.    

Born: August 26, 1910, in Skopje, Albania (now North Macedonia)  

Died: September 5, 1997, due to natural causes in Calcutta, India  

Canonized: September 4, 2016, by Pope Francis  

Patronage: Calcutta, the sick, the poor, patients, the marginalized, World Youth Day, youth