A Woman Who Loved the Poor - Mother Teresa

Just over a hundred years ago, a little girl was born who would grow up to become one of the greatest humanitarians the world has ever known. Her life would show the world that one person really can make a difference. And her deep love for the poor and the suffering. Their contributions made the world a better place.

This is women who made a difference. This is the story of Agnes Bojaxiou, but you know her better as Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who dedicated her life to serving those less fortunate. Her decades long dedication to humanitarian work inspired millions and focused the world's attention on global poverty.

Little Agnes was born on August 26th, 1910, and the very next day, her devoutly Catholic parents had her baptized. Now, growing up, her parents taught her the faith, and they instilled in her the message of the gospel, which might be best summed up in two words, love and mercy. Helping others was something young Agnes saw her parents doing as she grew up.

They were the real deal. Her parents concern for the local poor in their hometown motivated them to invite the homeless and those without the basic necessities of life. To have dinner with the family.

This introduction to the reality of basic human needs was perhaps one of the greatest gifts her family gave her and by extension, gave the world. Being aware that so many were in need. And in light of her church's teaching about the works of mercy, Teresa grew in her love for other people, especially those who had nothing.

She learned to identify with them by the breaking of the bread and conversation, and learned that every person deserves respect and dignity. Soon she would be in need. Her father died when she was just 8 years old, and she experienced a deep loss. But, she had her faith. By 12 years old, she felt God calling her, and she decided she wanted to be a missionary. The work of the missionaries captivated her. She was enthralled by the transformative effect their work had on the lives of others. As soon as she turned 18, young Agnes answered the call that she felt in her heart. She moved to the land that St. Patrick converted centuries before, Ireland. It was there she joined a community called the Sisters of Loretto, which was an order of nuns founded in the early 1600s.

Just over 400 years later, young Agnes approached the community with a burning desire to become a nun. It was a radical move for young Agnes. After she left her mother and sister at 18, she never saw them again. And she would only spend a year in Ireland. Her next stop was India, as the sisters of Loretto sent her to a small town in the lower Himalayan mountains to begin her novitiate, which is the first step in a long period of training that someone undergoes when they enter religious life.

Six years later, in 1931, she professed her religious vows, and this marked a new identity as Agnes chose a new name. Because of the exemplary life of St. Teresa of Lisieux, she chose to be known as Sister Teresa. Six years later, Sister Teresa professed her solemn vows. and soon after became a teacher in a convent school east of Calcutta.

Her first students would learn the subjects of geography and history from her. No one could have known then that she would teach the world how far someone could go to love the poor. In 1943, as she continued to serve as a teacher at the convent school, one of the worst humanitarian disasters struck eastern India and parts of present day Bangladesh -- famine.

It raged across the land and caused the death of millions of people. Unspeakable suffering came to the streets of Calcutta, and Sister Teresa witnessed a level of misery and human suffering like she had never seen. It was during this tragedy, which raged in the midst of World War II, that Sister Teresa began to feel a call to serve the poor in India.

Her fascination with the stories of missionaries changing lives would become a reality in her own life as she transitioned into helping the poor and destitute living in slums in the worst part of Calcutta.

But despite her call to serve the poor, Sister Teresa couldn't just do what she wanted, having taken a vow of poverty and obedience. She couldn't just drop her responsibilities as a teacher at the convent school. She had to obtain permission from her superiors.

Thankfully, With the permission of the Diocese of Calcutta, Teresa founded her famous religious order, the Missionaries of Charity, in 1950, and took the name so many know her by, Mother Teresa.

From the beginning, Mother Teresa had a mission. It was to care for the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers. All those people who felt unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society. People that have become a burden to the society and are now shunned by everyone.

As loving the poor is the command of the Gospel, the Church took notice of the good works of the missionaries of charity after several years of their work.

In 1965, Pope Paul VI issued a decree granting permission from Mother Teresa to expand her congregation to countries beyond India. The first house outside India was halfway around the world in Venezuela. When the congregation expanded to the United States, it opened its first home in the Bronx. In 1982, Missionaries of Charity established its first rural mission in the United States, in Kentucky.

As the years came and went in the second half of the 20th century, recognition of Mother Teresa's work only continued to grow.

In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work for bringing help to the suffering of humanity As a modest woman, she declined the honorary banquet, typically given to Nobel Prize winners.

She also turned down the prize money and requested it be donated to the poor. Living in India, what started humbly in 1950 with 13 people, the missionaries of charity now has over 5,000 members serving in 139 countries.

Today they help former prostitutes, the mentally ill, sick and abandoned children, lepers, people suffering from AIDS and shut ins.

And they do all of this work for free, without asking for money, and regardless of the person's religious or social status. In 2014, Juliette Stevenson portrayed Mother Teresa in the movie The Letters, which garnered great critical acclaim. It showed that despite her true Christian example, Mother Teresa experienced great dry periods in her own spiritual life.

But she pressed on loving others no matter of her own feelings.

Forty six years after founding the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa died in 1997 at the age of 87. Because of her exemplary life, the Universal Catholic Church declared Mother Teresa a saint in 2016. She began her life in this world as Agnes.

Then she was known as Sister Teresa. When she founded her religious order and became its first superior, she was known as Mother Teresa. Now, we remember her by another name, St. Teresa of Calcutta.

St. Teresa's true Christian witness and her extraordinary humanitarian work on the streets of Calcutta transformed countless lives, inspired the world, and made her a woman who made a difference.