Her birthplace of Skopje, now the capital of the Republic of Macedonia, was part of the Ottoman Empire until 1918, when it became a part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
After having lived in Macedonia for eighteen years, Mother Maria Teresa moved to Ireland and then to India, where she lived for most of her life.
Her claim was that she was God’s instrument, the pen He wrote with.
On October 27, 1979, Mother Teresa received the Nobel Prize for Peace which she accepted in the name of the hungry, naked, homeless, crippled, blind, lepers, and all those who feel unwanted, unloved and uncared for, the throw away of society.
At the Nobel Prize ceremony Mother Teresa recited the prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi, which religious Catholics say every day after Holy Communion:
Lord, make me a channel of your peace,
Where there is hatred may I bring love,
Where there is wrong, may I bring the spirit of forgiveness,
Where there is discourse, may I bring harmony,
Where there is error, may I bring truth,
Where there is doubt, May I bring faith,
Where there is despair, may I bring hope,
Where there is shadows, may I bring light,
Where there is sadness, may I bring joy.
In 1950, following her calling to serve the very poor, Mother Teresa got permission from the Pope to start her own order she named ‘The Missionaries of Charity’. It started as a small order of 12 nuns and grew to more than 4000 nuns worldwide, operating charity centers in more than 100 countries.
Mother Teresa received, posthumously, her beatification and sanctification, in the Roman Catholic Church is a declaration by the Pope that a dead person is in a state of bliss, constituting a step toward canonization, which officially declares a dead person to be a saint and permitting public veneration-worship.
A modest woman of great faith and a huge heart changed the world forever.
Movie – ‘The Letters’ with Juliet Stevenson as Mother Theresa.