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Mother Teresa
(INDIA: An Embodiment of Compassion)
Life: Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia, on August 26, 1910. At the age of twelve, she felt strongly the call of God. Mother Teresa knew she had to be a missionary to spread the love of Christ. At the age of eighteen she left her parental home in Skopje and joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India. From 1931 to 1948 Mother Teresa taught at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, but the suffering and poverty she glimpsed outside the convent walls made such a deep impression on her that in 1948 she received permission from her superiors to leave the convent school and devote herself to working among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. Soon she was joined by voluntary helpers, and financial support was also forthcoming.On October 7, 1950, Mother Teresa received permission from the Holy See to start her own order, "The Missionaries of Charity", whose primary task was to provide love and care for those persons nobody was prepared to look after.
Achievements and Death: Mother Teresa possessed many prestigious awards:
*Pope John XXIII Peace Prize
*Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding
*She received Balzan Prize
* She also received Templeton and Magsaysay awards.
In March 1997 she blessed her newly-elected successor as Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity and then made one more trip abroad. After meeting Pope John Paul II for the last time, she returned to Calcutta and spent her final weeks receiving visitors and instructing her Sisters. On 5 September Mother Teresa’s life came to an end.
 Click here for a video on Mother Teresa's life.
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