Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, Religious

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born in Skopje, Macedonia, on August 27, 1910. As a young girl, Agnes developed the desire to serve God as a missionary. The desire was strengthened at age twelve when a Jesuit missionary visited her classroom and spoke of his ministry to the people of India. Eventually she worked among the poor and dying of India’s slums, bringing them love and hope in the Gospel. A group of religious women joined her in this ministry, the Missionaries of Charity, initially about dozen sisters, all former students of Mother Teresa joining her in her ministry to the “poorest of the poor.”

During Mother Teresa’s lifetime, the Missionaries of Charity grew in number to many thousands and were joined by the Missionary Brothers of Charity, an order for men established by her when several men wished to be part of her ministry.

“We will be judged according to how we have treated the hungry, the sick, the marginated. We will be judged on the love we have shown them…We should…treat them as we would treat Jesus himself.”