Mother Teresa is the most famous and at the same time the most controversial Catholic nun of the twentieth century.
Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (her real name) was born on August 27, 1910 in Skopje or Skopje, a city in Southeast Yugoslavia (which at the time was part of the Turkish Empire) to an Albanian mother and father Nicolaou of unknown origin, giving rise to the debt that Agnes , even when Mother Teresa never bothered to resolve in her life. Both parents were born in Skopje, this is all that Pina Markovska, a relative of Agnes, will tell you that she was a Macedonian or Albanian. But for the millions of her fans, there is little concern as to which nationalism she belongs to. In fact, Macedonia and neighboring Albania did not even exist when Agnes was born. However, Skopje is currently the capital of Macedonia. She had an older brother and sister, to which she was tied as a child, by her mother. When Agnes was seven years old (1917), her father Nikola died, leaving the family in dire financial straits. Agnes took care of the coming of the Sacred Heart, the denomination of the Catholic Church. She was influenced by the religious atmosphere of the parish, which at the early age of twelve decided that she wanted to become a nun. At the age of fourteen, she heard about the Irish Order of the Loreto sisters. She went to Ireland in 1928 to join the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but soon after that she decided to come to India to join the Sisters of Loreto. What made her come to India is not recorded, but she must have learned that the Sisters of Loreto are working in India. She reached India in January 1929. At the time she was eighteen, short (four feet ten inches) a frail girl. After her arrival, she was sent to Darjeeling to teach at the Loreto Monastery. Before arriving in India, she studied English; and justified the Bengali brilliance. She began by teaching history and geography to younger students. On May 24, 1931, she took an oath as a nun and changed her name to Teresa, borrowing the name from French nun Teresa Martin. To avoid confusion, she changed the spelling to her Spanish version of Teresa.
From Darjeeling, Teresa was sent to the Loreto school for girls (completely) in Calcutta, again as a history and geography teacher. From there, she was sent to study at St. Mary's in Calcutta, and over time she became the principal of the school. She worked at this school for sixteen years. During these years she learned to speak, read and write Bengali. From the window of her room at the St. Louis Mary school, she saw the vast expanse of the Moti-Gel slum, where thousands of poor people from Calcutta lived without proper sanitation and medical facilities. She was worried about seeing these poor members of humanity. Later, while traveling by train from Darjeeling to Calcutta, where she underwent an annual retreat, "she went through a spiritual epiphany, thanks to which she realized that her vocation should serve the poorest of the poor." On August 16, 1946, Teresa went to Patna to study as a nurse under her mother Denger; The medical nun who began healing the sick. There Teresa decided that she would begin her own Order, which will be called the missionary sisters of mercy. Order & # 39; in the Christian language, it is the body or society of people living with ordinary minuses with the same religious, moral, and social regulation. A person who joins a religious order is appointed. She threw off her black and white robe of a Christian nun and began wearing a white sari with a blue frame; a head covered with a tiny white hat, and on her left shoulder chattered a little black crucifix. Each Sister of Mercy now wears this dress and can be identified by this simple, but unique clothing.
Upon her return to Calcutta, she began her mission of charity in the area of Moti-Gele. Sister Teresa soon became the mother of the masses. She started by opening in a small house, Nirmal Hirdey. (the house of a kind heart.) It was a home for the dying, who had no one to care for them. In 1952 the house was moved to Kaligat. Mother Teresa began to raise funds to create new ways of serving the poor and abandoned. Shortly after the barn started in Dabay, where there were children suffering from them. He was followed by houses for lepers in Belgrah and Titagarh, all located in Calcutta and its suburbs. The Mobile Lepros Clinic also began to help those who suffer from leprosy in remote areas in Govry, Tiliale and other areas. It must be remembered that leprosy was a special concern for Christian missionaries, inspired by Jesus Christ himself, who cured lepers with his miraculous abilities.
In 1955, Mother Teresa opened Shishu Bhavan, a home for orphans and children left without parental care. The older children were sent to one of the schools run by the missionaries of charity, and the young were saved in Shishu Bhavan. Children were given food and clothing. Many of them were given to foreign couples for adoption. In 1963, she founded charitable missionary brothers to help the sisters of mercy in their work. She was media friendly and encouraged reporters and journalists to visit her. She could expand her charity work at an amazing pace in many countries. Her diminutive figure and her wrinkled face became one of the most familiar faces of the twentieth century. Time Magazine in March 1983 married the mother Teresa’s profile, as well as some statistics: 2000 sisters and 400 brothers working in 257 bases in at least 152 countries; 70 Homes caring for 4,000 children and organizing at least 1,000 adoptions annually; 154 slum schools feed 50,000 children; 81 Houses caring for the 13,000 dying destitute. It is argued that these statistics are now very outdated and that in any 561 missions in 180 countries of the world there are at least 4,000 sisters.
In 1970, Mother Teresa added AIDS patients to her mission of charity and care. In 1986, she opened the “City of the World” in Washington, DC, to care for and help AIDS patients. In fact, it has opened several centers in the so-called developed countries of Europe and North America among the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. When the reporter asked her: why do you open centers in developed countries where there is hardly any poverty? Poverty of the spirit, - she answered.
Mother Teresa became a citizen of India in 1950 and began to call herself an Indian. The government, in turn, briefly informed her of privileges and honors. She was issued a red passport. which is reserved for diplomats. After receiving it, she said: “This is a gift from the government of India. They were very helpful. ” Achievements achieved quick success: Padmashri (1962); Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (January 1971); John F. Kennedy International Prize, (September 1971); Jawaharlal Nehru Prize for International Understanding (1972); The Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion (1973); Nobel Peace Prize (1979); Bharat Rama (1980); Order of Merit, from Queen Elizabeth (1983); Gold Medal of the Soviet Peace Committee (1987); Gold Medal of the US Congress (June 1997).
Individuals, the corporate sector, and even governments were generous donors. Tatas, Lever Brothers, jet Airways are some of the Indian corporate sector that donated hundreds of thousands of rupees to Mother Teresa and her charity missionaries to spiritualize. their billions. The network, which is widespread in most countries of the world, provides housing, clothing, food and medical care to thousands of people in need and needs money, and Mother Teresa got what her mission required without asking.
However, it was not to praise and glorify all the time. She had to face many critics. Many expressed reservations about the proselytizing work that her organization allegedly did in the name of altruism. Shankracharya from Puri, Nishalanand Saraswati, in a stinging attack on Mother Teresa, said: "She is engaged in conversion in the name of Manava Seva (service to humanity)." In response to this accusation, she did not deny this, but said: "Not even God Almighty can convert without this man warms him up. “She also frankly admitted:“ My life is dedicated to Christ. For him, I breathe and see. I can’t bear the pain when people call me a social worker. I had a social worker. it's a long time ago “She is also accused of providing unclaimed children only to Catholic couples for adoption.
Many Bengali people complained about the negative image of Calcutta and, in addition, the country in which the association with the Catholic nun inevitably arose. It was said that her extraordinary fame was in itself working in India. packaging & # 39; as a site of aesthetic susceptibility: illness, poverty, need and laziness. Calcutta’s contribution to the Indian Renaissance, to Indian art, literature, music, and freedom of movement, is unparalleled. To portray this city as a huge gutter and, therefore, to receive the name "Holy Hierarch of Gutters"; it is nothing but the curse of a great city. Her objection to contraception and abortion caused ridicule. The most destructive and detailed criticism of Mother Teresa comes from the writer Christopher Hitchens. He borrowed her sources and used the means ", her deeply orthodox views on a number of issues and the" imperialist "principles of her missionary mission. In addition to condemning her role as the conscience of the faith of the world is rich, he bought to show what he considers cultural myth-making, which entered the apotheosis of the nun as the messiah slaughtered. ” Similar accusations were recorded in Celluloid in the film Angel of Hell, which was broadcast by the BBC in November 1994.
Mother Teresa on October 19, 2003 led to another dispute. For beatification it is necessary to prove that he or she is capable of performing miracles. In this case, a tribal girl named Monica Besra was cured. cancer growth in the stomach, putting a wonderful medal. with mother Teresa's image, to her belly. The incident occurred on September 5, 1998, according to the spokesperson for the Missionaries of Charity. Night, Monica became famous and rich. She was taken to the Vatican as evidence of a miracle. during the beatification ceremony, which was attended by 250,000 people. Monica became a Christian after a miracle. Another miracle. and mother Teresa will be declared holy. Prairi Ghos, founder of the Society for Science and Rational Use of India, recommended to the missionaries of charity: “Why don't you close your Nirmal-Hridayas and all other houses that provide medical services to the sick and to destruction, but instead open a huge medal factory. He calls the “miracle” of Monica Besra, as one of the world's greatest lies of modernity, unshakably believed and broadcast through the media. By the way, beatification in the Catholic religion (which means the blessing of the soul of the Pope) is not uncommon, as it is done. She will be number 1319 in the wounded earlier. Article 51A (h) of the Constitution of India imposes on Indian citizens the primary duty to develop the scientific character, humanism and spirit of research and reform. However, it is difficult to fight against faith and superstition, especially in a country where most of the population is extremely poor, illiterate and superstitious. Laws do not change blind faith. Only reason can.
Despite all the criticism and antagonism, the maternal halo remained intact. The small figure has become one of the most famous personalities of our time. When she died on September 13, 1997, at the age of eighty-seven years in Calcutta, she was assigned a state funeral. The funeral was attended by princes, presidents, prime ministers, ambassadors, celebrities, special representatives of heads of state and the three queens. India was represented by its Prime Minister I.K. Gujaral accompanied by his wife.
