Mother Teresa Research Paper

Mother Teresa, formally known by the Catholic church as Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, was born on August 26th, 1910, and lived until September 5th, 1997, dying at the age of eighty-seven. Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta was an Albanian- Indian, born in Skopje, now known as the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta lived in Skopje for eighteen years before moving to Ireland and then India, where she spent the majority of her life. Mother Teresa was the child of the politically involved couple, Nikollë and Dranafile Bojaxhiu. During her childhood, she was fascinated by the lives of missionaries and their services, and by the age of twelve, she had made the decision to devote herself to the religious life. At

Within canon law, a solemn vow is a vow that the church has recognized. In other words, it is a promise that has been made to God by the person taking the vow to maintain a better good within their life. A vow is a promise that has been made to partake in or abstain from certain actions. Saint Mother Teresa served as an educator in Calcutta for nearly twenty years before being appointed headmistress in 1944. During her time in Calcutta, Mother Teresa quickly became disturbed by the poverty surrounding her in her daily life. She witnessed the Bengal Famine of 1943 and the misery and death that it brought about, and the Direct Action Day in 1946 that initiated a time period of Muslim- Hindu violence and tension. This poverty could have been a major factor in initiating Saint Mother Teresa’s involvement in various charities and missionary works.

During her travels from Calcutta to the Loreto convent for her annual retreat, Mother Teresa experienced what she described afterward as, “the call within the call” (Mother Teresa, 1946). She stated during this time, "I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them. It was an order. To fail would have been to break the faith” (“Mother Teresa,” n.d.). This time period is described as the time when she was not only Saint Teresa but when she became Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta because

During this time period, Mother Teresa adopted Indian citizenship and spent several months in Patna to receive medical training at the Holy Family Hospital before venturing off to complete her charity work. She began her missionary work by founding a school in Motijhil, Kolkata, and from the start, Mother Teresa was joined by a group of young women who helped her form a religious community with the basic foundation of helping the “poorest among the poor” (“Mother Teresa,” n.d.). While Mother Teresa’s efforts were noticed by several officials, the first year of her missionary work was wrought with difficulty. During this time, Mother Teresa had no income, she had to beg for food, and the temptation to return to her previous life at the convent was great. A diary entry written by Mother Teresa herself describes in detail the hardships and lessons that she experienced: “Our Lord wants me to be a free nun covered with the poverty of the cross. Today, I learned a good lesson. The poverty of the poor must be so hard for them. While looking for a home, I walked and walked till my arms and legs ached. I thought how much they must ache in body and soul, looking for a home, food, and health. Then, the comfort of Loreto came to tempt me. ‘You have only to say the word and all that will be yours again,’ the Tempter kept on saying, ‘of free choice, my God, and out of love for you, I desire to remain and do whatever be your