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Mother Teresa

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88-578: Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu MC (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu , Albanian: [aˈɲɛzə ˈɡɔndʒɛ bɔjaˈdʒi.u] ; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa , was an Albanian-Indian Catholic nun , founder of the Missionaries of Charity and is a Catholic saint. Born in Skopje , then part of the Ottoman Empire , she was raised in a devoutly Catholic family. At

176-546: A 1971 book of the same name . Muggeridge was undergoing a spiritual journey of his own at the time. During filming, footage shot in poor lighting (particularly at the Home for the Dying) was thought unlikely to be usable by the crew; the crew had been using new, untested photographic film . In England, the footage was found to be extremely well-lit and Muggeridge called it a miracle of "divine light" from Teresa. Other crew members said that it

264-688: A general chapter held in Kolkata. The quality of care offered to terminally ill patients in the Home for the Dying in Calcutta was the subject of discussion in the mid-1990s. Some British observers, on the basis of short visits, drew unfavourable comparisons with the standard of care available in hospices in the United Kingdom. Remarks made by Dr. Robin Fox relative to the lack of full-time medically trained personnel and

352-412: A "cult of suffering" and a distorted, negative image of Calcutta, exaggerating work done by her mission and misusing funds and privileges at her disposal. According to him, some of the hygiene problems he had criticized (such as the reuse of needles ) improved after Mother Teresa's death in 1997. Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya , mayor of Calcutta from 2005 to 2010, said that "she had no significant impact on

440-471: A Caritate ) is a Catholic centralised religious institute of consecrated life of Pontifical Right for women established in 1950 by Mother Teresa , now known in the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta. As of 2023 , it consisted of 5,750 members of religious sisters . Members of the order designate their affiliation using the order's initials, "M.C.". A member of the congregation must adhere to

528-481: A Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus." Fluent in five languages – Bengali , Albanian , Serbian , English and Hindi – she made occasional trips outside India for humanitarian reasons. These included, in 1971, a visit with four of her sisters, to Troubles -era Belfast . Her suggestion that the conditions she had found justified an ongoing mission

616-458: A Missionary of Charity, the second year is more focused on practical training for the mission life. After two years, they take temporary vows for one year, which are renewed annually, for five years in total. They also receive a metal crucifix and a sari whose three blue stripes stand for their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. In the sixth year, they travel to Rome , Kolkata or Washington D.C. for "Tertianship", further religious study, at

704-458: A coat, scarf, and closed shoes. A British former volunteer at the Home, Robin Fox (now editor of the British medical journal The Lancet ) disclosed in 1994 that syringes were rinsed in cold water and reused; that inmates were given cold baths; and that aspirin was administered to people with terminal cancer. Fox also noted, however, that the residents were "eating heartily and doing well", and that

792-617: A common origin, but which in fact do not. For example, Latin habēre and German haben both mean 'to have' and are phonetically similar. However, the words evolved from different Proto-Indo-European (PIE) roots: haben , like English have , comes from PIE *kh₂pyé- 'to grasp', and has the Latin cognate capere 'to seize, grasp, capture'. Habēre , on the other hand, is from PIE *gʰabʰ 'to give, to receive', and hence cognate with English give and German geben . Likewise, English much and Spanish mucho look similar and have

880-602: A fourth vow: to give "wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor." Mother Teresa received several honours, including the 1962 Ramon Magsaysay Peace Prize and the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize . Her life and work have inspired books, documentaries, and films. Her authorized biography, written by Navin Chawla , was published in 1992, and on 6 September 2017, she was named a co-patron of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Calcutta alongside St Francis Xavier . However, she

968-554: A home for the elderly operated by the Missionaries of Charity. Among the dead were four missionary sisters: Sisters Marguerite and Reginette from Rwanda , Sister Anselm from India and Sister Judit from Kenya . According to Bishop Paul Hinder of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia , their superior escaped harm by hiding. Bishop Hinder described the attack as "religiously-motivated". A Salesian Syro-Malabar priest who

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1056-467: A home, food and health. Then, the comfort of Loreto [her former congregation] 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 Holy will in my regard. I did not let a single tear come. On 7 October 1950, Mother Teresa received Vatican permission for

1144-603: A hospice for those with leprosy , calling it Shanti Nagar (City of Peace). The Missionaries of Charity established leprosy-outreach clinics throughout Calcutta, providing medication, dressings and food. The Missionaries of Charity took in an increasing number of homeless children; in 1955, Mother Teresa opened Nirmala Shishu Bhavan, the Children's Home of the Immaculate Heart, as a haven for orphans and homeless youth. The congregation began to attract recruits and donations, and by

1232-562: A person that is shut out, that feels unwanted, unloved, terrified, the person that has been thrown out from society – that poverty is so hurtable [ sic ] and so much, and I find that very difficult." Mother Teresa singled out abortion as "the greatest destroyer of peace today. Because if a mother can kill her own child – what is left for me to kill you and you kill me – there is nothing between." Missionaries of Charity God Schools Relations with: The Missionaries of Charity ( Latin : Congregatio Missionariarum

1320-447: A physician born and raised in Calcutta who was an activist in the city's slums for years around 1980 before moving to the UK, said that he "never even saw any nuns in those slums". His research, involving more than 100 interviews with volunteers, nuns and others familiar with the Missionaries of Charity, was described in a 2003 book critical of Mother Teresa. Chatterjee criticized her for promoting

1408-545: A second attack in 1989, she received a pacemaker . In 1991, after a bout of pneumonia in Mexico, she had additional heart problems. Although Mother Teresa offered to resign as head of the Missionaries of Charity, in a secret ballot the sisters of the congregation voted for her to stay, and she agreed to continue. In April 1996, Mother Teresa fell, breaking her collarbone , and four months later she had malaria and heart failure . Although she underwent heart surgery , her health

1496-412: A similar meaning, but are not cognates: much is from Proto-Germanic *mikilaz < PIE *meǵ- and mucho is from Latin multum < PIE *mel- . A true cognate of much is the archaic Spanish maño 'big'. Cognates are distinguished from other kinds of relationships. An etymon , or ancestor word, is the ultimate source word from which one or more cognates derive. In other words, it

1584-630: A smile and do your own work". She visited Armenia after the 1988 earthquake and met with Soviet Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov . Mother Teresa travelled to assist the hungry in Ethiopia, radiation victims at Chernobyl and earthquake victims in Armenia. In 1991 she returned to Albania for the first time, opening a Missionaries of Charity Brothers home in Tirana . By 1996, the Missionaries of Charity operated 517 missions in over 100 countries. The number of sisters in

1672-511: A special ₹ 5 coin (the amount of money Mother Teresa had when she arrived in India) on 28 August 2010. President Pratibha Patil said, "Clad in a white sari with a blue border, she and the sisters of Missionaries of Charity became a symbol of hope to many—namely, the aged, the destitute, the unemployed, the diseased, the terminally ill, and those abandoned by their families." Indian views of Mother Teresa are not uniformly favourable. Aroup Chatterjee ,

1760-451: A village near Gjakova , believed by her offspring to be Bishtazhin . According to a biography by Joan Graff Clucas, Anjezë was in her early years when she became fascinated by stories of the lives of missionaries and their service in Bengal ; by age 12, she was convinced that she should commit herself to religious life. Her resolve strengthened on 15 August 1928 as she prayed at the shrine of

1848-819: A visit to their families every five years but do not take annual holidays. Lay Catholics and non-Catholics constitute the Co-Workers of Mother Teresa, the Sick and Suffering Co-Workers, and the Lay Missionaries of Charity. The first home of the Missionaries of Charity in the United States was established in the South Bronx , New York , where in 2019 they had convents for both their active and contemplative branches, and had placed 108 sisters in their province that stretches from Quebec to Washington, DC. Their first rural mission in

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1936-588: A week before her funeral. She received a state funeral from the Indian government in gratitude for her service to the poor of all religions in the country. Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano , the Pope's representative, delivered the homily at the service. Mother Teresa's death was mourned in the secular and religious communities. Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif called her "a rare and unique individual who lived long for higher purposes. Her life-long devotion to

2024-577: Is followed by Postulancy (introduction into the study of Scripture , the Constitutions of the Society, Church history , and theology ). If found suitable, they enter the Novitiate, the beginning of the religious life. Novices wear white cotton habits with a girdle, and white saris without the three blue stripes. In the first year (called canonical), they undertake more religious study and learn about life as

2112-562: Is funded by a clothier, featured in Vogue , who grew up within a few blocks of Mother Teresa's original home for the dying destitute in Kalighat , Calcutta. Princess Diana , who was very close to Mother Teresa, wrote that she found in her "the direction I've been searching for all these years". The Missionaries of Charity sisters were particularly hard hit by the 2020 outbreak of COVID-19, as in places they continued to distribute food and minister to

2200-492: Is regular. Paradigms of conjugations or declensions, the correspondence of which cannot be generally due to chance, have often been used in cognacy assessment. However, beyond paradigms, morphosyntax is often excluded in the assessment of cognacy between words, mainly because structures are usually seen as more subject to borrowing. Still, very complex, non-trivial morphosyntactic structures can rarely take precedence over phonetic shapes to indicate cognates. For instance, Tangut ,

2288-477: Is the source of related words in different languages. For example, the etymon of both Welsh ceffyl and Irish capall is the Proto-Celtic * kaballos (all meaning horse ). Descendants are words inherited across a language barrier, coming from a particular etymon in an ancestor language. For example, Russian мо́ре and Polish morze are both descendants of Proto-Slavic * moře (meaning sea ). A root

2376-444: Is the source of related words within a single language (no language barrier is crossed). Similar to the distinction between etymon and root , a nuanced distinction can sometimes be made between a descendant and a derivative . A derivative is one of the words which have their source in a root word, and were at some time created from the root word using morphological constructs such as suffixes, prefixes, and slight changes to

2464-823: The Balzan Prize for promoting humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples (1978) and the Albert Schweitzer International Prize (1975). In April 1976, Mother Teresa visited the University of Scranton in northeastern Pennsylvania , where she received the La Storta Medal for Human Service from university president William J. Byron . She challenged an audience of 4,500 to "know poor people in your own home and local neighbourhood", feeding others or simply spreading joy and love. Mother Teresa continued: "The poor will help us grow in sanctity, for they are Christ in

2552-799: The Black Madonna of Vitina-Letnice , where she often went on pilgrimages . Anjezë left home in 1928 at age 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto at Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham , Ireland, to learn English with the intent of becoming a missionary; English was the language of instruction of the Sisters of Loreto in India. She saw neither her mother nor her sister again. Her family lived in Skopje until 1934, when they moved to Tirana . During communist leader Enver Hoxha 's rule, she

2640-542: The Israeli army and Palestinian guerrillas. Accompanied by Red Cross workers, she travelled through the war zone to the hospital to evacuate the young patients. When Eastern Europe experienced increased openness in the late 1980s, Mother Teresa expanded her efforts to Communist countries which had rejected the Missionaries of Charity. She began dozens of projects, undeterred by criticism of her stands against abortion and divorce: "No matter who says what, you should accept it with

2728-520: The Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1969. She later received other Indian awards, including the Bharat Ratna (India's highest civilian award) in 1980. Mother Teresa's official biography, by Navin Chawla , was published in 1992. In Calcutta, she is worshipped as a deity by some Hindus . To commemorate the 100th anniversary of her birth, the government of India issued

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2816-699: The Kalighat Home for the Dying , free for the poor, and renamed it Kalighat, the Home of the Pure Heart (Nirmal Hriday). Those brought to the home received medical attention and the opportunity to die with dignity in accordance with their faith: Muslims were to read the Quran , Hindus received water from the Ganges , and Catholics received extreme unction . "A beautiful death", Mother Teresa said, "is for people who lived like animals to die like angels—loved and wanted." She opened

2904-459: The Nobel Peace Prize "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace". She refused the conventional ceremonial banquet for laureates, asking that its $ 192,000 cost be given to the poor in India and saying that earthly rewards were important only if they helped her to help the world's needy. When Mother Teresa received the prize she

2992-789: The Paraguayan Guarani panambi , the Eastern Bolivian Guarani panapana , the Cocama and Omagua panama , and the Sirionó ana ana are cognates, derived from the Old Tupi panapana , 'butterfly', maintaining their original meaning in these Tupi languages . Cognates need not have the same meaning, as they may have undergone semantic change as the languages developed independently. For example English starve and Dutch sterven 'to die' or German sterben 'to die' all descend from

3080-600: The Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding, given for work in South or East Asia, in 1962. According to its citation, "The Board of Trustees recognises her merciful cognisance of the abject poor of a foreign land, in whose service she has led a new congregation". By the early 1970s, Mother Teresa was an international celebrity. She had been catapulted to fame via Malcolm Muggeridge 's 1969 BBC documentary, Something Beautiful for God , before he released

3168-558: The vows of chastity, poverty, obedience , and the fourth vow, to give "wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor." Today, the order consists of both contemplative and active branches in several countries. Missionaries care for those who include refugees , former prostitutes , the mentally ill , sick children, abandoned children , lepers , people with AIDS, the aged , and convalescent . They have schools that are run by volunteers to teach abandoned street children and run soup kitchens as well as other services according to

3256-638: The 1960s it had opened hospices, orphanages and leper houses throughout India. Mother Teresa then expanded the congregation abroad, opening a house in Venezuela in 1965 with five sisters. Houses followed in Italy (Rome), Tanzania and Austria in 1968, and, during the 1970s, the congregation opened houses and foundations in the United States and dozens of countries in Asia, Africa and Europe. The Missionaries of Charity Brothers

3344-683: The Golden Honour of the Nation in 1994, but her acceptance of this and the Haitian Legion of Honour was controversial. Mother Teresa was criticised for implicitly supporting the Duvaliers and corrupt businessmen such as Charles Keating and Robert Maxwell ; she wrote to the judge of Keating's trial requesting clemency. Universities in India and the West granted her honorary degrees. Other civilian awards included

3432-614: The Indian Ministry of Women and Child Development following allegations that two staff members at a Jharkhand home sold babies for adoption. A sister (Konsaila Balsa) and a social worker (Anima Indwar) employed there were arrested. They were accused of having already sold three babies from the home, which provides shelter for pregnant, unmarried women, and of trying to sell a baby boy for roughly £1,325. The Missionaries of Charity had discontinued its participation in adoption services in India three years earlier over religious objections to

3520-472: The Missionaries of Charity grew from twelve to thousands, serving the "poorest of the poor" in 450 centres worldwide. The first Missionaries of Charity home in the United States was established in the South Bronx area of New York City , and by 1984 the congregation operated 19 establishments throughout the country. Mother Teresa had a heart attack in Rome in 1983 while she was visiting Pope John Paul II . Following

3608-638: The Missionary Brothers of Charity in Australia along with Mother Teresa. In 1965, by granting a Decree of Praise, Pope Paul VI granted Mother Teresa's request to expand her congregation to other countries. The Congregation started to grow rapidly, with new homes opening all over the globe. The congregation's first house outside India was in Venezuela , others followed in Rome and Tanzania and worldwide. In 1979

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3696-706: The Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts 'night'. The Indo-European languages have hundreds of such cognate sets, though few of them are as neat as this. The Arabic سلام salām , the Hebrew שלום ‎ shalom , the Assyrian Neo-Aramaic shlama and the Amharic selam 'peace' are cognates, derived from the Proto-Semitic *šalām- 'peace'. The Brazilian Portuguese panapanã , (flock of butterflies in flight),

3784-499: The United States, in 1982, was in one of the poorest, former coal mining areas of Kentucky , where they still serve. In the US, the Missionaries of Charity are affiliated with the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious , a body of female religious, representing 20% of American religious sisters. They are identified by the wearing of religious habits, and loyalty to church teaching. By 1996,

3872-430: The absence of strong analgesics were published in a brief memoir in an issue of The Lancet in 1994. These remarks were criticised in a later issue of The Lancet on the ground that they failed to take account of Indian conditions, specifically the fact that government regulations effectively precluded the use of morphine outside large hospitals. In Phoenix, Arizona , the sisters' accommodation for 40 homeless men

3960-477: The age of 18, she moved to Ireland to join the Sisters of Loreto and later to India, where she lived most of her life and carried out her missionary work. On 4 September 2016, she was canonised by the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta . The anniversary of her death, 5 September, is now observed as her feast day . Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity , a religious congregation that

4048-451: The author of the tribute criticised Teresa's public campaign against abortion and her claim to be non-political. In February 2015 Mohan Bhagwat , leader of the Hindu right-wing organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh , said that Mother Teresa's objective was "to convert the person, who was being served, into a Christian". Former RSS spokesperson M. G. Vaidhya supported Bhagwat's assessment, and

4136-569: The blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless and victims of floods, epidemics and famine in Asia , Africa , Latin America , North America , Europe and Australia . They have 19 homes in Kolkata (Calcutta) alone which include homes for women, orphaned children and homes for the dying; a school for street children, and a leper colony . In 1963, Brother Andrew (formerly Ian Travers-Ballan) founded

4224-512: The care of the poor, the sick, and the disadvantaged was one of the highest examples of service to our humanity." According to former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar , "She is the United Nations. She is peace in the world." From the Indian government, under the name of Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, Mother Teresa was issued a diplomatic passport. She received the Padma Shri in 1962 and

4312-682: The community needs. These services are provided, without charge, to people regardless of their religion or social status. On October 7, 1950, Mother Teresa and the small community formed by her former pupils was labelled as the Diocesan Congregation of the Calcutta Diocese , and thus received the permission from the Diocese of Calcutta to identify as a Catholic organization. Their mission was to care for (in Mother Teresa's words) "the hungry,

4400-613: The contemplative branch of the Brothers was added and in 1984 a priest branch, the Missionaries of Charity Fathers, was founded by Mother Teresa with Fr. Joseph Langford , combining the vocation of the Missionaries of Charity with the Ministerial Priesthood . As with the Sisters, the Fathers live a very simple lifestyle without television, radios or items of convenience. They neither smoke nor drink alcohol and beg for their food. They make

4488-431: The country's new adoption rules. In December 2021, India's Ministry of Home Affairs headed by former BJP national president Amit Shah refused to renew the registration under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act of Missionaries of Charity along with 6000 other charity organizations, which is mandatory for charities, NGOs and any non-profit organizations receiving foreign funding in India registration over allegations of

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4576-470: The diocesan congregation, which would become the Missionaries of Charity. In her words, it would care for "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone". In 1952, Mother Teresa opened her first hospice with help from Calcutta officials. She converted an abandoned Hindu temple into

4664-554: The embassy where she was crying as she was leaving the building, saying: Dear God, I can understand and accept that I should suffer, but it is so hard to understand and accept why my mother has to suffer. In her old age she has no other wish than to see us one last time. She arrived in India in 1929 and began her novitiate in Darjeeling , in the lower Himalayas , where she learned Bengali and taught at St. Teresa's School near her convent. She took her first religious vows on 24 May 1931. She chose to be named after Thérèse de Lisieux ,

4752-417: The end of which they make their final profession. A sister's few possessions include: three saris (one to wear, one to wash, one to mend), two or three cotton habits, a girdle, a pair of sandals, a crucifix, and a rosary. They also have a plate, a set of cutlery, a cloth napkin, a canvas bag, and a prayer book. In cold countries, sisters may own a cardigan and other articles suited to the local climate such as

4840-503: The government decision to grant her a state funeral. Secretary Giriraj Kishore said that "her first duty was to the Church and social service was incidental", accusing her of favouring Christians and conducting "secret baptisms" of the dying. In a front-page tribute, the Indian fortnightly Frontline dismissed the charges as "patently false" and said that they had "made no impact on the public perception of her work, especially in Calcutta". Praising her "selfless caring", energy and bravery,

4928-415: The guise of distress". In August 1987, Mother Teresa received an honorary doctor of social science degree from the university in recognition of her service and her ministry to help the destitute and sick. She spoke to over 4,000 students and members of the Diocese of Scranton about her service to the "poorest of the poor", telling them to "do small things with great love". During her lifetime, Mother Teresa

5016-418: The language of the Xixia Empire, and one Horpa language spoken today in Sichuan , Geshiza, both display a verbal alternation indicating tense, obeying the same morphosyntactic collocational restrictions. Even without regular phonetic correspondences between the stems of the two languages, the cognatic structures indicate secondary cognacy for the stems. False cognates are pairs of words that appear to have

5104-506: The naked, the homeless , the crippled, the blind, the lepers , all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone." It began as a small community with 12 members in Calcutta (now Kolkata), and in 2023 had 5,750 members serving in 139 countries in 760 homes, with 244 of these homes in India. The sisters run orphanages, homes for those dying of AIDS, charity centres worldwide, and care for refugees,

5192-412: The organisation accused the media of "distorting facts about Bhagwat's remarks". Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien , CPI leader Atul Anjan and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal protested Bhagwat's statement. In 1991 the country's first modern University, Senate of Serampore College (University) awarded a honorary doctorate during registrarship of D. S. Satyaranjan . Mother Teresa received

5280-429: The organisation was operating 517 missions in more than 100 countries. In 1990, Mother Teresa asked to resign as head of the Missionaries but was soon voted back in as Superior General . On March 13, 1997, six months before Mother Teresa's death, Sister Mary Nirmala Joshi was elected the new Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity. In April 2009, Sister Mary Prema was elected to succeed Sister Nirmala, during

5368-483: The organization aiding in conversion of Hindus to Catholicism (an allegation which has also been levelled against Teresa too). However the decision was subsequently reverted in the first week of January 2022. Cognate In historical linguistics , cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language . Because language change can have radical effects on both

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5456-451: The patron saint of missionaries; because a nun in the convent had already chosen that name, she opted for its Spanish spelling of Teresa. Teresa took her solemn vows on 14 May 1937 while she was a teacher at the Loreto convent school in Entally, eastern Calcutta, taking the style of 'Mother' as part of Loreto custom. She served there for nearly twenty years and was appointed its headmistress in 1944. Although Mother Teresa enjoyed teaching at

5544-428: The poor of this city", glorified illness instead of treating it and misrepresented the city: "No doubt there was poverty in Calcutta, but it was never a city of lepers and beggars, as Mother Teresa presented it." On the Hindu right , the Bharatiya Janata Party clashed with Mother Teresa over the Christian Dalits but praised her in death and sent a representative to her funeral. Vishwa Hindu Parishad , however, opposed

5632-438: The poor who had been affected. In April 2022, Sister Mary Joseph was elected to succeed Sister Mary Prema as superior general of the order, with Sister Mary Christie elected as assistant superior general. In July 1998 in Al Hudaydah , Yemen , three Missionaries of Charity, two Indians and a Filipina , were shot and killed as they left a hospital. In March 2016 in Aden , Yemen , sixteen people were shot and killed in

5720-450: The road to sainthood . She was honoured by governments and civilian organisations and appointed an honorary Companion of the Order of Australia in 1982 "for service to the community of Australia and humanity at large". The United Kingdom and the United States bestowed a number of awards, culminating in the Order of Merit in 1983 and honorary citizenship of the United States on 16 November 1996. Mother Teresa's Albanian homeland gave her

5808-983: The same Indo-European root are: night ( English ), Nacht ( German ), nacht ( Dutch , Frisian ), nag ( Afrikaans ), Naach ( Colognian ), natt ( Swedish , Norwegian ), nat ( Danish ), nátt ( Faroese ), nótt ( Icelandic ), noc ( Czech , Slovak , Polish ), ночь, noch ( Russian ), ноќ, noć ( Macedonian ), нощ, nosht ( Bulgarian ), ніч , nich ( Ukrainian ), ноч , noch / noč ( Belarusian ), noč ( Slovene ), noć ( Serbo-Croatian ), nakts ( Latvian ), naktis ( Lithuanian ), nos ( Welsh/Cymraeg ), νύξ, nyx ( Ancient Greek ), νύχτα / nychta ( Modern Greek ), nakt- ( Sanskrit ), natë ( Albanian ), nox , gen. sg. noctis ( Latin ), nuit ( French ), noche ( Spanish ), nochi ( Extremaduran ), nueche ( Asturian ), noite ( Portuguese and Galician ), notte ( Italian ), nit ( Catalan ), nuet/nit/nueit ( Aragonese ), nuèch / nuèit ( Occitan ) and noapte ( Romanian ). These all mean 'night' and derive from

5896-401: The same Proto-Germanic verb, *sterbaną 'to die'. Cognates also do not need to look or sound similar: English father , French père , and Armenian հայր ( hayr ) all descend directly from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr . An extreme case is Armenian երկու ( erku ) and English two , which descend from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ ; the sound change *dw > erk in Armenian

5984-437: The school, she was increasingly disturbed by the poverty surrounding her in Calcutta . The Bengal famine of 1943 brought misery and death to the city, and the August 1946 Direct Action Day began a period of Muslim-Hindu violence. In 1946, during a visit to Darjeeling by train, Mother Teresa felt that she heard the call of her inner conscience to serve the poor of India for Jesus. She asked for and received permission to leave

6072-407: The school. In 1950, she founded the Missionaries of Charity , choosing a white sari with two blue borders as the order's habit. On 10 September 1946, Teresa experienced what she later described as "the call within the call" when she travelled by train to the Loreto convent in Darjeeling from Calcutta for her annual retreat. "I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them. It

6160-414: The sisters and volunteers focused on cleanliness, tending wounds and sores, and providing loving kindness. The controversy remains due to the use of unsterilized needles and the failure to make proper diagnoses, as put by Dr. Jack Preger: "If one wants to give love, understanding and care, one uses sterile needles." In 2018, all child care homes in India run by the Missionaries of Charity were inspected by

6248-438: The slums. She founded a school in Motijhil, Calcutta, before she began tending to the poor and hungry. At the beginning of 1949, Mother Teresa was joined in her effort by a group of young women, and she laid the foundation for a new religious community helping the "poorest among the poor". Her efforts quickly caught the attention of Indian officials, including the prime minister. Mother Teresa wrote in her diary that her first year

6336-442: The sound and the meaning of a word, cognates may not be obvious, and it often takes rigorous study of historical sources and the application of the comparative method to establish whether lexemes are cognate. Cognates are distinguished from loanwords , where a word has been borrowed from another language. The English term cognate derives from Latin cognatus , meaning "blood relative". An example of cognates from

6424-627: The vocational aims of the Missionaries of Charity with the resources of the priesthood. By 1997, the 13-member Calcutta congregation had grown to more than 4,000 sisters who managed orphanages, AIDS hospices and charity centres worldwide, caring for refugees, the blind, the disabled, the aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless and victims of floods, epidemics and famine. By 2007, the Missionaries of Charity numbered about 450 brothers and 5,000 sisters worldwide, operating 600 missions, schools and shelters in 120 countries. Mother Teresa said, "By blood, I am Albanian . By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am

6512-662: The youngest child of Nikollë and Dranafile Bojaxhiu (Bernai). Her father, who was involved in Albanian-community politics in Ottoman Macedonia , was probably poisoned, an act attributed to Serbian agents, after he had visited Belgrade for a political meeting in 1919 when she was eight years old. He was born in Prizren (today in Kosovo ), however, his family was from Mirdita (present-day Albania ). Her mother may have been from

6600-452: Was Anjezë Gonxhe (or Gonxha) Bojaxhiu ( Anjezë is a cognate of Agnes ; Gonxhe means "flower bud" in Albanian ). She was born on 26 August 1910 into a Kosovar Albanian family in Skopje , Ottoman Empire (now the capital of North Macedonia ). She was baptised in Skopje the day after her birth. She later considered 27 August, the day she was baptised, her "true birthday". She was

6688-1103: Was also a controversial figure, drawing criticism for her staunch opposition to abortion, divorce and contraception, as well as the poor conditions and lack of medical care or pain relief in her houses for the dying. Saint Thomas Christian denominations Syro-Malabar Catholic , Syro-Malankara Catholic , Latin Catholic Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church , Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Malabar Independent Syrian Church Chaldean Syrian Mar Thoma Syrian , St. Thomas Evangelical Protestant denominations Andhra Evangelical Lutheran , Assemblies Jehovah Shammah , Christian Revival Church , Church of North India , Church of South India , Garo Baptist , Indian Brethren , Indian Pentecostal Church of God , Church of God (Full Gospel) , North Bank Baptist Christian , Northern Evangelical Lutheran , Methodist Church , Presbyterian , The Pentecostal Mission , Seventh-day Adventist , United Evangelical Lutheran Mother Teresa's given name

6776-400: Was among the top 10 women in the annual Gallup's most admired man and woman poll 18 times, finishing first several times in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1999 she headed Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century , out-polling all other volunteered answers by a wide margin. She was first in all major demographic categories except the very young. In 1979, Mother Teresa received

6864-599: Was an order. To fail would have been to break the faith." Joseph Langford , MC, founder of her congregation of priests, the Missionaries of Charity Fathers, later wrote, "Though no one knew it at the time, Sister Teresa had just become Mother Teresa". She began missionary work with the poor in 1948, replacing her traditional Loreto habit with a simple, white cotton sari with a blue border. Mother Teresa adopted Indian citizenship, spent several months in Patna to receive basic medical training at Holy Family Hospital and ventured into

6952-420: Was asked, "What can we do to promote world peace?" She answered, "Go home and love your family." Building on this theme in her Nobel lecture , she said: "Around the world, not only in the poor countries, but I found the poverty of the West so much more difficult to remove. When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread, I have satisfied. I have removed that hunger. But

7040-561: Was clearly declining. According to the Archbishop of Calcutta Henry Sebastian D'Souza , he ordered a priest to perform an exorcism (with her permission) when she was first hospitalised with cardiac problems because he thought she might be under attack by the devil . On 13 March 1997, Mother Teresa resigned as head of the Missionaries of Charity. She died on 5 September. Mother Teresa lay in repose in an open casket in St Thomas, Calcutta , for

7128-521: Was considered a dangerous agent of the Vatican. Despite multiple requests and despite the fact that many countries made requests on her behalf, she was denied a chance to see her family and was not granted the opportunity to see her mother and sister. Both of them died during Hoxha's rule, and Anjezë herself was only able to visit Albania five years after the communist regime collapsed. Dom Lush Gjergji in his book "Our Mother Teresa" describes one of her trips to

7216-595: Was due to a new type of ultra-sensitive Kodak film. Muggeridge later converted to Catholicism. Around this time, the Catholic world began to honour Mother Teresa publicly. Pope Paul VI gave her the inaugural Pope John XXIII Peace Prize in 1971, commending her work with the poor, her display of Christian charity and her efforts for peace. She received the Pacem in Terris Award in 1976. After her death, Teresa progressed rapidly on

7304-503: Was founded in 1963, and a contemplative branch of the Sisters followed in 1976. Lay Catholics and non-Catholics were enrolled in the Co-Workers of Mother Teresa, the Sick and Suffering Co-Workers, and the Lay Missionaries of Charity. Responding to requests by many priests, in 1981, Mother Teresa founded the Corpus Christi Movement for Priests and with Joseph Langford founded the Missionaries of Charity Fathers in 1984 to combine

7392-494: Was fraught with difficulty. With no income, she begged for food and supplies and experienced doubt, loneliness and the temptation to return to the comfort of convent life during these early months: 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

7480-454: Was initially dedicated to serving "the poorest of the poor" in the slums of Calcutta. Over the decades, the congregation grew to operate in over 133 countries, as of 2012, with more than 4,500 nuns managing homes for those dying from HIV/AIDS , leprosy , and tuberculosis , as well as running soup kitchens , dispensaries, mobile clinics, orphanages, and schools. Members of the order take vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience and also profess

7568-536: Was living at the facility, Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil of Bangalore , India , was taken prisoner by the attackers. On Good Friday , March 25, 2016, several media outlets reported that Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil had been crucified by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant . However, Bishop Hinder indicated he had strong indications that the priest was alive and still being held by his captors. In early September 2017 Fr. Uzhunnalil

7656-504: Was rescued after 18 months in captivity, and first sent to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis. It takes nine years to become a full-fledged Missionary of Charity. An initial short-term "come-and-see" period is available. Those considered possible candidates by the Congregation may enter Aspirancy, focused on learning English (which is the community language) for those who are not from English-speaking countries and religious studies. It

7744-449: Was the cause of some embarrassment. Reportedly under pressure from senior clergy, who believed "the missionary traffic should be in other direction", and despite local welcome and support, she and her sisters abruptly left the city in 1973. At the height of the Siege of Beirut in 1982, Mother Teresa rescued 37 children trapped in a front-line hospital by brokering a temporary cease-fire between

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