Born August 26, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia. Youngest of 2 sisters, 1 brother. Father: wealthy businessman. Raised Catholic. Well schooled. Childhood distinctions: pious, bookish. Never married. 1919 father Nikolai died, possibly murdered. 1922 active in church, first considered life as nun. 1925 read of Jesuit work in India. 1928 screened by Loreto teaching nuns in Ireland. 1929 arrived India. 1931 first vows, took name 'Teresa', began teaching girls at St. Mary's school in Calcutta. 1937 final vows, became Mother Superior of school. 1946 murderous riots in India, heard God 'call' her to help the poor. 1948 left cloister to work slums. 1949 became citizen of India. 1950 Vatican approved Missionaries of Charity order for Calcutta diocese. 1952 opened 'House of the Dying'. 1953 moved order into Motherhouse on Lower Circular Road. 1955 opened Children's Home. 1957 began mobile 'leprosariums'. 1960 order allowed to serve all of India, met Pope John XXIII in Rome. 1961 bought land for leper town. 1963 Missionary Brothers of Charity began. 1965 Vatican approved order for other countries, first house in Colombia. 1969 work filmed by Malcolm Muggeridge. 1970 Something Beautiful for God published by Muggeridge. 1973 Templeton Award. 1979 Nobel Prize for Peace. 1983 first of many health setbacks. 1996 relieved as Mother Superior. Died September 5, 1997.

          Go to anecdotes on Mother Teresa's...                               
                                                                Humanity
                                                                Wart (or flaw)
                                                                Failure
                                                                Defining Moment

         Go to this page to learn five values that made her a hero of history.

         Go to this page to find links to other websites about this hero.

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BY OR 'AS TOLD BY' MOTHER TERESA (or compilations of her oral and written works):
(ed. by Sean-Patrick Lovett), The Best Gift Is Love : Meditations by Mother Teresa.                  PB
     Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Publications, 1993.
(ed. by Nancy Sabbag)  The Blessings of Love. Ann Arbor, MI: Charis, 1996.                                  PB
(ed. Anthony Stern, Larry Dossey) Everything Starts from Prayer : Mother Teresa's               PB
     Meditations on Spiritual Life for People of All Faiths. White Cloud Press,1998.
A Gift for God. Harper San Francisco, 1996.                                                                                                PB
(ed. by Jose Luis Gonzalez-Balado) Heart Of Joy. Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Pub., 1987.              PB
(ed. by Becky Benenate, Marianne Williamson) In the Heart of the World : Thoughts,             HC
     Stories, & Prayers. Navato, CA: New World Library,1997.
(ed. by Angelo D. Scolozzi) Jesus, the Word to Be Spoken. Ann Arbor, MI: Servant                    PB
     Publications, 1986.
(with Jaya Chaliha and Edward Le Joly) Joy in Loving : A Guide to Daily Living                        HC
     With Mother Teresa. New York: Viking Press, 1997.
(ed. by Jose Luis Gonzalez-Balado) Loving Jesus. Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Pub., 1991.              PB
(ed. by Lucinda Vardey) Meditations from a Simple Path. New York: Ballantine                        HC
     Books,1996.
(ed. by Jose Luis Gonzalez-Balado) Mother Teresa : In My Own Words. Liguori, MO:    HC      PB
     Liguori Publications, 1997.
(ed. by Jane Playfoot) My Life for the Poor : Mother Teresa of Calcutta. New York:                    PB
     Ballantine Books, 1996.
(ed. by LaVonne Neff) The Mother Teresa Reader. Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Pub., 1995.              PB
A Mother Teresa Treasury.                                                                                                                                PB
(ed. by Becky Benenate, Joseph Durepos) No Greater Love. Navato, CA: New World      HC      PB
     Library, 1997.
(ed. by Jose Luis Gonzalez-Balado),  One Heart Full of Love. Ann Arbor, MI: Servant                PB
     Publications, 1988.
(ed. by Lucinda Vardey) A Simple Path. New York: Ballantine Books, 1995.                                  HC
(ed. by Angelo Devananda) Total Surrender. Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Pub., 1990.                        PB
Words to Love By. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1989.                                                                  PB

ABOUT MOTHER TERESA'S LIFE AND TIMES:
Allegri, Renzo, Teresa of the Poor: The Story of Her Life. San Francisco: Ignatius                      HC
     Press, 1996.
Chawla, Navin, Mother Teresa. UK: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1992.                                                  HC      PB
Clucas, Joan Graff, Mother Teresa. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.                          HC
Collopy, Michael, Works of Love Are Works of Peace: Mother Teresa of Calcutta                       HC
     and the Missionaries of Charity. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1996.
Doig, Desmond, Mother Teresa: Her People and Her Work. New York: Harper &                        PB
     Row, Publishers, 1976.
Egan, Eileen, Such a Vision of the Street. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1985.                    PB
Egan, Eileen and Judy Bauer, At Prayer With Mother Teresa. Liguori, MO: Liguori                  HC
     Publications, 1999.
Egan, Eileen and Kathleen Egan, Suffering Unto Joy. Ann Arbor, MI: Servant                              PB
     Publications, 1994.
Fischer, Louis, The Life of Mahatma Gandhi. New York: Harper & Row, 1950.                            PB
Gjergji, Lusch, Mother Teresa : Her Life, Her Works. Hyde Park, NY: New City                            PB
     Press, 1994.
Gjergji, Lusch, Mother Teresa : To Live, to Love, to Witness : Her Spiritual Way.                      HC
     Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1998.
Gonzalez-Balado, Jose Luis, Mother Teresa : Her Life, Her Work, Her Message :                        PB
     1910-1997 : A Memoir. Liguori, MO: Liguori Publications, 1997.
Hebblethwaite, Peter, Paul VI: The First Modern Pope. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist                              HC
     Press, 1993.
Hebblethwaite, Peter, Pope John XXIII: Shepherd of the Modern World. New York:                  PB
     Doubleday, 1985. 
Hebblethwaite, Peter, Pope John Paul II and the Church: 1995.                                                        PB
Hollis, Christopher, The Jesuits: A History. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968.              PB
Le Joly, Edward, Mother Teresa of Calcutta. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983.                      PB
McBrien, Richard P., editor, The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism.                            HC
     Harper San Francisco, 1995.
Majumdar, Saroj Kanti, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Swami Vivekananda                       HC
and some important events of India from 1941 to March 1995. South Asia Books, 1996.
Muggeridge, Malcolm, Confessions of a Twentieth-Century Pilgrim.  San Francisco:                PB
     Harper & Row, Publishers, 1988.
Muggeridge, Malcolm, Something Beautiful for God. New York: Harper & Row, 1971.              PB
Murthy, B. Srinivasa, Mother Teresa and India. Long Beach Pub., 1983.                                        PB
Porter, David, Mother Teresa: The Early Years. London: SPCK, 1986.                                              PB
Rae, Daphnae, Love Until It Hurts. San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1981.                  PB
Raghu, Rai and Navin Chawla, Faith and Compassion : The Life and Work of                              HC
     Mother Teresa. 1997.
Spink, Kathryn, The Miracle of Love. New York: Harper & Row, 1981.                                              PB
Spink, Kathryn, Mother Teresa : A Complete Authorized Biography. Harper                                PB
     San Francisco, 1998. 
Wellman, Sam, Mother Teresa : Missionary of Charity. Barbour Publishing, 1998.        HC      PB
Wynne, Edward A., Traditional Catholic Religious Orders: Living in Community.                    PB
     Transaction Pub., 1988.