St. Teresa of Calcutta, M.C. (1910-1997)
Feast Day - September 5th
Anjeze Gonxhe Bojaxhiu left her home in Skopje at age 18 to become a missionary with the Sisters of Loreto. Taking her religious name in honor of St. Therese of Lisieux, Teresa taught at a convent school in Calcutta for many years before perceiving a "call within a call" to "help the poor while living among them." She adopted Indian dress and sought out basic medical training so as to enter ministry in the slums, where she tended to the city's poor, sick, starving, and dying. Soon joined in her efforts by other young women, in 1950 she officially founded the Missionaries of Charity, whose purpose was ""To satiate the thirst of Jesus Christ on the Cross for Love and Souls." She shared that thirst through profound spiritual darkness but bore the suffering through the help of consecration to Mary and the conviction that, should she become a saint she would "continually be absent from heaven - to light the light of those in darkness on earth." Patroness of World Youth Day
DonorJohn W. and Patty Byrne In honor of |
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