But who is Mother Teresa!? | Meet this Phenomenal Women

Mother Teresa is one of the 5 incredible females in History that feature in our 'Phenomenal Women' collection of necklaces. We wanted to dive a little deeper and teach you a little more about WHY we chose to design this pendant and how her life of dedication and compassion inspired us. Keep reading to learn more on this absolute legend...

Who was Mother Teresa and why was she so epic?

Mother Teresa was a loving, loyal and caring woman who not only dedicated her life to caring for the sick and poor on the streets of Calcutta but also set up the Order of the Missionaries Charity which is a global Roman Catholic congregation of women dedicated to helping the poor.

During her life, she set up soup kitchens, a leper colony, orphanages, and a home for the dying destitute. She treated the lepers, educated the poorest of the poor, and fed the homeless. Mother Teresa was an incredibly kind soul who was dedicated to a life of compassion and caring for the sick and helpless.

What was her original name & how did she get the name ‘Mother Teresa’?

Mother Teresa was originally born ‘Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu’ in Skopje, Macedonia, on August 26th 1910. Her name change came when Agnes took her first vows as a nun in 1929 and changed her name to Sister Mary Teresa. She chose the name Teresa because her favourite saint was Saint Teresa of Lisieux, a patron saint of missionaries (The ultimate inspiration for where she was headed! 

Where was Mother Teresa from?

She was of Albanian Decent, born in Macedonia and moved to India when she was 21 to teach as a nun.

Did She have any siblings or a husband?

Mother Teresa was the youngest of 3. Her father sadly passed away when she was just 9 years old. As she was a nun, she never went on to marry or carry children of her own.

If Mother Teresa was alive today, how old would she be?

111 years old!

How did Mother Teresa get into her line of work?

Mother Teresa’s mother would often invite the city’s destitute to dine with them for meals in their family home when she was growing up. This created a profound impression on young Agnes and introduced her to the concept of charity in which she later spent her life devoted to. At the age of 12, she felt strongly the call of God to help spread love and awareness so at the age of 18, she left home and joined the Sisters of Loreto who were an Irish community of nuns with missions in India.

During her time teaching at St. Mary’s High School in Calcutta, the suffering and poverty Mother Teresa saw outside the convent walls made such a deep impression on her that in 1948 she received permission to leave the convent school and instead, devote herself to working among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. She had no funds when she started the open-air school for slum children it didn’t take long for volunteers and financial support to follow her mission.

How does Mother Teresa’s legacy live on in todays world?

On October 7, 1950, Mother Teresa received permission from the Holy See to start her own order, “The Missionaries of Charity”, whose primary task was to love and care for those persons nobody was prepared to look after.

The Society of Missionaries has spread all over the world, including the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries. They provide effective help to the poorest of the poor in a number of countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and they undertake relief work in the wake of natural catastrophes such as floods, epidemics, and famine, and for refugees. The order also has houses in North America, Europe and Australia, where they take care of the shut-ins, alcoholics, homeless, and AIDS sufferers.

Her one mission was to help “the unwanted, the unloved and the uncared for.”

We designed our Mother Teresa pendant for Devotion & Compassion which you can shop in our online store over here.