Mother Teresa

Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu was born on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, then part of the Ottoman Empire, now North Macedonia. Her father was a successful merchant who died when she was eight, possibly poisoned for his Albanian nationalist activities. Her mother, Dranafile, raised the children in devout Catholic faith and practical charity, feeding the poor was as routine as feeding the family. At eighteen, Anjezë joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish order with missions in India. She took the name Teresa, after Thérèse of Lisieux, the 'Little Flower' who taught that small acts done with great love are as valuable as grand ones. She was sent to Calcutta, where she taught geography at a school for wealthy Bengali girls for nearly twenty years. She was happy.