Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa is the most famous and at the same time the most controversial Catholic nun of the 20th century.

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (her real name) was born on August 27, 1910 in Skopje or Skopje, a city in southeastern Yugoslavia, (which was part of the Turkish Empire at the time) to an Albanian mother and father, Nikola, of unknown origin. leading to a debate that Agnesa, even as Mother Teresa, never bothered to resolve in her life. Her parents were born in Skopje, was all that Agnes’s relative Pina Markovska would say about the ongoing dispute over whether she was Macedonian or Albanian. But the millions of his fans cared little what nationality he belonged to. In fact, Macedonia and neighboring Albania didn’t even exist when Agnes was born. However, today, Skopje is the capital of Macedonia. He had an older brother and sister whom he joined in childhood, in addition to his mother. When Agnes was seven years old (1917), her father Nikola died, leaving the family in dire financial straits. Agnes was cared for by Sacred Heart Parish, a denomination of the Catholic Church. She was so influenced by the religious environment of the parish that at the young age of twelve she decided that she wanted to be a nun. At fourteen she learned of the Irish Order of the Loreto Sisters. She left for Ireland in 1928 to join the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but soon after decided to come to India to join the Sisters of Loreto. What inspired her to come to India is not recorded, but she must have learned that the Loreto Sisters were working in India. She arrived in India on January 61, 1929. At that time she was eighteen years old, a small and frail girl (four feet ten inches tall). After her arrival, she was sent to Darjeeling to teach at the Loreto Convent. Before coming to India he had learned English; and had acquired a bit of Bengali. He began by teaching history and geography to freshmen. On May 24, 1931, she took her vows as a nun and changed her name to Teresa, borrowing the name of a French nun, Therese Martin. To avoid confusion, he changed the spelling to his Spanish version ‘Teresa’.

From Darjeeling, Teresa was sent to the Loreto School for Girls (Entally) in Calcutta, again as a history and geography teacher. From there, she was sent to teach at St, Mary’s in Calcutta and, in due course, became head of the school. He worked at this school for sixteen years. During these years he learned to speak, read and write Bengali. From the window of his room at St. Mary’s School he could see the vast expanse of the Moti Jheel area slum, where thousands of poor people in Calcutta lived without adequate sanitary and medical facilities. He was worried about seeing these unfortunate members of humanity. Later, during a train ride from Darjeeling to Calcutta, where he had gone on an annual retreat, “he went through a spiritual discernment, which made him realize that his calling was to serve the poorest of the poor.” On August 16, 1946, Teresa went to Patna to receive training as a nurse with Mother Denger; the medical nun who had founded the Order to heal the sick There Teresa decided that she would start her own Order that would be called Missionary Sisters of Charity. An “Order” in Christian language is a body or society of people who live hand in hand under the same religious, moral and social regulation. A person who joins the religious Order is “ordained.” She discarded her black and white appeal of a Christian nun and began wearing a white sari with a blue trim; his head covered with a tiny white cap and a small black crucifix hung on his left shoulder. All Sisters of Charity now wear this dress and can be identified by these simple yet unique designs.

Upon his return to Kolkata, he began his mission of mercy in the Moti Jheel area. Sister Teresa would soon become the mother of the masses. He started by opening a small house, the ‘Nirmal Hirday’ (a home with a good heart). This was the home for the dying who had no one to care for them. In 1952, the house moved to Kalighat. Mother Teresa began raising funds to create new modes of service to the poor and oppressed. Shortly afterwards a shed was opened in Dhaba, where suffering children were housed and cared for. Leper homes in Belgachia and Titagarh followed, all located in Calcutta and its suburbs. A mobile leprosy clinic was also launched to help people affected by leprosy in remote areas of Howrah, Tilijala and other areas. It should be remembered that leprosy has been a special concern for Christian missionaries who are inspired by Jesus Christ himself, who healed lepers with his “miraculous powers.”

In 1955, Mother Teresa opened ‘Shishu Bhawan’, a home for orphans and abandoned children. The older children were sent to one of the schools run by the Missionaries of Charity and the younger ones were kept in the ‘Shishu Bhawan’. The children received food and clothing. Many of them were given to foreign couples for adoption. In 1963, she founded the Missionaries Brothers of Charity to assist the Sisters of Charity in their work. She was a friend of the media and encouraged correspondents and journalists to visit her. She was able to expand her charitable work with astonishing speed and in many countries. His diminutive figure and wrinkled face became one of the most familiar faces of the 20th century. Time magazine for August 1983 published a profile of Mother Teresa and also some statistics: 2000 Sisters and 400 Brothers working at 257 bases in at least 152 countries; 70 households that care for 4,000 children and manage at least 1,000 adoptions per year; 154 slum schools feeding 50,000 children; 81 Homes that cared for 13,000 dying laid off. It is claimed that these statistics are now drastically out of date and that there are at least 4,000 Sisters working on some 561 missions spread across 180 countries around the world.

In the 1970s, Mother Teresa added AIDS patients to her mission of charity and care. In 1986, he opened the ‘City of Peace’ in Washington, DC to care for and help AIDS patients. In fact, it opened several centers in the so-called developed countries of Europe and North America, in addition to those of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. When a correspondent asked him ‘why are they opening centers in developed countries where there is hardly any poverty? ‘Poverty of spirit,’ she replied.

Mother Teresa had become an Indian citizen in 1950 and began calling herself an Indian. The government, in turn, showered him with privileges and honors. He was issued a “red passport” which is reserved for diplomats. Upon receiving it, he said: “It is a gift from the Government of India. They have been very helpful.” The honors came in quick succession: Padmashree (1962); Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (January 1971); John F. Kennedy International Award, (September 1971); Jawaharlal Nehru Prize for International Understanding (1972); Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion (1973); Nobel Peace Prize (1979); Bharat Rama (1980); Order of Merit, of Queen Elizabeth (1983); Gold Medal of the Soviet Peace Committee (1987); Gold Medal of the United States Congress (June 1997).

Individuals, the corporate sector, and even governments have been its generous donors. Tatas, Lever Brothers, jet Airways are some of the Indian business sector who have donated hundreds of thousands of rupees to Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity to ‘spiritualize’ their billions. An extended network in most countries of the world that provided housing, clothing, food and medical care to thousands of needy and destitute required money and Mother Teresa obtained what her mission required without asking for it.

However, it was not praise and glorification all the time. He had to face a lot of criticism. Many have expressed reservations about the proselytizing work their organization has allegedly carried out in the name of altruism. Shankracharya of Puri, Nischalanand Saraswati, in a scathing attack on Mother Teresa said that: “She is engaged in conversion in the name of manav Seva (service to humanity).” In response to this accusation, she did not deny it, but said, “Not even almighty God can convert unless that person warms him up.” She has also candidly confessed: “My life is dedicated to Christ. It is for him that I breathe and see. I cannot bear the pain when people call me a social worker. If I had been a social worker, I would have left.” a long time ago. “She is also accused of giving unclaimed children only to Catholic couples for adoption.

Many Bengalis have lamented the negative image of Calcutta and, by extension, the country that association with the Catholic nun made inevitable. His extraordinary fame has been said to have “ made the ‘packaging’ of India a place of aesthetic devastation: sickness, poverty, misery and laziness. Kolkata’s contribution to the Indian renaissance, Indian art, literature and music, and the freedom movement is unmatched. Representing this city as a vast sewer and, consequently, obtaining the nickname ‘Saint of the sewers’ is nothing more than defaming a great city. His opposition to contraception and abortion invited ridicule. The most devastating and detailed criticism of Mother Teresa came from writer Christopher Hitchens. She questioned her sources and use of funds, “her deeply orthodox views on a variety of issues, and the ‘imperialist’ foundations of her evangelizing mission. In addition to denouncing her role as savior of the consciences of the world’s wealthy, she has tried to ‘expose ‘What he thinks is the cultural myth that has entered the apotheosis of the nun as messiah of the oppressed. ”Similar charges have been documented at Celluloid in the film titled Hell’s Angel, which was broadcast by the BBC in November 1994.

The beatification of Mother Teresa on October 19, 2003 gave rise to another controversy. For the beatification it is necessary to show that he was capable of performing “miracles”. In this case, a girl from a tribe named Monika Besra was ‘cured’ of a cancerous tumor in her stomach by placing a ‘miraculous medal’ with the image of Mother Teresa on her stomach. The incident occurred on September 5, 1998, according to the spokesperson for the Missionaries of Charity. Monika became famous and rich overnight. She was flown to the Vatican as proof of the ‘miracle’ during the beatification ceremony attended by 250,000 people. Monika converted to Christianity after the ‘miracle’. Another ‘miracle’ and Mother Teresa will be declared a saint. Prabir Ghose, founder of Science and Rational Society of India suggested to the Missionaries of Charity: “Why don’t you close your Nirmal Hridayas and all the other homes that provide medical services to the sick and destitute and open a huge medal factory? ? “He calls Monika Besra’s ‘miracle’ as ‘one of the world’s greatest lies of modern times, believed and unswervingly transmitted by the profit-seeking media.’ By the way, beatification in the Catholic religion (which means blessing of the soul of the deceased by the Pope) is not as rare as it is said. She will be number 1319 in the line of those beatified previously. Article 51A (h) of the Constitution of India assigns to Indian citizens the fundamental duty to develop scientific temperament, humanism, and the spirit of inquiry and reform. However, it is difficult to fight with faith and superstition, especially in a country where a large part of the population is extremely poor, illiterate and superstitious. Laws do not change blind faith. Only reason can do it.

Despite all the criticism and antagonism, the Madres halo has remained intact. A tiny figure became one of the most famous personalities of our time. When he died on September 13, 1997, at the age of eighty-seven in Calcutta, he was granted a state funeral. Princes, presidents, prime ministers, ambassadors, celebrities, special representatives of heads of state and three queens attended the funeral. India was represented by its Prime Minister IK Gujaral accompanied by his wife.

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