Mother Teresa Becomes a Saint

On September 4, 2016, Mother Teresa, the Roman Catholic nun renowned around the world for dedicating her life to serving the poor, sick, and dying, was officially declared a saint by the Catholic Church. Before thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Pope Francis canonized her as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, nearly 19 years after her death. The ceremony recognized a woman whose decades of humanitarian service had made her one of the most famous religious figures of the 20th century.

Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, to an Albanian family in Skopje, now the capital of North Macedonia. At age 18, she joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish Catholic religious order with missions in India. After traveling to India, she took her initial vows in 1931 and eventually became a teacher at a Catholic school in Calcutta, now known as Kolkata. She remained there for 17 years.

Despite her work as a teacher, Mother Teresa became increasingly troubled by the extreme poverty she witnessed outside the convent. In 1948, she left the school to devote herself to helping some of Calcutta’s poorest and most vulnerable residents. Two years later, she received permission to establish a new religious congregation known as the Missionaries of Charity.

The organization focused on serving people whom society often overlooked. Mother Teresa and her fellow sisters established homes for abandoned children and the terminally ill, as well as facilities for people suffering from leprosy. Their work eventually expanded to include assistance for refugees, people with disabilities, AIDS patients, and others in desperate circumstances. By the time Mother Teresa died in 1997 at age 87, the Missionaries of Charity operated hundreds of centers in more than 90 countries.

Her humanitarian efforts earned international recognition. In 1979, Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work among the poor. She remained a prominent advocate for human dignity and service throughout her life, becoming an instantly recognizable figure in her simple white sari with blue borders.

Following her death on September 5, 1997, the Catholic Church began the process that would eventually lead to sainthood. Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa in 2003, an important step toward canonization. Thirteen years later, Pope Francis formally declared her a saint. During the canonization ceremony, he praised her willingness to serve those who had been abandoned or forgotten and presented her as a model for volunteers around the world.

Mother Teresa’s canonization cemented her place as one of the modern Catholic Church’s most recognizable saints. Her life demonstrated the enormous influence that acts of service can have, and her name remains closely associated with compassion for society’s poorest and most vulnerable people.