She was born Agnes Gonxha in Skopje. Her religious formation was assisted by Jesuit parish of Sacred Heart in which she was involved as a youth.
She left home at the age of 18 to join the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Marry, known as the Sisters of Loreto, in Ireland. She received the name Sister Mary Teresa after St. Therese of Lisieux. When she was 19, she departed for her first trip to India, arriving in Calcultta and taught at St. Mary's School for girls.
8 years later, she made her final profession of vows and becoming spouse of Jesus for all eternity and called Mother Teresa.
Noted for her charity, unselfishness and courage, her capacity for hard work and a natural talent for organization, she lived out her consecration to Jesus, in the midst of her companions with fidelity and joy.
During a train ride from Calcutta to Darjeeling for her annual retreat, she received her "inspiration, her call within a call".
On that day, in a way she would never explain, Jesus' thirst for love and for souls took hold of her heart and the desire to satiate His thirst became the driving force of her life.
By means of interior locutions and visions, Jesus revealed to her the desire of His heart for "victim of love" who would "radiate His love on souls". Jesus revealed His pain at the neglect of the poor, His sorrow at their ignorance of Him and His longing for their love.
He asked Mother Teresa to establish a religious community, Missionaries of Charity, dedicated to the service of the poorest of the poor.
After a short course with the Medical Mission Sisters in Patna, she returned to Calcutta and found temporary lodging with the Little Sisters of the Poor. On December 21, she went for the first time to the slums. She visited families, washed the sores of some children, cared for an old man lying sick on the road and nursed a woman dying of hunger and tuberculosis. She started each day with communion then went out with rosary in her hand, to find and serve Him amongst "the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for". After some months, she was joined, one by one, by her former students.
Her inspiration was not limited to those with religious vocations. She formed the Co-workers of Mother Teresa and the Sick and Suffering Co-workers, people of many faiths and nationalities with who she shared her spirit of prayer, simplicity, sacrifice and her apostolate of humble works of love.
During the years of rapid growth the world began to turn its eyes towards Mother Teresa and the work she had started. She received Padmashri Award, notably the Nobel Peace Prize.
She called her inner experience, the darkness the painful night of her soul, which began around the time she started her work for the poor and continued to the end of her life. Through the darkness she mystically participated in the thirst of Jesus. His painful and burning longing for love and she shared in the interior desolation of the poor.
On September 5, her earthly life came to an end. She was given the honor of a state funeral by the Government of India and her body was buried in the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity. She left a testament of unshakable faith, invicible hope and extraordinary charity.
Her response to Jesus' plea "Come Be My Light" made her missionary of charity, a "mother of the poor" a symbol of compassion to the world, the living witness to thirsting love of God.
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