A Legacy of Love

Young Agnes was one of the Sodalists who volunteered for the Bengal Mission. When she turned eighteen, she left home to join the Irish Loreto order, whose Sisters ran a mission in Calcutta, India. Mother Teresa’s first assignment was teaching high school girls in Calcutta from 1929 to 1946. There she taught geography at the St. Mary’s High School. For some years, she was a principal of the school and was also in charge of the Daughters of St. Anne, the Indian religious order attached to the Loreto Sisters.

During this time period, Mother Teresa adopted Indian citizenship and spent several months in Patna to receive medical training at the Holy Family Hospital before venturing off to complete her charity work. She began her missionary work by founding a school in Motijhil, Kolkata, and from the start, Mother Teresa was joined by a group of young women who helped her form a religious community with the basic foundation of helping the “poorest among the poor” (“Mother Teresa,” n.d.). While Mother Teresa’s efforts were noticed by several officials, the first year of her missionary work was wrought with difficulty. During this time, Mother Teresa had no income, she had to beg for food, and the temptation to return to her previous life at the convent was great. A diary entry written by Mother Teresa herself describes in detail the hardships and lessons that she experienced: “Our Lord wants me to be a free nun covered with the poverty of the cross.

She taught at the local school and worked in a small medical station. On May 24, 1931, Agnes took her first vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as a sister of Loreto. She chose her name in religious life as St. Theresa of Lisieux. Soon after she went to Calcutta to begin her teaching career. She went to Loreto and for the next 19 years she lived the life of a Loreto nun and an educator of girls in a form of semi-enclosure.

She served with missionary order of nuns for 20 years, until she had a realization of her life’s mission. She found that she needed to help the poor and sick. So, Mother Teresa descended into the slums of Calcutta and began the Sisters of Charity. From there, she led the Sisters of Charity in ministering to the sick and hungry by giving them much needed food and live. Mother Teresa received local reconviction; but in 1969, after a documentary on her work, she became a celebrity and was deemed a modern day saint.

It was only a few months before her death that she finally surrendered the position of head of her Missionaries of Charity (Who was Blessed?). However, her work lives on, and countless people where undoubtedly blessed with her selflessness and her caring heart. Her life story, from her early years to later in her life, is captivating and inspiring. Works Cited "Mother Teresa". http://www.biography.com/people/mother-teresa-9504160.

She received training in Dublin, Ireland and also trained with The American Medical Missionary Sisters in Patna, India. She started her missionary work by going and working in Calcutta, India. Her first job in Calcutta was to teach children who were unable to attend school and

Mother Teresa worked at the school for nearly twenty years! She was appointed school principal in 1944. While she worked in Calcutta, She was very disturbed by all the poverty around her. She got permission to leave the school she worked at in 1948, so she could start her great works o... ... middle of paper ... ...all", or inspiration in 1946, to leave the convent school to commit herself to caring for the sick and poor. So, Mother Teresa then went to life on the streets to start helping those in need.

Trisha Yanduru Mrs.Halpin English 8H, Period 1 October 10, 2017 The Story of Mother Teresa Dressed in a plain white and blue sari, Mother Teresa the savior of hundreds of children in Calcutta is honored for her kind heart and acts. She is known for helping out the poor children living on the streets of Calcutta, India. Seeing these children suffer made her uncomfortable so she decided to open up centers for them. Mother Teresa experienced a "call within a call" while she was surrounded by a slum, she decided to devote herself to help the poor and sick living on the streets of Calcutta and opened up centers for them people in need. Mother Teresa was born in Skopje, Macedonia on August 26, 1910.

Through the compassion of her dear heart, Mother Teresa stayed with her until she passed into the after-life. Through this one kind act, Mother Teresa devoted her life to helping the poorest in India. She gained the name, “ Saint of Gutters” from her many kind works. Mother Teresa founded the order of nuns known as the “ Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta.” The group of 12 became a group of 3,000 in 50 years. That is three thousand women in India which have donated their lives to helping the poor in India around the world.

She joined the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland, thus receiving the name Sister Mary Teresa, after St. Therese of Lisieux. Teresa first served the institute as a teacher at St. Mary’s School in the Loreto community, Calcutta (India), eventually becoming the school’s principal. Bojaxhiu happily served the school for about twenty years. Beginning December 1948, she left Loreto and resided with the Little Sisters of the Poor. There, she provided care to the families in the slums, cleaning them, feeding the children, and tendering wounds.