bio Mother -short

[Guest guest]

" And, obviously, you know nearly nothing about Mother . "

My info on her was correct. We can use this for the file. She helped the

poor & dying and was a catholic missionery with medical training. While she

did some great things I don't relate her to the keto diet or epilepsy or the

families in my program. Her name or work has never come up in the years I

have been working for EFNJ.

Mother

Humanitarian

August 27, 1910 - September 5, 1997

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Mother , whose original name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, was born on

August 27, 1910 in what is now Skopje, Macedonia. For her work with the poor

around the world she received the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1928 she joined a religious order and took the name . The order

immediately sent her to India. A few years later, she began teaching in

Calcutta, and in 1948 the Catholic Church granted her permission to leave her

convent and work among the city's poor people. She became an Indian citizen

that same year. In 1950, she founded a religious order in Calcutta called the

Missionaries of Charity. The order provides food for the needy and operates

hospitals, schools, orphanages, youth centers, and shelters for lepers and

the dying poor. It now has branches in 50 Indian cities and 30 other

countries.

In addition to the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, Mother has received other

awards for her work with the needy. These awards include the 1971 Pope

XXIII Peace Prize and India's Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International

Understanding in 1972. Mother died on September 5, 1997. She is sorely

missed.

Excerpt from the Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech

" I choose the poverty of our poor people. But I am grateful to receive (the

Nobel) in the name of the hungry, the naked, the homeless, of the crippled,

of the blind, of the lepers, of all those people who feel unwanted, unloved,

uncared-for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the

society and are shunned by everyone. "

Background

* 1910 - 1997

* Maiden name: Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu

* Place of Birth: Skopje, Yugoslavia (what is now Macedonia)

* Residence: Calcutta, India

* Biographical highlights:

* 1928 - went to India and taught at a convent school in Calcutta

* 1937 - took her final vows

* 1948 - left the convent to work alone in the slums; received some medical

training in Paris

* 1950 - the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresea's sisterhood) started

* 1952 - House for the Dying opened

* 1957 - the Missionaries of Charity started work with lepers and in many

disaster areas of the world

* 1971 - awarded the Pope XXIII Peace Prize

* 1979 - awarded Nobel Peace Prize