Happy Birthday : Mother Teresa [26 August]

26 August 2012 ::  Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta was born on 26^th of August 1910. Her Birth name was  Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu but She was commonly known as Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She was an Albanian–born Indian Roman Catholic nun. “By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus.” In late 2003, she was beatified, the third step toward possible sainthood. A second miracle credited to Mother Teresa is required before she can be recognized as a saint by the Catholic church. Mother Teresa was very fluent in speaking Bengali, the local language of the people of Calcutta(Kolkata).

She was the recipient of numerous honours like Nobel Peace Prize, Bharat Ratna, Padma Shri, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Jawaharlal Nehru Award, Golden Honor of the Nation, Pope John XXIII Peace Prize, Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding, Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding, Albert Schweitzer International Prize, Pacem in Terris Award, Balzan Prize.

 Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (gonxha meaning “rosebud” or “little flower” in Albanian) was born on 26 August 1910, but she considered 27 August, the day she was baptized, to be her “true birthday”. She was born in Skopje, now capital of the Republic of Macedonia, but at the time part of the Ottoman Empire.

 She was the youngest of the children of a family from Shkodër, Albania, born to Nikollë and Drana Bojaxhiu.  Her father, who was involved in Albanian politics, died in 1919 when she was eight years old. After her father’s death, her mother raised her as a Roman Catholic.

She died on September 5, 1997 in Kolkata [ India ]