Saint of the gutters" leaves slums for heavenly home

When Albanian-born Mother Teresa left her home to teach school in India at age 19, she likely had no idea she would become the world’s most famous nun. Yet she had a profound sense of calling, a calling that has inspired millions and led to the establishment of charitable works in 111 countries.

Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 27, 1910, in what is now Macedonia, she was only 12 when she first knew she had a vocation to the poor. She became a novitiate in the Loreto order at age 18, taking the name Sister Teresa.

A year later she arrived in Calcutta to teach high school. She taught for 18 years, until 1947, when she was permitted to leave her order and set up a school in the slums to serve "the poorest of the poor." She had only five rupees in her pocket. She was, she said, following another order, received while riding on a train when she heard the voice of God. The message was "to help the poor while living among them. It was an order."

She founded her own order, the Missionaries of Charity, in 1950. The young Indian women who joined were asked to take a vow of compassion, in addition to the usual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Mother Teresa refused to ask for money to help the work, relying instead on "divine providence."

Mother Teresa’s work with the destitute, the dying, the leprous, remained largely unknown until British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge produced a television documentary in 1969. In a book by the same name, Something Beautiful for God (William Collins, 1971), Muggeridge relates that one of her favorite sayings was "Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galations 2:20).

"She gave herself to Christ, and through him to her neighbor," Muggeridge writes. "In abolishing herself she found herself, by virtue of that unique Christian transformation, manifested in the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, whereby we die in order to live."

The least of these

The key to loving Christ, Mother Teresa explained, is in loving others. "Because we cannot see Christ we cannot express our love to him; but our neighbors we can always see, and we can do to them what, if we saw him, we would like to do to Christ."

In 1952 Mother Teresa opened the first Home for the Dying in an empty Hindu temple given to her by the health officer of the municipality. There were people dying on the streets every day, she said. She first woman she picked up, barely alive, was already half eaten by rats and ants. In caring for them as they died, the most important thing was not to pity them but to let them know they were wanted, they were loved, Mother Teresa told Muggeridge in an interview. "I have come more and more to realize that it is being unwanted that is the worst disease that any human being can ever experience," she said.

As her work became more widely known - she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 - Mother Teresa began travelling and speaking all over the world. From early on, she had a free rail pass to travel in India. She tried to get the same through airlines, even offering to work as a flight attendant in exchange, but was turned down.

She became admired, respected and revered by millions, including those of other faiths. When the news of her death was announced on September 5, 9:30 p.m. Calcutta time, thousands of people in the largely Hindu city gathered outside Mother House, weeping.

Though she was not without controversy–there were those who criticized her for her strong stand against abortion, for example–she touched all she knew. "In her presence you experienced the true, the good, the beautiful," says Archbishop Adam Exner of Vancouver.

"She was a very beautiful person, very pleasant to everyone, full of joy, and full of love," adds Sister Marise of the Sisters of Charity in Montreal.

No slums in heaven

Despite age and illness, she worked as long as she could, tirelessly and joyfully. Last year she joked about a dream she had in which she stood at the gates of heaven. "And St. Peter said, ‘Go back to Earth, there are no slums up here.’"

She tried to retire as Superior of her order in 1990, but the 100 international delegates charged with choosing a new leader just could not do so. All but one - Mother Teresa herself - said she was the only one who could lead the order. Finally, in March of this year, Sister Nirmala, a 63-year-old Hindu convert, agreed to take over leadership.

Though she was considered a "living saint" by many, Mother Teresa would probably reject the description. She was only doing what she was called to do, as every other Christian should. She told a reporter on a documentary by Richard Attenborough that it is everyone’s job to be holy in whatever they are doing. To elevate her to saint status would make it too easy for others to let themselves off the hook in devoting their lives to compassionate works.

In her 1969 interview with Malcolm Muggeridge, Mother Teresa underscored the divine calling of her work with the poor. The work belongs to God, she insisted. "That’s why I was not afraid; I knew that if the work was mine it would die with me. But I knew it was his work, that it will live and bring much good."

Almost 30 years later, her words sound prophetic.

Sources: The Globe and Mail, (September 6, 1997), Something Beautiful For God, by Malcolm Muggeridge (London: William Collins & Sons, 1971).