Teresa, Mother

Roman Catholic nun who devoted her life to working among the sick and poor of Calcutta (now Kolkata), India. She established the Missionaries of Charity, now a multinational organization with 517 centres around the world. More than 4,000 nuns staff the Missionaries of Charity orphanages, Aids hospices, mental homes and basic medical clinics, alongside numerous volunteers. Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979 for her help with the destitute in India.

Mother Teresa was born in Skopje, Macedonia, and at 18 entered a Calcutta convent and became a teacher. In 1948 she became an Indian citizen and founded the Missionaries of Charity, an order for men and women based in Calcutta that helps abandoned children and the dying. In January 1997 she decided to relinquish the leadership of the Missionaries of Charity order, having undergone heart surgery after heart attacks in November 1996. Although Sister Nirmala was elected as her successor as Superior General of the order in March 1997, Mother Teresa retained the title of Mother General until her death in September 1997.