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Mother Teresa (1910-1997), a Roman Catholic nun, is widely known for her charitable work around the world, and although she may be a controversial figure, there is no denying that she devoted her life to helping the poor and creating peace.

Born as Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiui in Skopje, the Republic of Macedonia, Mother Teresa then moved to Tirana in Albania. It was in 1928, at the age of 17 that she decided she would commit herself to religious life, and joined the Sisters of Loreto as a missionary. At this young age she had taken the decision to never see her mother or sister again. Her aim of living in India to help the poor could only be accomplished if she learnt the English language, as it was the language the Sisters of Loreto used to teach the children. Consequently, Mother Teresa went to Ireland, to the Loreto Abbey to learn and it was when she took her vows as a Sister of Loreto that she chose ‘Teresa’ to be her name, after Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. Mother Teresa moved to India in 1929 and served as a teacher for almost twenty years in eastern Calcutta, and became headmistress there.

Mother Teresa had been greatly disturbed by the poverty-stricken province of Bengal in 1943, where approximately 3 million people died of famine that year due to disease, malnutrition and a fungus destroying crops. Additionally, the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal; Calcutta, where Mother Teresa taught, had suffered widespread violence and mass riots between Muslim and Hindu mobs on the 16th August 1946, which caused great sadness and horror for the capital. It was after these experiences that Mother Teresa aimed to create a new religious congregation and in 1950 she received Vatican permission to begin a congregation named the Missionaries of Charity. The congregation had grown rapidly over the years and by 1997, there were over 4,000 sisters caring for homeless people, disabled people, blind people, those who were starving, those who were poor, and many victims around the world. AIDS hospices were set up, as well as charity centres and orphanages.

On the 13th March 1997, Mother Teresa had to leave the Missionaries of Charity and died in September of the same year. However, her reputation for her life-long care and devotion lives on and she is globally known as one of the most inspirational people in the world, and therefore was rightfully the receiver of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. The Missionaries of Charity continues today, and in 2012, the congregation had over 4,500 sisters and 450 brothers working, also operating counselling programs, schools and mobile clinics in 133 countries. This shows how much of an impact Mother Teresa’s work and care has had on the world, during and after her life.

Although Mother Teresa is a widely respected and inspirational figure across the globe, she is also a controversial figure. The criticisms she received were for her strict views regarding contraception, abortion and divorce. Additionally, people became dubious of the way she cared for the sick, as some people believe Mother Teresa used poor medical treatments and misused funds of enormous sums of money. The journalist, author and debater Christopher Hitchens became one of Mother Teresa’s most well-known critics for his documentary, which is titled Hell’s Angel and highlights the faults in the Missionary of Charity, arguing that Mother Teresa does not deserve her saintly image. I will link the documentary below and you can create your own opinions about whether or not you believe the arguments made by Christopher Hitchens.

In my opinion, I believe that regardless of whether or not there may have been faults in her work, the fact that Mother Teresa selflessly devoted her entire life to help the world in as many ways as she could is the reason why she deserves to be international icon, and a true inspiration to the world.

IMAGE1 URL http://www.womenmakewaves.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/mother-teresa.jpg Mother Teresa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65JxnUW7Wk4 Here is the link to the Christopher Hitchens documentary.