Mother Teresa's 100th Birthday - August 26th 2010

Mother Teresa - “By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun.

Born: August 26, 1910
Died: September 5, 1997
Achievements: Started Missionaries of Charity in 1950; received Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979; received Bharat Ratna in 1980.

Mother Teresa, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, attained world wide fame for her life dedicated to serving the poor and destitute.

Mother Teresa was born (1910) in Akopje, Kosovo , its now known as the Republic of Macedonia. Since early age she wanted to serve poor community of the& society. She got the permission to work in a group of nuns in Ireland at the age of 18. She got back to Calcutta, after having some training, where she formally accepted the vows of a nun.

At young age, Mother Teresa worked as a teacher in the slums of Calcutta, the widespread poverty made a deep impression on her and this led to her starting a new order called “The Missionaries of Charity”. The primary objective of this mission was to look after people, who nobody else was prepared to. The Missionaries of Charity now has branches throughout the world including branches in the developed world where they work with the homeless and people affected with AIDS.

She has been praised by many individuals, governments and organizations; however, she has also faced a diverse range of criticism.

During the last years of her life, despite increasingly severe health problems, Mother Teresa continued to govern her Society and respond to the needs of the poor and the Church. By 1997, Mother Teresa’s Sisters numbered nearly 4,000 members and were established in 610 foundations in 123 countries of the world. In March 1997 she blessed her newly-elected successor as Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity and then made one more trip abroad. After meeting Pope John Paul II for the last time, she returned to Calcutta and spent her final weeks receiving visitors and instructing her Sisters.

On 5 September Mother Teresa’s life came to an end. She was given the honour of a state funeral by the Government of India, this was a way of giving thanks to her for all the help she and her order had given to the poor of all religions in India. Her body was buried in the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity. Her tomb quickly became a place of pilgrimage and prayer for people of all faiths, rich and poor alike.

Mother Teresa left a testament of unshakable faith, invincible hope and extraordinary charity.

Mother Teresa was formally beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 19, 2003 with the title Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.

100^th Birthday Celebrations

• Mother Teresa will get a US stamp for her 100th birthday in August of 2010.
• The USS Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is the latest site to announce it will honor Mother Teresa on what would have been her 100th birthday.
• Pope John Paul II embraces Mother Teresa on the new 5 oz. pure gold 500 Euro commemorative coin issued by France to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth
• Benedictine College, Atchison, Kansas has taken the lead by both illuminating campus buildings in blue and by naming its new nursing building the "Mother Teresa Center for Nursing and Health Education."
• In New York, Council Speaker Quinn Declares August 26th A Day of Service for Mother Teresa
• Assemblyman Jay Webber, R-Morris and Passaic, will introduce two resolutions to honor Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta on August 26, 2010, the 100th anniversary of her birth.
• Peace Bridge On Niagara River To Honor Mother Teresa’s Birthday In Lights

PRIZES Throughout her life Mother Teresa has been given some of the most prestigious awards throughout the Globe: Kennedy Prize (1971)

• The first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize. (1971)
• The Nehru Prize –“for promotion of international peace and understanding”(1972)
• Albert Schweitzer International Prize (1975),
• The Nobel Peace Prize (1979)
• States Presidential Medal of Freedom (1985)
• Congressional Gold Medal (1994)
• Honorary citizenship of the United States (November 16, 1996)