@
For many, Mother 
Teresa is the 
embodiment of 
Christian good-
ness and charity.
She has worked 
tirelessly for the 
dispossessed 
throughout the 
world, and while 
she has not been 
without her 
critics, her 
commitment and 
self-denial are 
beyond doubt
#
The needy of the 
slums of Calcutta 
are Mother 
Teresa's parish-
ioners. She was
born the daughter
of an Albanian 
grocer living in 
Skopje, Macedonia.
At 18, she studied
in Dublin with the 
Irish sisters of 
Loreto and began 
a life of prayer. 
In 1929 she 
volunteered to 
work in Bengal
#
In 1950, Mother 
Teresa founded 
the Mission of 
Charity in a 
former Hindu 
temple in 
Calcutta. She 
came to Britain 
21 years later for 
the foundation of 
a novitiate in 
Middlesex. She 
returned to India 
via Rome and 
met Pope John
Paul XXIII 
#
By 1969, two 
million sick 
people had been 
treated by her 
Mission. Yet, "I 
am unworthy," 
said Mother 
Teresa, on being 
awarded the 
Nobel Peace Prize. 
She pledged the 
£90,000 prize 
money to build 
more centers for 
the lonely, the ill 
and the dying
#
In 1979, Mother 
Teresa won the
Nobel Peace Prize, 
and was hailed by 
some as a living 
saint. She canceled
the Nobel banquet, 
ordering that the 
money should go 
instead to feed 
the poor of her 
beloved Calcutta
@
Mother Teresa's 
work with the 
poor has, 
paradoxically, 
brought her into 
contact with the 
world's most 
powerful and 
influential people: 
Ronald Reagan, 
Margaret Thatcher,
even Princess
Diana, have beaten
a path to her door
#
In 1986 the Pope 
saw for himself 
the work of 
Mother Teresa. 
This was, she 
said, the happiest 
day of her life. 
Later that month, 
the Archbishop of 
Canterbury, Dr 
Robert Runcie, 
also made the 
journey to 
Calcutta
#
After meeting the 
homeless in 
London's "card-
board city", 
Mother Teresa 
went to Downing 
Street and 
appealed to 
Margaret Thatcher 
for help in setting
up a hostel. At the 
Global Forum on 
Human Survival, 
she described 
abortion as the 
greatest threat
to the survival of 
the human race
#
To some, Mother 
Teresa is a 
religious bigot 
who wields 
considerable 
political power 
under a cloak of 
other-worldly 
humility. A bitter 
debate about her 
in Britain began 
in 1994 after a 
TV program 
described her as 
"Hell's angel"
#
Criticism of 
Mother Teresa's 
care for the 
terminally sick 
was more 
damaging than 
attacks on her by 
feminists and 
non-believers, 
because it struck 
at the heart of 
her mission. But 
Mother Teresa's 
saintly image is 
such that it 
makes criticism 
seem malicious
@