Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa (1985)
Born August 26, 1910
Uskub, Ottoman Empire
Died September 5, 1997
Kolkata, India


Mother Teresa (born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu [ˈagnɛs gonˈʤa bɔˈjaʤju] (August 26, 1910 – September 5, 1997), Bharat Ratna, OM, was an Albanian Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in India. Her work among the poverty-stricken in Kolkata (Calcutta) made her one of the world's most famous people. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in October 2003.

Born in Uskub, Ottoman Empire (now Skopje, in the Republic of Macedonia), at 18 she left home to join the Sisters of Loretto. In 1962, she received the Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding. In 1971, she was awarded the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize and St. Gabriel award. Teresa was also awarded the Templeton Prize in 1973, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, and India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980. She was awarded the Legion d'Honneur by Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1981. She was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985, was made an Honorary Citizen of the United States (one of only two people to have this honor during their lifetime) in 1996, and received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. She was the first and only person to be featured on an Indian postage stamp while still alive.

The main street in Kosovo`s capital Pristina is called Mother Theresa Street (Rruga Nëna Terezë).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa