Saint Teresa of Calcutta

St. Teresa entered the religious life at 18 years old.  She took the name Teresa and prepared for a life of service. 

She was assigned to a high school for girls in Calcutta, where she taught history and geography to the daughters of the wealthy. But she could not escape the realities around her—the poverty, the suffering, the overwhelming numbers of destitute people.
In 1946, while riding a train, Sister Teresa heard what she later explained as “a call within a call. The message was clear. I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them.” She also heard a call to give up her life with the Sisters of Loreto and instead, to “follow Christ into the slums to serve him among the poorest of the poor.”

She started the Missionaries of Charity and spent 4 decades serving the poorest of the poor in Calcutta.  In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 
St. Teresa of Calcutta is the patron saint of World Youth Day, Missionaries of Charity and a co-patron of the Archdiocese of Calcutta, alongside St. Francis Xavier.

​Her feast day is September 5.

Find more information on St. Teresa of Calcutta HERE