Download Mother Teresa - St. Ursula School

Agnes Gonxha
Bojaxhiu
Gonxha (gon-KHA) flowerbed
Gonxha
• Born August 26, 1910 in Skopje, now
the capital of Macedonia, then
Albania (near border of Europe and
Asia)
• Parents are part of the Roman
Catholic Albania minority
Neighbors
• Muslim minarets and Christian
Orthodox churches are found on
cobblestone streets
• Bloody transitions of power ruled
Family
•
•
•
•
mother Dranafile, called Drana
father Nikola
sister Aga
brother Lazar
Gonxha’s mom, Dranafile
• Made sure children attended Mass
several times a week (within walking
distance)
• Enforced family’s daily recitation of
the rosary
• Considered any moment not
dedicated to God to be wasted
•
Maintained family’s commitment
•
to the poor, adopted orphans
Gonxha’s dad, Nikola
• Owned spacious home and a garden
with fruit trees
• Extrovert, spoke Albanian, SerboCroatian, Turkish, Italian, and French
• Wholesaling and contracting business
• Spin tales of his travels
• Pursue favorite political cause
•
Generous spirit and tolerance for
•
all faiths
Gonxha’s brother, Lazar
• Described Gonxha as “plump, round
and tidy” as well as “a little too
serious for her age”
• Gonxha helped him steal jam from
the cupboard at night
• Served in the army of the newly
formed monarchy of Albanian
•
Emigrated to Italy
Gonxha’s sister, Aga
• Waved goodbye to Gonxha as her
train left Macedonia
• Family reputation summed up in this
saying, “as generous as the
Bojaxhius”
1919
• Father Nikola died perhaps of poison
while attending an Albanian patriotic
conference in Belgrade, Gonxha was 9
• Business partner attached assets
Mother Drana
• Mother Drana supported family
selling handmade embroidery for
several years, then had a successful
carpet business
1919
•
•
Jesuit priest Father Franjo
Jambrekovic arrives in Gonxha’s
Sacred Heart Parish
Focuses on godly action in everyday
life
Jesuit Focus
1.
2.
3.
•
What am I doing for Jesus?
What have I done for Jesus?
What will I do for Jesus?
Introduced parish girls to the
Sodality of the BVM
Father Franjo
Jambrekovic
• Recounts Croatian Jesuits’ missions in
Bengal,India
• Visiting missionary fathers would
describe their mission in Sandarbans
( where the Indian river Ganges
meets the Bay of Bengal)
1928
• After 24 hour meditation, mother Drana
gives Gonxha permission to join a religious
order
• Mother Drana and sister Aga wave
goodbye to Gonxha at the train station as
she begins her 7 week journey through the
Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean
Sisters of the Institute
of the BVM
• Gonxha takes the religious name
Teresa when she joins the Sisters of
the Institute of the BVM, ‘Loreto
Sisters’, WHY, they were active in
Bengal, India and Jesuits
recommended the order
1929-1945
• Gonxha who has taken the religious
name Teresa after Saint Therese of
Lisieux, the 19th century Carmelite
nun who did small tasks with great
love for God
• Took vows of poverty, chastity,
obedience
1942
• She prayed and taught the children
of India at the Loretta School
• 1942 took vow “to give God anything”
1946
• As headmistress of the Loretta
School, Teresa witness the brutality
of the Hindu/Muslim riots
• On September 10 of 1946 she was
sent by train for a retreat in the
foothills of Darjeeling
Jesus speaks
• During this dramatically scenic train
ride she heard the voice of Jesus and
spoke with Him.
1946 locution
• Locution, verbal expression
• Teresa had a lengthy, impassioned
dialogue with Jesus in which Jesus
tells Teresa to leave the Loretta
School and start a new religious
order
My little one
• Jesus addressed her as “my little
one”, she addressed Him as “my own
Jesus”
visions
• Teresa had 3 visions of Jesus on the
cross Ek (meaning ‘one’) – Jesus
mother, Mary, supports Teresa while
Jesus says, “Will you refuse to do
this for me?”
Missionaries of Charity
• Ek -Jesus says, “Carry me into the
holes of the poor. I want Indian nuns,
Missionaries of Charity, who would be
my fire of love among the poor, the
sick, the dying, and the little
children.”
visions
• Ek – “There are plenty of nuns to look
after the rich and well-to-do people”,
Jesus responded to her worry about
leaving Loreto, “but for my very poor
, there are absolutely none. For them
I long-them I love. Wilt thou
refuse?”
*
Inspiration Day
• These locutions/visions were known
only after her death, they are
commemorated every September 10th
as “Inspiration Day”
Petition
After her return from the
Darjeeling retreat, Teresa petitions
the Archdiocese of Calcutta from
her Loreto School to form a new
order.
Matthew 25:35-36
• She quotes Jesus from the book of
Matthew 25:35-36, “ I was hungry
and you gave me food, I was thirsty
and you gave me drink, a stranger and
you welcomed me, naked and you
clothed me, ill and you cared for
me…”
1947
• Mohandas Gandhi peaceful drive for
independence from rule succeeds
• To Ghandhi’s dismay Hindus and
Muslims divide violently the land, the
partition of India and Pakistan
results in 1947
1948 Gandhi Dies
• January 30, 1948 Gandhi is
assassinated by a Hindu nationalist
• Theresa quotes ‘Gandhiji’, “He who
serves the poor serves God.”
Matthew 25:35
• Ek – Jesus thirsted humanly on the
cross
• Ek – Jesus asks his apostles to
alleviate the thirst of his beloved
poor
• Ek – Christ is “thirsting” for the love
of humans
• Ek – Teresa thirsted for Jesus and
must give herself entirely to Jesus
Petitioned for 15 months
• Archdiocese of Calcutta debated the
petition
Ek- Was she prepared?
Ek- Was it a safe?
Ek- Was her vow to be a Loreto to be
excused?
Petition granted
• Pope Pius XII (12th) grants
permission April 1948
• Missionaries of Charity begin
• Sisters would live among the poor,
dress like the poor, serve the
poorest of the poor
1950
• Vatican permission to start
Missionaries of Charity
1952
• Establishes Nirmal Hriday, her first
home for the dying in India
1955
• Establishes her first home for the
orphans, also in Calcutta
1957
• Begins work with the lepers
1962
• Awarded the Ramon Magsaysay
Award for International
Understanding, given to leaders who
address development problems in
Asia in creative ways
1965
• Venezuela is first mission house
outside of India
1965
• Receives worldwide attention due to
Time magazine cover
1971
• Awarded the first Pope John XXII
Peace Prize
• Awarded the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.
Foundation Prize
1973
• Templeton Prize for progress in
religion
1979
• Accepts Nobel Peace Prize
• During her acceptance speech she
spoke of Christ dying “ for the poor
and leprous as well as the healthy and
wealthy.”
1979
• She cautioned that “ the greatest
destroyer of peace today is abortion,
because it is a direct killing, direct
murder by the mother herself.”
1980
• Teresa continues to open missions
around the world, though she is
criticized for including dictators
1983
• Teresa has a heart attack
1985
• Administers to those with aids
1992
• Meets Princess Diana
March, 1997
• Due to increasingly poor health she
steps down from leading the
missionaries of charity
September, 1997
• Teresa dies. She is buried at the
Mother House in Calcutta
1998
• The Vatican waives the 5 year waiting
period for sainthood
2002
• The Catholic Church recognizes the
first miracle attributed to Teresa –
the cure of a tumor in Monica Besra
2003
• Teresa is beatified with 250,000
people in attendance in Saint Peter’s
Square in Rome
information
• Mother Teresa at 100, The Life and
Works of a Modern Saint, Special
Commemorative Edition