On this day in 1997, Mother Teresa, the esteemed Nobel Peace Prize laureate renowned for her tireless dedication to the sick and impoverished, passed away at the age of 87.
She succumbed to a heart attack at the Missionaries of Charity headquarters in Calcutta, just before 5 PM BST.
Originally from Skopje, Macedonia, Mother Teresa had been struggling with health issues for several years.
Earlier that year, she had resigned from her position as head of the order she established. Her extensive humanitarian work earned her global reverence, with many viewing her as a living saint.
The Pope expressed profound sorrow at her death, emphasizing that she had made a significant impact on the 20th century. Cardinal Hume, the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, also underscored her monumental significance, noting that she was a universally recognized figure.
Born Agnes Bojaxhiu in what was then the Ottoman Empire and later became Macedonia, she adopted the name Sister Teresa during her initial training with the Loreto Sisters in Ireland. In 1948, she founded the Missionaries of Charity and devoted herself to serving the impoverished in Calcutta’s slums.
Despite facing criticism from some quarters—Hindus accused her of attempting to covert the poor to Catholicism, and liberals disapproved of her conservative views on abortion and contraception—Mother Teresa’s legacy is one of deep compassion.
Her friend and biographer, Navin Chana, noted that she redefined the essence of compassion.
Her funeral procession in Calcutta drew tens of thousands of mourners. At the time of her death, the Missionaries of Charity, which she had led for nearly fifty years, boasted a membership of 4,000 and was active in 130 countries, providing care for 7,000 children and treating about four million sick individuals annually. Sister Nirmala succeeded her as the head of the order.
