什麼是泰瑞莎修女

Teresa (of Calcutta), Mother，原名Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu。

出生於阿爾巴尼亞的修女，天主教仁愛傳教會的建立人。她曾是一個雜貨商的女兒，後來前往印度成為修女。後學習護理，並遷入貧民窟行善。1948年泰瑞莎建立仁愛會以救濟盲人、老者、麻瘋病人、殘廢人和生命垂危者。1963年印度政府因其所為授予她「蓮花主」勳章。1971教宗保祿六世為泰瑞莎頒發第一屆教宗若望二十三世和平獎。1979年她又獲得諾貝爾和平獎。儘管泰瑞莎晚年患有心臟病，但是她還是繼續為窮人和病人服務，並申言反對離婚、節育和墮胎等。泰瑞莎的仁愛會在九十多個國家擁有數百個服務中心，約4000名修女及數百名法律工作者。後來在印度出生的諾瑪拉修女繼承了她的事業，泰瑞莎逝世兩年後宣佈她為聖人，教宗若望.保祿二世也發表特許公告對其加以讚揚。

1910～1997年

Teresa (of Calcutta), Mother

Albanian-born nun, founder of the Roman Catholic Order of the Missionaries of Charity. The daughter of a grocer, she became a nun and went to India as a young woman. After studying nursing, she moved to the slums; in 1948 she founded her order, which served the blind, the aged, lepers, the disabled, and the dying. In 1963 the Indian government awarded her the Padmashri (“Lord of the Lotus”) for her services to the people of India, and in 1971 Pope Paul VI awarded her the first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize. In 1979 she received the Nobel Peace Prize. Although in her later years she suffered from a worsening heart condition, Mother Teresa continued to serve the poor and sick and also spoke out against divorce, contraception, and abortion. Her order included hundreds of centers in more than 90 countries with some 4,000 nuns and hundreds of thousands of lay workers. She was succeeded by the Indian-born Sister Nirmala. The process to declare her a saint began within two years of her death, and Pope John Paul II issued a special dispensation to expedite the process.