Mother Teresa's 111th birth anniversary: Here are some inspiring quotes, interesting facts about her

Mother Teresa, founder of Missionaries of Charity was born on 26 August, 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia. She was just 18-year-old when she devoted her life working towards uplifting the poor and downtrodden people.

Also known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, she founded The Missionaries of Charity in the year 1950. It is an organisation dedicated solely to charitable work in Kolkata for those who have nobody to care or look after them. Fifteen years later, this charitable society became an International Religious Family across the world.

As the world is celebrating her 111th birth anniversary, check some interesting facts about the saint who inspired the world about love:

Mother Teresa’s original name was Anjeze Gonxhe Bojaxhiu. Anjeze in Albanian means — a little flower. She left her family to devote her life to social service when she was only 18-years-old.

In 1929, she arrived in India, when she was merely 19. Following that, she began her novitiate in Darjeeling. It is a training a Christian novice undergoes before taking her vows. Later, she took her religious vows on 24 May, 1931.

Mother Teresa learnt Bengali and also taught at St Teresa’s School near her convent. She was deeply disturbed and worried by the poverty scenes surrounding her in Calcutta. Later in 1948, when she began her missionary work, she decided to change her traditional habit to a white cotton sari with blue borders.

Mother Teresa is also remembered for rescuing 37 children who were trapped in a front-line hospital by a temporary cease-fire between Israel and Palestine. She travelled through the war zone to evacuate the young patients, mostly children.

For her humanitarian work and mission, Mother Teresa was awarded over 120 honours which also include the Nobel Peace Prize that she received in 1979 and the Ramon Magsaysay Peace Prize in the year 1962

Among the many languages, Mother Teresa was fluent in English, Hindi, Bengali, Albanian and Serbian.

During her philanthropic days, Mother Teresa suffered from pneumonia, malaria, two heart attacks, and even broke her collarbone but that never stopped her from working towards her mission.

Here are a few inspiring quotes by Mother Teresa:

• “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless”
• “Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing”
• “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin”
• “The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread”
• “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love”

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