Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Mother Teresa was a Roman Catholic woman who founded the Missionaries of Charity religious order and served the poor in Calcutta until her death in 1997. Her canonization as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church on September 4, 2016, was celebrated as part of Rockhurst University's Ignatian Heritage Month. The purpose of this guide is to honor Mother Teresa and provide information about her life and the canonization process.  

Above is a portrait of Mother Teresa that hangs on the north wall in the Greenlease Library. For more information about the portrait or other information about Mother Teresa, click on the links below: 

• Her birth name was Anjezë (Agnes) Gonxha Bojaxhiu.
• Her religious name, Teresa, was inspired by St. Thérèse de Lisieux.
• She began her religious life among the Sisters of Loreto but later left that order. 
• The title "Mother" was used by the Sisters of Loreto for a member who had taken her final vows. 
• After leaving the Sisters of Loreto, Mother Teresa founded a new order: the Missionaries of Charity.
• Mother Teresa visited Benedictine College and Mount St. Scholastica (Atchison, KS) on June 9-10, 1981. 
• Mother Teresa is the first person to undergo the modern process of beatification and canonization in the Roman Catholic Church for whom the 5 year waiting period to begin the process following her death was reduced to less than 5 years.