FAYE MOSS: Hello, and welcome to the latest episode of Superstars in History, the talk show that features interviews with famous people from the past. Today's guest is a first for our show—she's a real saint! A Catholic nun and missionary, this hardworking woman devoted her life to helping the world's poorest people. Straight from history, here is one of my favorite superstars . . . Mother Teresa!
MOTHER TERESA: Hello, Faye.
FAYE MOSS: Mother Teresa, it's so great to have you here on Superstars in History!
MOTHER TERESA: Oh no, Faye! I'm not a superstar. During my lifetime I just tried to follow a simple path—reaching out to the poor.
FAYE MOSS: You're very humble, Mother Teresa, but we can't wait to learn more about your extraordinary life. You were born in 1910 in a town in what is now North Macedonia.
MOTHER TERESA: That's right. My Albanian parents named me Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, and I grew up in a house with a lovely garden and fruit trees. My parents were devout Catholics who were always very generous to the poor. I was especially close to my mother. She taught my brother, sister, and me to love our neighbors and share what we had. We were a happy family until tragedy struck.
FAYE MOSS: Oh no. What happened?
MOTHER TERESA: When I was about eight, my father died unexpectedly, which left us grief-stricken. My mother was forced to earn money for our family so she started her own business selling embroidered cloth. It was a hard time, yet Mother still remembered others, often visiting the poor and quietly caring for an elderly neighbor who was very sick with alcoholism.
We also went to church frequently. I joined a youth group, where I heard beautiful stories about missionaries. I especially loved hearing about their work with children in India. By age 12 I felt a vocation toward the poor. I decided to become a missionary myself.
FAYE MOSS: Six years later you left home to join an order of nuns.
MOTHER TERESA: Yes, I joined the Sisters of Our Lady of Loreto, known for their missionary work in India. But before traveling to India, I joined the sisters in Ireland to learn English, the language spoken by the order. In 1928, when I said good-bye to my mother and departed for Ireland, it was the last time I ever saw her.
FAYE MOSS: That's so sad!
MOTHER TERESA: It was sad indeed. Yet doing God's work often requires families to make sacrifices.
After about two months in Ireland, I set sail for India. As a novice, or nun in training, I worked in Darjeeling, where I taught poor children each day and learned two Indian languages, Hindi and Bengali.
FAYE MOSS: When did you officially become a nun?
MOTHER TERESA: I took my vows in 1931. I chose to be called Sister Teresa because I had always admired Saint Therese, a French nun who'd devoted herself to praying for missionaries. I decided to spell it the Spanish way—"Teresa"—because another nun had already taken "Therese."
Soon afterward I was sent to the city of Calcutta to teach at a high school. I worked there for 17 happy years, teaching and later becoming principal. Then one day the call arrived.
FAYE MOSS: A phone call, Mother Teresa?
MOTHER TERESA: Oh no, Faye. It was an inner call. I was traveling on a train when I suddenly heard a very clear inner voice. It was God commanding me to renounce my life by leaving the convent to work with the poor, living among them in the slums. I got permission from the church to leave the convent, I traded my nun's habit for a simple white-and-blue sari, the traditional Indian dress, and I moved to the slums.
FAYE MOSS: That was in 1948. What was Calcutta like back then?
MOTHER TERESA: Because of political events, there had been a huge influx of refugees from Pakistan. Calcutta was packed with shanty towns made of cardboard and mud. Sewage poured into open drains in the street, and garbage was left there, rotting. Many people lived in the streets, begging for food. Deadly diseases such as tuberculosis and leprosy were rampant.
FAYE MOSS: That sounds awful. How did you start helping people on the streets?
MOTHER TERESA: At first I didn't know what to do! So I started doing what I knew best . . . teaching children. But this time my classroom was in the streets of Calcutta. Since I didn't have anything—not chalk nor books nor paper—I just picked up a stick and scribbled letters in the dirt. My little school grew quickly, and soon I was given funds to rent a building.
My next step was to open a clinic to treat the sick. Over time other nuns joined me in my mission. We looked for people who were dying in the streets and carried them to our home, where they could die with peace and dignity.
FAYE MOSS: In 1950 the Vatican recognized you and the other missionaries as an order—the Missionaries of Charity.
MOTHER TERESA: Yes, our mission spread to other countries, and we ran clinics, orphanages, and soup kitchens. In addition to other vows, we took a vow of poverty, because to know the poor, Faye, you must be poor yourself. We lived in the slums, sleeping on thin mattresses and owning few possessions. Each sister had only three saris, which we washed by hand.
FAYE MOSS: You always treated the poor and sick with dignity, kissing the hands of people with leprosy and hugging patients who were dying of AIDS. When you walked through the streets of Calcutta, people bent to touch your feet—a sign of deep respect. Then in 1979, you won the Nobel Peace Prize. What an honor!
MOTHER TERESA: I was not worthy of that honor, Faye. As I often told others, I was nothing, only a pencil in God's hands.
I believe I've said enough about myself for now. Thank you, Faye. I do appreciate your interest in our mission.
FAYE MOSS: Good-bye, Mother Teresa. It was a privilege to meet you! We'll let you return to history now.
MOTHER TERESA: Good-bye.
FAYE MOSS: By the 1990s, doctors were urging Mother Teresa to retire. But she refused, continuing to work and serve the poor, even with serious health problems such as heart disease. In 1997 she died of a heart attack at age 87.
Often called a living saint, Mother Teresa was named an official saint—Saint Teresa of Calcutta—by the Catholic Church in 2016. Today her order, the Missionaries of Charity, still carries on her mission.
I hope my interview with Mother Teresa was interesting and inspiring! I'll be back soon with another guest from the past.