Mother Teresa — Popularity, Songs, Albums, Bio & Fame Trend

Summary

Updated 2026-07-17

She built a global network to serve the dying and destitute, won a Nobel Peace Prize, and became a saint—yet also faced pointed criticism for conditions in the very homes meant to offer mercy.

Biography

About

Born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in Skopje in 1910, she left for Ireland at 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto, then moved to India, where she would spend most of her life. In 1950 she founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, a congregation devoted to "the poorest of the poor" that grew to operate in over 133 countries with more than 4,500 nuns running homes for those dying from HIV/AIDS, leprosy, and tuberculosis, along with soup kitchens, clinics, orphanages, and schools. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, but her work drew scrutiny for poor conditions and lack of pain relief in he…

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In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa

said1980

I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love.

— As quoted in Love Until It Hurts: A Tribute to Mother Teresa and the work of the men and women of the Missionaries of Charity (1980) by

Mother Teresa

saidSep 1979

Jesus has a very special love for you. As for me, the silence and emptiness is so great that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear. The tongue moves but does not speak.

— Letter to Michael van der Peet (September 1979), quoted in "Mother Teresa Did Not Feel Christ's Presence for Last Half of Her Life, Letters

Mother Teresa

said1979

I was amazed when I learned that in the West so many young people are on drugs. I tried to understand the reason for this. Why?

— When receiving the Nobel peace price in 1979. As quoted from Hitchens, C. (2012). The missionary position: Mother Theresa in theory and

Mother Teresa

said1977

I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?

— Statement of 1977, as quoted in Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (2011) by Susan Ratcliffe, p. 373

Mother Teresa

said1975

I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No. I wouldn't touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God.

— In: , Mother Teresa of Calcutta, A Gift For God: Prayers and Meditations, New York: Harper & Row, 1975. p. 61; Cited in: M. Dhavamony.

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