Mother Teresa (1910-1997), born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, in Skopje (then part of the Ottoman Empire, now in North Macedonia), was an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary renowned for her humanitarian work among the poorest communities. Raised in a devoutly Catholic Albanian family, she felt a calling to religious life early on. At age 18, she left home to join the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland, receiving initial training in Dublin before being sent to India in 1929. She arrived in Darjeeling and took her vows as a nun in 1931, adopting the name Sister Mary Teresa and beginning her teaching career at a convent school in Kolkata (then Calcutta). Her life took a pivotal turn in 1946 when she experienced what she described as a 'call within a call' to serve the destitute directly, leading her to leave the convent in 1948 with permission from church authorities. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950, an order dedicated to serving 'the poorest of the poor,' which grew into a global network operating in over 130 countries, providing aid, orphanages, hospices, and disaster relief. Her work earned her international acclaim, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her efforts to alleviate suffering in Kolkata's slums. She became a symbol of compassion, though her methods and the conditions in her facilities drew criticism from figures like Christopher Hitchens, who accused her of promoting suffering as a path to God, inadequate medical care, and ties to controversial donors. Despite controversies, including allegations of financial opacity in her organization and her opposition to abortion and contraception, she was beatified in 2003 and canonized as Saint Teresa of Calcutta by Pope Francis on September 4, 2016. Mother Teresa passed away on September 5, 1997, in Kolkata, after battling heart disease; her funeral was a state event in India, reflecting her adopted homeland's reverence for her. Her legacy remains polarizing, celebrated for inspiring global charity while scrutinized for theological and ethical stances.