Mother Teresa was perhaps God's greatest gift to mankind. She was an apostle of God who brought in succor for the poor and the destitute. Her whole life was a saga of love for the poor and the dying. She said "My work is just a drop when what is needed is an ocean of compassion. If I did not put in that drop, the ocean would be one drop the less".

Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, then in Albania, Yugoslavia, on August 27, 1910. At the age of twelve, she felt powerfully the call of God. She knew she had to be a missionary to broaden the worship of Christ. At the time of eighteen she left her parental dwelling in Skopje and tied the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish group of nuns with missions in India.

Almost immediately charitable helpers coupled her, and monetary support was also approaching. This made it probable for her to expand the extent of her work. It was on September 10, 1946 while traveling to Darjeeling she heard a voice of God within, asking her to leave the convent and serve the poor. She heard this little voice in her and dedicated her life to serve the poor and she believed in doing so she would be serving God.In October 1950, Mother who had become an Indian citizen, started the Missionaries of Charity. She took to wearing the simple blue-bordered white cotton saari.

Nirmal Hriday, was her first large project. She resolved to find a home where the abandoned could live and die with dignity. The search led her to Kalighat in Calcutta, where the corporation gave her some empty halls. This became her first institution. Homes for the destitute, for uncared children, leper colonies, orphanages and clinics for the poor followed in subsequent years. Today the Missionaries of Charity, bring love and care to thousands of the sick, hungry and homeless in 105 countries around the world.

Mother Teresa was bestowed the highest honours by a grateful world, both at the national and international levels-the Nobel Prize for peace, the Bharat Ratna, The Magsaysay Award, The British order of Merit, The Medal of Freedom and several others. Mother Teresa's job has been renowned and applauded all through the globe and she has honored a number of awards and distinctions, including the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (1971) and the Nehru Prize for her endorsement of international peace and understanding (1972). She also honored the Balzan Prize (1979) and the Templeton and Magsaysay awards. Teresa was also awarded the Templeton Prize in 1973, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, and India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980. She was awarded the Legion d'Honneur from Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1981. She was offered with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985, was prepared an Honorary Citizen of the United States in 1996, and received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. She was the first and single personality to be featured on an Indian postage stamp while still living. In 1950 she founded the order of Missionaries of Charity. The Missionaries of Charity all through the world are aided and assisted by Co-Workers who became an authorized International Association on March 29, 1969. By the 1990s there were in excess of one million Co-Workers in additional than 40 countries. In 1952 she opened Nirmal Hriday, or "Pure Heart," an address for the fading, followed next year by her foremost orphanage. In 1962 won her first prize for her compassionate work: the Padma Shri reward for renowned service. She took the name "Teresa" after St. Teresa of Lisieux, patroness of the Missionaries.
More than the last two decades, Mother had suffered from heart troubles. She suffered a heart attack during a 1983 visit with Pope John Paul II. She suffered another, and further serious, heart attack in 1989. It was at that time that a pacemaker was installed.Mother Teresa was a breathing saint and she will be to a great extent missed. Everlasting rest grants unto her Lord, and may Perpetual light shine upon her.

Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997. She was given a state funeral with full military honours. Many important Indian and world personalities came to pay homage to Calcutta's 'Saint of the Gutters' as she was known internationally. She left us a legacy of love and showed us that a little bit of love and sharing of the unfortunate can bring about a whole lot of difference in ones life.