Kolkata, Aug 26 (IANS) Following is a chronology of the landmark events in the life of Mother Teresa whose birth centenary is being celebrated across the world Thursday:
1910, Aug 26: Born Gonxha Agnes Bojaxhiu in Skopje (present-day Macedonia).
1910, Aug 27: Baptised
1922-1923: At age 12, feels first call to religious life.
1928, Sep 25: Leaves home to become a Roman Catholic Loreto nun and begins novitiate training in Dublin. Takes the name Sister Teresa.
1929: Arrives in Kolkata, becomes a teacher at St Mary’s School.
1931, May 25: Takes her first vow as a nun.
1937: Takes final vows as a nun, becomes known as Mother Teresa.
1946, Sep 10: On a train to Darjeeling, receives ‘the call within the call’ to serve the poor.
1948: Starts teaching poor children, opens her first slum school. Shifts to 14, Creek Lane.
1950, Oct 7: Founds the Missionaries of Charity with 12 sisters after getting the green signal from the Vatican.
1951: Receives Indian citizenship.
1952: Opens first home for dying at Kalighat in South Kolkata. Names it Nirmal Hriday (Pure Heart) in Kalighat.
1953: Leaves Creek Lane and shifts to a two-storied building on Lower Circular road. Now it is called Mother House, the global headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity.
1957: Begins her work with lepers for which her order becomes well known around the world.
1962: Receives Padmashree award from the president of India for her humanitarian work.
1963, March 25: Founds Missionaries of Charity, Brothers.
1965: Catholic Church grants permission for setting up missions outside India. The first opens that year in Venezuela.
1971: Receives Pope John XXIII Peace Prize and uses the money to build a leper colony.
1976, June 25: Founds Missionaries of Charity, Contemplative Sisters.
1979, March 19: Founds Missionaries of Charity, Contemplative Brothers.
1979, Dec: Nobel Peace Prize for work with the destitute and dying.
1980, March: India’s highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna.
1982: Rescues 37 mentally disabled children from a hospital in besieged Beirut.
1983: Visits Pope John Paul II. Hospitalised with heart attack, first of several.
1984, Oct 31: Founds Missionaries of Charity Fathers.
1985: Awarded Medal of Freedom, highest US civilian honour.
1990: Resigns as superior general of the Missionaries of Charity but is re-elected.
1997, March 13: Steps down as head of her order.
1997, Sep 5: Dies of heart failure in Kolkata at age 87.
2003: Beatified by Pope John Paul II – placing her a step from sainthood.
