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Mother Teresa was a wonderful
woman and a great influence on the world today. She was born in 1910 in
Macedonia with the name Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. She was born into a family of
deeply religious Catholics. Agnes felt she got the calling to work for God at
the young age of fourteen. She joined the Loreto order and went to Bengal,
India, to start her studies. In 1937, Agnes took her final vows to become a nun
and has done much great work in the world since.
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Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born
on August 27, 1910 to Nikola and Drana Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia. Drana and
Nikola were Albanian and both were very deeply religious Roman Catholics.
Nikola was a popular merchant and a partner to an Italian merchant. He owned
several houses and was a member of the Skopje town council. Whenever Agnes'
father would return from a trip, he would always bring his children presents.
Also, he promoted his daughters' education, which was uncommon in that time
period. Nikola also was involved in an underground organization that worked to
gain independence for the Albanians from the Ottoman Turks, who ruled Macedonia
around the time Agnes was born. Agnes grew up around much fighting. When she was
born, there were Albanian protests against the Turkish government. When she was
two, she witnessed the First Balkan War.
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In that war, the Ottomans were
defeated, but Macedonia was divided among the conquerors: Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegero, and Serbia. The city of Skopje was distributed to Serbia. Albania
received its independence in 1912, but Nikola continued his nationalist work. He
joined a movement determined to incorporate Serbia into the Albanian nation. In
1914, when Agnes was only four years old, World War I began. In 1918, her father
was killed. Some people believe that he was poisoned by enemies. Many people
mourned his death because of his kindness and generosity. Drana Bojaxhiu and the
family were left with little money and no means of... |