“Mother Teresa’s New Stamp”
The United States Postal Service announced Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta will be featured on a new 44-cent postage stamp set to be released later this year. People from various walks of life have been depicted on our stamps including athletes, musicians, actors, scientists, politicians, writers, etc. In explaining why Blessed Mother Teresa was selected, the Postal Service announced ”Her humility and compassion, as well as her respect for the innate worth and dignity of humankind, inspired people of all ages and backgrounds to work on behalf of the world’s poorest populations.” The image of Blessed Mother Teresa will be from a portrait of her painted by artist Thomas Blackshear.
Blessed Mother Teresa was born Agnes Bojaxhiu in 1910 in what is now known as the Republic of Macedonia. At the age of 18 she joined the Sisters of Loreto, a congregation focusing on missionary work in India. She took the name of Sister Mary Teresa after St. Therese of Lisieux, patroness of missionaries. In early 1929, she moved to India where she took her final vows. For several years, she taught geography and catechism at St. Mary’s High School before becoming the principal.
After several years in India, Mother Teresa contracted tuberculosis. Too ill and weak to continue at the high school, she was sent to Darjeeling for rest and recovery at her annual retreat. While on the train to Darjeeling in 1946, she received a calling from the Lord to found a new religious order dedicated to serving the poorest of the poor. After careful prayer and discernment, she began to organize this new congregation. Two years later, she was granted leave from the Sisters of Loreto to focus on her new calling.
In 1950, Mother Teresa received permission from the Vatican to found the diocesan congregation that became the Missionaries of Charity. Although her initial congregation consisted only of 12 people, she was undaunted in her efforts to fulfill her mission. A tireless worker on behalf of the poor, the sick, the dying, and the unborn, her determination and commitment led to the rapid growth of her order as well as international acclaim. She spoke out frequently against the evil of abortion, and never hesitated to remind us about our responsibility to take care of those rejected by the rest of society. During the Siege of Beirut in 1982, she even rescued 37 children trapped in a hospital by negotiating a temporary ceasefire between the Israeli army and the Palestinian guerillas so she could get them out of the war zone into safety.
As Mother Teresa’s congregation and missions expanded, so did her recognition. In 1971, she became the first recipient of the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize. Pope Paul VI conferred the honor upon her in a special ceremony at the Vatican. In 1979, she received the Nobel Peace Prize. At the Nobel ceremony in Oslo, she made history when she announced her intention to donate all of the award money to feed the poor in Calcutta. In 1996, she became one of only six people in United States history to receive honorary U.S. citizenship. This honor was bestowed upon her by then-President Bill Clinton and the U.S. Congress. A year later, she also received the Congressional Gold Medal for her “outstanding and enduring contributions through humanitarian and charitable activities.”
Mother Teresa died in 1997, leaving behind a legacy that continues to set an example for the rest of us. Today, the order she founded is represented in 123 countries through hospices, orphanages, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, battered women’s shelters, addiction rehabilitation programs, counseling centers, schools, and homes for people afflicted with HIV/AIDS, leprosy, and tuberculosis. His Holiness, John Paul II, beatified her on October 20, 2003.
The Blessed Mother Teresa stamp is scheduled to go on sale August 26, which will be the 100th anniversary of her birth.
“By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, I am an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus.”
–Blessed Mother Teresa