Controversial Young Woman Boldly Brings Aid To Untouchables: The Mother Teresa Story
Controversial Young Woman Boldly Brings Aid To Untouchables: The Mother Teresa Story
Many people could not imagine what was going to happen in 1929 on the streets in India. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was about to boldly go onto the streets and give compassion and aid to those who needed it the most. She touched thousands of lives all over the world. While there, she even took on a new name for her new role, Mother Teresa. Ride along as we travel the streets of Kolkata and stroll all the way to quiet sainthood.
Early Years
She was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje in 1910. While she was growing up she became fascinated with Bengal and people who traveled to far-away lands to help others. When she was 12 years old, she described a call she received from God who told her to dedicate herself to ministry. Then, Agnes Bojaxhiu, received an education and religious training in Ireland and India. On January 6, 1929, Agnes arrived in Kolkata, India where she would serve until her death. Once she arrived, she said she received a second call from God to teach and work with the poor on the streets there, the lowest in the caste system–the untouchables.
The Caste System
No one is sure exactly how the caste system began in India. Some feel it can trace its roots back over 2,000 years to Hinduism and categorizing people by their occupations. Others believe that the rise of the British empire between 1858 and 1947 (when India finally gained its freedom) solidified the caste system.
What is the caste system? In the simplest terms, it is a system which classifies members of society giving them certain status depending on their position. There are four recognized caste groups. The top group is called Brahmin. They are responsible for preserving the Hindu religion and are religious leaders and philosophers. The second highest group is called Kshatriya, the protectors. They include kings, warriors, and leaders. The third caste group is called Vaishya. They are peaceful and include people with jobs in agriculture, livestock, and other economic systems. The final group is called Shudra which includes low-level positions and people who have been shunned for crimes committed at higher levels. The unrecognized lowest of the low are Dalits, sometimes called the untouchables.
One of the main issues with the caste system is the uneven economic distribution and the inability to move up. The Dalits do not even have human rights and are often victims of horrible crimes like rape, violence, torture, and unwarranted killings. For example, in 2024 one man was killed after he tried to seek shelter from the rain. In another recent case, an upper caste man raped a 10-year old Dalit girl and the police refused to take a report. If you are born a Dalit, you will likely remain one your entire life. Members of this untouchable class were thought to have committed sins that caused them to be there. Dalits were not allowed to wear shoes in the presence of upper caste members, drink from their fountains, worship with them, or partake in their lives. While India has made strides to rid itself of the caste system, it still remains.
Slumdog Millionaire, a popular movie, showed parts of the caste system and its stranglehold on those who live within it.
Missionaries of Charity
While in India, Mother Teresa started an organization called the Missionaries of Charity. Their role was to help the poorest or the poor. They were not concerned with being noticed and were often silent helpers of a class that could not even be considered human by some. Those who worked in the ministry took a vow of poverty themselves. Her ministry helped build homes for orphans, hospitals for lepers and terminally ill children. Her beliefs were not always popular and she sometimes had opposition. But she continued on.
The aim of the Missionary Sisters of Charity is to devote themselves heart and soul and exclusively to the material and spiritual welfare of all destitute people, the helpless poor, neglected children, the abandoned sick, lepers and deserving beggars – in short all those unfortunates who, either through their own neglect or through lack of public concern, are left to drift through life without help or hope.
Nobel Prize
In her role as the head of the Missionaries of Charity (supported by the Catholic church), Mother Teresa received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She would not have wanted that kind of attention for herself, but it did help bring the necessary funds in to support her ministries on the streets of India.
Saint Teresa
After serving India since 1929, Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997. She brought attention to the plight of the destitute in India and around the world. Her ministries helped thousands of people. In 2016, Pope Francis named her a saint.